To read the texts click on the texts: Isa 49:3.5-6; 1 Cor1:1-3; Jn 1:29-34
A few years ago, after the Std X results had been
declared, I went to visit some friends of mine whose daughter had just appeared
for that examination. I knew her to be a girl who has always got good marks all
through her academic career, and so was surprised when her mother on opening
the door to my knock began to tell me how she felt so let down by her daughter.
The manner in which she was moaning her fate led me to conclude that the girl
had failed. I responded with what I thought were words of consolation saying
that failure was not the end of the world and that her daughter could apply to
have her papers reevaluated and that if that did not work, she could appear
again and surely pass. She was taken aback when I mentioned failure and
informed me that her daughter had passed and has scored 86% marks. This time I
was surprised and asked her what she was complaining about. She replied that she
was complaining because her neighbour’s daughter had scored 86.50%. After being
stunned for a moment, I asked her whether she would have been happy if her
daughter had scored 75% (less than the marks she had actually scored) and her neighbour’s
daughter had scored 74.50%. She replied with an emphatic “Yes, I would have
been very happy.” The moral of this incident is that comparisons are extremely
dangerous and will tend to consume the person who engages in them. It is
related to the Gospel text of today.
The example of John the Baptist shows us that true
personal fulfilment and greatness lies not in how we may compare with others
but in how faithful we are to our God-given roles in life. John is a rare
example of someone who was clear about what his role in life was and went about
fulfilling that role with sincerity and courage. He was able to identify Jesus
and witness to him, because he was secure in himself. This security and self
acceptance led him to see in and witness to Jesus the Lamb of God, the
preexistent one, the vehicle of the Sprit and the Chosen One of God. John was content
and satisfied with playing the second fiddle rather than vying with Jesus for
the limelight. He did not feel the need to compare himself negatively with
Jesus and thus feel bad about himself. He could do this because he knew exactly
the reason for him being in the world. He knew why he came into this life: “but
for this I came baptizing with water, that he might be revealed to Israel ”. Since
he knew the reason for his existence and his place in the world, John could
tell when he had done what was required of him. He could tell when it was time
to hand the baton to another.
In the second reading of today Paul states that the
call of each one who is Christian is to be a saint. A saint or someone who has
been sanctified literally means someone who has been set apart. This means that
no matter how tall or short we are, or how thin or fat we are we are called
like the Psalmist of today to keep responding, “Here I am, Lord! I have come to
do your will.” If we do not realize this, the chances are that we will spend the
whole of our lives chasing after everything and nothing, in a rat-race of envy,
jealousy and comparison with those we perceive as better than us. Instead of
living and working in harmony and cooperation with others, those who do not
know the reason for their being are often driven by rivalry and competition.
Nature offers us a very practical lesson in this
regard. A dog does not try to be a cat, nor does a sunflower try to be a rose.
Each is what it is. Each has its own beauty and uniqueness and glorifies in it.
John the Baptist is before us as a great example in the Ordinary time of the
year of what it means to be ordinary and of what it means to know our unique
place and role in the world. In Jesus, however, we have a better example than
even John. Conscious as he was that he was God’s chosen one, he was also aware
that like the prophetic figure whom Isaiah speaks about in the first reading of
today, he would become so by being servant. In this manner he would complete
his role on earth which was to restore the tribes of Israel and become the light to all
nations.
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