20260118 BEARING WITNESS TO JESUS
18 January 2026, Sunday, 2nd Week in Ordinary Time
First reading | Isaiah 49:3,5-6 |
I will make you the light of the nations so that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth
The Lord said to me, ‘You are my servant, Israel,
in whom I shall be glorified’;
I was honoured in the eyes of the Lord,
my God was my strength.
And now the Lord has spoken,
he who formed me in the womb to be his servant,
to bring Jacob back to him,
to gather Israel to him:
‘It is not enough for you to be my servant,
to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back the survivors of Israel;
I will make you the light of the nations
so that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.’
Responsorial Psalm |
Psalm 39(40):2,4,7-10 |
Here I am, Lord! I come to do your will.
I waited, I waited for the Lord
and he stooped down to me;
he heard my cry.
He put a new song into my mouth,
praise of our God.
Here I am, Lord! I come to do your will.
You do not ask for sacrifice and offerings,
but an open ear.
You do not ask for holocaust and victim.
Instead, here am I.
Here I am, Lord! I come to do your will.
In the scroll of the book it stands written
that I should do your will.
My God, I delight in your law
in the depth of my heart.
Here I am, Lord! I come to do your will.
Your justice I have proclaimed
in the great assembly.
My lips I have not sealed;
you know it, O Lord.
Here I am, Lord! I come to do your will.
Second reading |
1 Corinthians 1:1-3 |
May God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ send you grace and peace
I, Paul, appointed by God to be an apostle, together with brother Sosthenes, send greetings to the church of God in Corinth, to the holy people of Jesus Christ, who are called to take their place among all the saints everywhere who pray to our Lord Jesus Christ; for he is their Lord no less than ours. May God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ send you grace and peace.
Gospel Acclamation | cf.Lk19:38,2:14 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
Blessings on the King who comes,
in the name of the Lord!
Peace in heaven
and glory in the highest heavens!
Alleluia!
Or: | Jn1:14,12 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
The Word was made flesh and lived among us:
to all who did accept him
he gave power to become children of God.
Alleluia!
Gospel | John 1:29-34 |
'Look: there is the Lamb of God'
Seeing Jesus coming towards him, John said, ‘Look, there is the lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. This is the one I spoke of when I said: A man is coming after me who ranks before me because he existed before me. I did not know him myself, and yet it was to reveal him to Israel that I came baptising with water.’ John also declared, ‘I saw the Spirit coming down on him from heaven like a dove and resting on him. I did not know him myself, but he who sent me to baptise with water had said to me, “The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and rest is the one who is going to baptise with the Holy Spirit.” Yes, I have seen and I am the witness that he is the Chosen One of God.’
BEARING WITNESS TO JESUS
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [IS 49:3,5-6; PS 40:2,4,7-10; 1 COR 1:1-3; JN1:29-34]
Last Sunday, we celebrated the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord. It was on this day that the Lord received His mission to proclaim the Father’s love. Throughout His childhood, He knew that He was called to do His Father’s work, as we read in Luke’s Gospel when His mother found Him in the temple. He said to them, “Why were you searching for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” (Lk 2:49). However, His time had not yet come. Jesus still needed to grow in maturity and wisdom. “Then He went down with them and came to Nazareth and was obedient to them. His mother treasured all these things in her heart. And Jesus increased in wisdom and in years, and in divine and human favour” (Lk 2:51-52).
His public ministry began at His baptism, after He experienced the Father’s unconditional love and explicit affirmation of His calling.“When Jesus had been baptised, just as He came up from the water, suddenly the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on Him. And a voice from heaven said, ‘This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.'” (Mt 3:16-17). In calling Jesus His beloved Son “with whom I am well pleased,” this is an allusion to the Suffering Servant in Isaiah, when God said to him, “You are my servant, Israel, in whom I shall be glorified; I was honoured in the eyes of the Lord, my God was my strength.” Through Jesus, the Father is glorified. This is what the Lord affirmed at the end of His life in His priestly prayer before His death: “I glorified you on earth by finishing the work that you gave me to do. So now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had in your presence before the world existed” (Jn 17:4-5).
We too, by virtue of our baptism, are called to bear witness to the Father by bearing witness to His Son. This is because Jesus is the One who reveals to us who the Father is. John the Baptist, after denying that he was the Messiah, said, “The one who comes from above is above all; the one who is of the earth belongs to the earth and speaks about earthly things. The one who comes from heaven is above all. He testifies to what he has seen and heard, yet no one accepts his testimony. Whoever has accepted his testimony has certified this: that God is true” (Jn 3:31-33). This is precisely what St John the Baptist did in today’s Gospel. “Seeing Jesus coming towards him, John said, ‘Look, there is the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. This is the one I spoke of when I said: A man is coming after me who ranks before me because he existed before me. I did not know Him myself, and yet it was to reveal Him to Israel that I came baptising with water.'”
We can be witnesses of Christ through the Holy Spirit. Without the conviction that comes from the Holy Spirit, our witness will not bear fruit. This is why being a witness to Jesus does not mean that we must be theologians or well versed in Scripture and doctrine. On the contrary, the beginning of the Church was not the work of scholars, scribes, Pharisees, and rabbis, but of ordinary fishermen who came to know Jesus, lived with Him, learned from Him the truth about God and life, and witnessed His death on the cross and His resurrection. However, the fullness of their understanding of the true identity of Jesus came when they received the Holy Spirit. In John’s Gospel, “Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.’ When He had said this, He breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained'” (Jn 20:21-23). Similarly, John the Baptist declared, “I saw the Spirit coming down on Him from heaven like a dove and resting on Him. I did not know Him myself, but He who sent me to baptise with water had said to me, ‘The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and rest is the one who is going to baptise with the Holy Spirit.’ Yes, I have seen and I am the witness that He is the Chosen One of God.”
Witnessing, therefore, means being ready to tell others who Jesus is and what He has done for us. This is what John the Baptist did. He announced that Jesus is the Chosen One of God, the Lamb of God, and he pointed Him out to the people, for that was his role as the forerunner. Bringing people to encounter Jesus is the way we bear witness to Him. As John the Baptist says, “He who has the bride is the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom’s voice. For this reason, my joy has been fulfilled. He must increase, but I must decrease” (Jn 3:29-30).
Witnessing, therefore, is not just about preaching, teaching, or even citing Scripture texts; it is about pointing out to others that Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. How do we know that Jesus takes away the sin of the world, if not by the fact that, through His death on the cross, He showed us the way to die to our sins–by recognising the seriousness and evil of sin, being called to repentance, and living a life of unselfish love and service as He did? To acknowledge Jesus as the innocent Lamb of God, sacrificed for us in our place, is to recognise Him as our Saviour. In response to His love and mercy, we too are called to share in His life and death. Thus, it is by living a holy life that we bear witness to our Lord. This is why St. Paul reminded the Christians, “Paul, appointed by God to be an apostle, together with brother Sosthenes, send greetings to the church of God in Corinth, to the holy people of Jesus Christ, who are called to take their place among all the saints everywhere who pray to our Lord Jesus Christ; for He is their Lord no less than ours.”
Where are we called to witness to Jesus? Firstly, we are called to witness to Him within our community. The Suffering Servant was sent to save his people: “And now the Lord has spoken, he who formed me in the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob back to him, to gather Israel to him.” Evangelisation begins within our own families, communities, and organisations. We must first inspire one another in faith so that, together as a community, we can support each other in faith and in the work of evangelisation. This mission cannot be accomplished alone but always in communion with our fellow Catholics. Even within our community, just as among the Israelites, there are Catholics at different levels of faith commitment. Some are nominal Catholics, while others are more spiritually mature. It is therefore important that those of us who are better informed and more firmly grounded in our faith help our weaker brothers and sisters grow in theirs. Many Catholics today attend church only occasionally, and some have even left the Church for various reasons. We must seek them out, for Jesus came for the lost sheep and for those who have strayed as well.
But witnessing does not stop there. The Lord told the Suffering Servant, “It is not enough for you to be my servant, to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back the survivors of Israel: I will make you the light of the nations so that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.” We are called to be the light of Christ to the world. Therefore, we must go beyond our community and reach those outside our immediate circles. Christians are not called to be a conclave set apart from the rest of society. Rather, the Church exists for witnessing and mission. It is our duty to share Christ with those who do not yet know Him. Many are searching for meaning and purpose in life. Indeed, the responsibility of every baptised Christian is rooted in the mandate given to us by Christ when He said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Mt 28:18-20).
Let us, therefore, join the psalmist in making ourselves available to the Lord for His mission. With the psalmist, we pray, “Here I am, Lord! I come to do your will. You do not ask for sacrifice and offerings, but an open ear. You do not ask for holocausts or burnt offerings. Instead, here am I. In the scroll of the book it stands written that I should do your will. My God, I delight in your law in the depth of my heart.” Let us seek to do God’s will as His sons and daughters. Let us glorify the Lord in our lives–through our words, our actions, and a life of charity.
Best Practices for Using the Daily Scripture Reflections
- Encounter God through the spirit of prayer and the scripture by reflecting and praying the Word of God daily. The purpose is to bring you to prayer and to a deeper union with the Lord on the level of the heart.
- Daily reflections when archived will lead many to accumulate all the reflections of the week and pray in one sitting. This will compromise your capacity to enter deeply into the Word of God, as the tendency is to read for knowledge rather than a prayerful reading of the Word for the purpose of developing a personal and affective relationship with the Lord.
- It is more important to pray deeply, not read widely. The current reflections of the day would be more than sufficient for anyone who wants to pray deeply and be led into an intimacy with the Lord.
Note: You may share this reflection with someone. However, please note that reflections are not archived online nor will they be available via email request.
Written by His Eminence, Cardinal William SC Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved.
No comments:
Post a Comment