John 1: 29-34
The God-Revealer
The very next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and yelled out, “Here he is, God’s Passover Lamb! He forgives the sins of the world! This is the man I’ve been talking about, ‘the One who comes after me but is really ahead of me.’ I knew nothing about who he was—only this: that my task has been to get Israel ready to recognize him as the God-Revealer. That is why I came here baptising with water, giving you a good bath and scrubbing sins from your life so you can get a fresh start with God.”
John clinched his witness with this: “I watched the Spirit, like a dove flying down out of the sky, making himself at home in him. I repeat, I know nothing about him except this: The One who authorized me to baptise with water told me, ‘The One on whom you see the Spirit come down and stay, this One will baptise with the Holy Spirit.’ That’s exactly what I saw happen, and I’m telling you, there’s no question about it: This is the Son of God.”
Prayer
Father God,
Forgive me for being impatient,
Forgive me my faults.
Give me strength, Lord,
To wait.
Calm my heart and soothe my frustrations,
These I lay at the foot of the cross.
Help me stay calm, maintain a positive attitude and be patient.
Thank you Father,
Amen.
Reflection
We’re still at the start of Jesus’ journey and here we see another major indication that he has come among us, to free us from our sin. We only have a short time to get to know Jesus before we are in the season of Lent.
Between New Year and Lent, it’s always a bit of a weird time. We make ‘New Years’ Resolutions’ either to give something up or do something that we haven’t done before, and more often than not, we give into temptation and go against that small promise. Then Lent arrives, and we try and give something up to follow the tribulations that Jesus went through in the desert.
It’s never easy to keep these promises and we look to God for strength in these difficult times and challenges. And when we can’t fulfil our promises, we ask for forgiveness. John prepared us for the arrival of Jesus, and for his willingness to forgive us when we are weak.
Jonny Dearden
Salesian Volunteer