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Gospel Reading for January 03, 2026 – John 1: 29-34
OCCASIONS OF SIN
John the Baptist saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. He is the one of whom I said, ‘A man is coming after me who ranks ahead of me because he existed before me.’ I did not know him, but the reason why I came baptizing with water was that he might be made known to Israel.” John testified further, saying, “I saw the Spirit come down like a dove from the sky and remain upon him. I did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘On whomever you see the Spirit come down and remain, he is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’ Now I have seen and testified that he is the Son of God.”
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John the Baptist described very well who Jesus was, with the signs given to him. He probably kept anticipating that the Messiah may appear anytime during his ministry and he had to be prepared to pave the way for him, to make him known to his followers, to the people of Israel. While in prison, he heard about the miracles Jesus was performing, so he told his followers to ask Jesus directly if he was THE ONE or if they would look for another one. And Jesus responded by pointing out the fulfillment of the prophecy in the Old Testament (Matthew 11: 2-6).
John the Baptist did not fully share the belief of the Jews that the Messiah would be a king in the line of David, who would liberate them from the Romans, restore an earthly Jewish kingdom and establish worldwide peace and reign with justice. He knew that the liberation would be more on the spiritual side of humanity and not political, hence, the need for repentance.
This is something we have to learn about Jesus’ teachings. Although justice and peace are of primary importance to his mission of salvation, when we uphold or even fight for these values, we need to be very objective and not drag into our fight our political preferences. Take for example, the recent spate of exposures of corruption in certain government agencies – as Christians, we let the law enforcers do their job, but what we have to work on is to review the present systems’ weaknesses and/or loopholes that allow corruption to seep in, then, come up with a permanent solution and push for the solution to be enforced fully.
Let us remember that Jesus was not against the sinner, but he was against the sin. Hence, the OCCASIONS OF SIN are the ones to be prevented.
Lord Jesus, help us be your true instruments of salvation!
