2ND SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (YEAR A)

1st Reading Isaiah 49:3,5-6

Psalm Ps. 40:2 and 4ab.7-8a.8b-9.10 (R.8a and 9a)

2nd Reading 1 Corinthians 1:1-3

Gospel John 1:29-34

UNITE AND GUIDE

Dear friends, we find ourselves within a new liturgical season after the season of Christmas, which ended a few days ago with the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord. Today is the 2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time. In Ordinary Time, our focus is the message of life that the Lord gives us. Our Lord leads us to do what he did, namely, to give our lives for others in a more generous way. To this end, we come to see Ordinary Time as a season more of action and discipleship and less of being expecting and spectating witnesses. We no longer watch, but we also act.

The first reading from Isaiah 49:3, 5-6 drives in thoughts about an ideal (or perfect) servant of God. He is ideal because in him resides an ideal vocation. Thus, what God intends to effect in the life of Israel. He becomes ideal because our vocations are modelled after the mission of the Servant.

Take note of the fact that we are reading from the second division of the Book of Isaiah (Ch. 40-55) and our first reading falls within it. The message of the second part of the book of Isaiah is consolation for an oppressed people languishing in exile. There is the coming restoration of the people and of their Holy City Jerusalem, which was destroyed. This restoration will happen in a new way that will be more glorious than than first. In this plan of restoration is the vocation of the servant. 

Aside from the fact that this person is a Servant (עֶבֶד – `EBED), which was mentioned three times in the text, we find the purpose for which he is a servant. He is "to bring Jacob back to God"; He is "to gather Israel to God." If there is a gathering, it presupposes that there was a dispersion, there was a scattering. Therefore, the task of the Servant is to assemble. Thus, to Unify.

The second task of the servant is to be "the light of the nations so that God's salvation may reach to the ends of the earth" (v. 6). The second task is more universal than the first. It extends beyond the boundaries of Israel and their exile. This indicates an all-inclusive salvation. Specifically worth noting is the servant being raised to a "light." Isaiah uses the word ’ÔR (אוֹר) to denote light. It is the same word used in Gen. 1: 3 to mean light when God said, "Let there be light," which was made in the formless void (Gen. 1: 2). The implication is that the nations are perceived as a "formless void." The servant as a light will shine in it for recreation, restoration, and renewal to take place. 

The nations (GÔYÌM) being a formless void is even stressed in the kind of people being talked about. They are not very good people to be with. They are ferocious and wild, responsible for destroying the Temple and taking Israel into exile. The servant's vocation becomes more dangerous and difficult in this vein. He is to be a light to them in their darkness, enlightening them and showing them the way to God. He becomes an example, an embodiment of what is pleasing to God and a guide to God.

The two tasks of the servant —Unifier and Guide— helps us to appreciate the Gospel from John 1: 29-34. John the Baptist becomes that fellow who, as it were, could be identified as an exemplar and guide. He points Christ to the people (Jn. 1: 29-30) and guides them to recognize him as be bore testimony of hims (Jn. 1: 32-34).

The second Sunday in Ordinary Time presents the servant of God as an epitome of action. We, too, have a vocation to act in uniting and guiding others o recognize Christ. Like Paul, we have been called by the will of God to be apostles (1 Cor. 1:1), apostles who unite and guide. 

Happy Sunday.

Pax et Bonum.