2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

 It is interesting that in a year of the lectionary, given over to the Gospel of Matthew, we have a gospel reading, for the start of Ordinary Time, from the Gospel of John. Last week the reading was for the Baptism of the Lord with Matthew's gospel emphasizing the inferiority of John the Baptist who asks why he should be the one to baptize Jesus. Today's gospel serves to build on this as John the Baptist is shown explicitly identifying Jesus as "the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world." (Jn 1: 29) This is not through their familial connection, as we see on the Feast of the Visitation, rather John witnesses the Holy Spirit descend on Jesus after his baptism. In Mark and Matthew it is only Jesus who witnesses the descent of the Holy Spirit while in Luke it is ambiguous as to whether it is Jesus or everyone who witnesses this event. The differences do not change the overall picture but can tell us of the theological emphases of the respective evangelists. For ourselves we can understand the role of others in baptism and encouraging us to grow in faith and discipleship. They act as witnesses to the Holy Spirit at work in our lives even when we may be unaware of it. Perhaps we, like John the Baptist, can serve to alert others to God's action in their lives and encourage them to respond with faith and courage to the call which God has for each of them.