John the Baptist bows out

January 10, 2015
Saturday, After Epiphany
1st Reading: 1 Jn 5:14–21
Gospel: Jn 3:22–30

Jesus went into the territory of Judea with his disciples. He stayed there with them and baptized. John was also baptizing in Aenon near Salim where water was plentiful; people came to him and were baptized. This happened before John was put in prison.

Now John’s disciples had been questioned by a Jew about spiritual cleansing, so they came to him and said, “Rabbi, the one who was with you across the Jordan, and about whom you spoke favorably, is now baptizing and all are going to him.”
John answered, “No one can take on anything except what has been given him from heaven. You yourselves are my witnesses that I said: ‘I am not the Christ but I have been sent before him.’ Only the bridegroom has the bride; but the friend of the bridegroom stands by and listens, and rejoices to hear the bridegroom’s voice. My joy is now full. It is necessary that he increase but that I decrease.”

D@iGITAL-EXPERIENCE
(Daily Gospel in the Assimilated Life Experience)

Transition is a crisis situation that brings pain akin to the pangs of birth. The transition that John the Baptist underwent in order to give way to Jesus was not an easy one. Yet he handled the situation very well in God’s grace. When his followers reported to him that Jesus was already baptizing he said, “Now my joy is full.”

Joy was possible because he had disposed himself to God’s plan and had accepted with contentment his role as steward. When this role was over he bowed out like he had achieved everything there was to achieve in life. Joy like this happens only to those who live their lives with a sense of mission. A person who lives with a sense of mission goes for substance. He lives with a sense of priority. A person who lives this way has more chances to resist the temptation of squandering the inherent grace of life. As instrument of God he is sensitive to the promptings of the Holy Spirit. He stays strong and stands firm amidst all pangs, even the pangs of transition.

We too are vulnerable because we face so many transitions, the worst of which is death. Death in itself is already painful and dreadful. Think about the havoc it brings when it punctuates a life lived without a sense of mission. The bad news is that nobody can evade this kind of transition. But here is the good news: we are not totally helpless because we can lessen the impact of death by spending our lives in accordance with God’s plan for us. Let us love our role in life and play it well so that at the great transition we have to make at deathbed we can say with John the Baptist, “My joy is full now.” —Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., D.M. Email: [email protected]. Website: www.frdan.org.

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