A reading from the Holy Gospel according to John. Glory to You Lord.

When John caught sight of Jesus coming toward him he exclaimed, "Look there, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. It is He of whom I said, 'After me there comes a man who ranks ahead of me because He was before me.' I confess I did not recognize him, though the reason I came baptizing with water was that He might be revealed to Israel.'" John gave this testimony also, "I saw the Spirit descend like a dove from the sky and it came to rest on Him, but I did not recognize Him. The one who sent me to baptize with water told me, 'When you see the Spirit descend and rest on someone, it is He who is to baptize with the Holy Spirit.' Now I have seen for myself and have testified this is God's chosen one." The Gospel of the Lord.

Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ.

The season that follows Christmas has the general theme of an epiphany, which is the Greek word simply that means manifestation. To show. Today people come in the scriptures to announce to us who is Jesus Christ. Today we hear two voices, that of John the Baptist and the Father. John the Baptist is standing by the River Jordan and he sees Jesus Christ walk by. "The Lamb of God. This is who He is." He is speaking to people who have an understanding of Israel's history. Therefore this name, the Lamb of God, evokes images. The image is the image of Egypt. In Israel, the Hebrew people were slaves, toiling for Pharaoh. They were yearning to be free, yet, they were helpless. In their helplessness, in their littleness, in their brokenness, God chooses them. He has a plan in mind for them. He will do something for them. He will set them free. So He says to them, "I will bear my mighty arm in the sight of Pharaoh and I will force him to let you go. But you, you will be spared. Take a lamb, kill it, with it's blood decorate your doors. When the angel of death passes through, you will be spared."

This is the meaning of the blood of the Lamb, the one who died to save God's people. The Lamb of God, this is Jesus Christ. He it is who takes away the sin of the world. What is the sin of the world? The sin of the world is not to believe that God is love. It is a reference to the temptation in the garden when the devil came to Eve and said to her, "Look, God does not love you. That's why He doesn't want you to eat from that tree. He wants to keep you in bondage. He wants to keep all the goodies for Himself." It was to doubt the love of God that was Eve's sin. Because with that doubt she said, "I have to eat, I have to see for myself. I cannot trust him." Jesus Christ came to take away that doubt.

It is very important for us to have the right mentality in order to hear the good news today. There are many people who think that Jesus Christ came to give us a law, the law of Christ. Much more difficult than the law of Moses, the perfect law, commanding us to love God with all our heart, with all our strength, with all our mind, and our neighbor as ourself. They think that Jesus came to fulfill this law so as to give us a good example. They think that then he says to us: "See what I did? Go and do likewise."

If that were the case, the gospel would not be good news. It would be bad news. The law of Moses was bad enough. It was hard enough to keep it. Israel couldn't do it. But to put an even more demanding law on top of that, mama mia! That's the straw that breaks the camel's back. It is surprising how many people think that this is what the Gospel is all about. You ask them, "Do you keep that law?" And if they say, "Ah what do you expect? I'm not Jesus Christ. I'm just an ordinary person." Well, then you know that this is their mentality. This is the way they are really thinking, whether they realize it or not. In this way of thinking the sacraments become a sort of place where we get trained to keep the law well enough so that we will be saved.

Brothers and sisters, this is not good news. This is bad news. It means that we have to change our way of hearing what is really being said. The Father knows that we are weak. Jesus Christ did not come for the well. He came for the sick, the broken. He came to manifest God's glory, His mercy. Just as the first reading says. He came not to put out the little wick that was just smoking or to break by putting a weight too heavy to bear on the bruised reed. He came to be the source of renewal. Rebuilding for us. To do for us what we can not do for ourselves. To empower us in a totally new way. To make the law of God something easy for us.

How did He do it? He Himself fulfills the law -- perfectly. He is the one who entered into death, doing exactly as His Father willed. Loving in the dimension of the Cross so that we wouldn't have to take on that burden. He has done it for us. The law has been fulfilled in Jesus Christ. And what did God do? He raised Him up, empowering Him to be the one who is to baptize with a new spirit, the Holy Spirit. And what does that Spirit do? He comes into our hearts to make a testimony within us that God is love. The Spirit comes to assure us that the Father will not abandon us because by faith we can see what He has done for Jesus Christ. If we truly believe that God has raised Him from death, then what is there to be afraid of? Nothing, because He will turn everything to our good. The one who believes knows he believes because he no longer has within his heart a fear of what others will do to him. A fear of what he will lose at the hands of other people. The one who believes is the one who is able to give forgiveness, just as Jesus Christ gave forgiveness and to do it without a struggle. To do it easily because we have experienced the forgiveness of God. He is the lamb of God who comes to those who are enslaved, enslaved to all the passions, all the vices. And who know it!

He says to them, "Believe that I can change you. Believe that I can make you able to look to me and not to what the world treasures." The world clings to money and other people as a source of happiness. And the one who believes that, this is the one who is able to do what Jesus has done, - out of gratitude for what God has done to set us free from fear. Such a one who believes will be able to lose his life for the other because he no longer has in his heart a fear of loving like Jesus does in the dimension of the cross. You don't have to defend yourself because you have experienced the power of love. You know it. You've seen it. You know that it is only love that heals all hurts. You are God's chosen one.

Brothers and sisters you would not be here except that God has chosen you to receive such a spirit. And for what purpose? He wants to rebuild our lives so that we are no longer neurotic. No longer looking for other people to love us, and manipulating them in order to get them to love us. We are able to love them just as they are. Not doing what they want us to do but doing what we judge to be best for them, whether they like it or not, and able to forgive them when they don't like it. This is why we are chosen -- this is the vocation of being a Christian. Able to love the other to the point of losing your life for them. Losing everything the world holds dear for them. Thinking only what is best for them. Jesus Christ is the one who has come to glorify the Father in us. This is the great vocation that we have. To allow Jesus Christ to live his new life, His resurrected life, within us. And all it takes is to believe this. To believe that Jesus Christ is able to change me so that I am no longer afraid of loving like He loves. And when we get to this point then we become an epiphany of the Father. A witness to the whole world of the power of love.

This is how the Father wants to reconcile the world to Himself. When in the midst of all the sufferings, unbelief, we can become like the servant that Jesus was. Able to give forgiveness, gentleness. Not to put out the smoldering wick. Not to break what is already bruised, on the verge of being broken. But able to help the others in my family, in my workplace. To see the way their lives too can be renewed. To bring them to believe that death is overcome. Because even though they didn't have faith enough to believe the announcement, they can know it is true because they have seen it in you. And by seeing it in you, they can come to believe it themselves.