OT III [A]Is 9:1-4; 1Cor 1:10-13, 17; Mt 4:12-23

Al Catraz Island in California was the first long term Army Prison in America till 1963. It is an island surrounded by freezing waters and hazardous currents. This prison’s underground cells were dark dungeons. The rooms were dark. The only sustenance thrown to that darkness was a little bread and water. Several prisoners were kept in the darkness hand cuffed. In that darkness men lost the concept of days, weeks and years. Their only companion was darkness.

In 1934 work was begun to give the military prison a new face and a new identity. So, a delegation was sent to improve the conditions of prisoners in Al Catraz Prison. There in the pitch dark underground cellars they found certain types of men who were afraid of light. When they were brought out they couldn’t stand the brightness of the sun. The light made them frantic. They wished to take refuge in darkness.

The first reading from the book of Isaiah   proclaims that the people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who lived in a land of deep darkness – on them light have shone.” (Is 9:2). This has been fulfilled “When Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in the synagogues and proclaiming the Good News of the Kingdom.”

Before that point, Jesus had begun gathering his Apostles and preaching, but only on a part-time basis. As long as John continued preaching and baptizing, Jesus stayed in the wings. But when John was arrested, that was the sign. The last prophet had been silenced, and the moment had come for Jesus, the Messiah whom all the prophets had announced, to take center stage. And then he called his first Apostles. Peter, Andrew, James, and John had all met Jesus before, when they were still disciples of John the Baptist. They had spent time with Jesus. They had seen him perform the miracle at Cana, turning water into wine at the wedding feast. They had started to get to know him.  The Gospel of John tells us that they had even come to believe that he was the Messiah. But that's not enough for Jesus. Jesus has more to show them, and more for them to do. So at this crucial moment, when he is ready to begin his full-time ministry, Jesus goes out to these fishermen as they ply their trade on the Sea of Galilee, calls them by name, and invites them to help build his Kingdom. Jesus didn't start his mission alone, and he doesn't continue it alone.

Jesus chose Galilee as the base for his teaching, preaching and healing mission. That choice fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah (9:1-2).  Nazareth and Capernaum of Galilee were in the territory of Zebulon and Naphtali, two tribes of Israel. It would seem that Jesus’ trip to Capernaum was made, not just as a missionary trip, but to establish Capernaum as his home base.  Capernaum by the sea was a small agricultural and fishing village of Galilee on the northwestern shore of the Sea of Galilee.  Galilee was a small region with a large, mixed Jewish and Gentile population. The area was called the “Galilee of the Gentiles” because there was a large population of Hellenistic pagans mixed in with the Jews. Major trade routes passed through it. Hence, the Galileans were more open than the residents of Judea to new ideas. In addition, the western shore of the sea was occupied by many small but prosperous cities and towns. This provided Jesus with the chance to minister to many people within a reasonable walking distance.

Jesus used exactly the same words John the Baptist had used: “Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven has come near.” ‘Repent ’usually means to be sorry for or to regret some wrong actions we have done in the past. Jesus, however, is asking for much more than that. The call is not just to be sorry for past sins and to avoid them in the future. It is a call for a change of direction from now on and into the future, a right about turn from sin to God. The Greek word for repent is ‘metanoia,’ which implies a radical change in one’s thinking. It means looking at life in a completely new way. It is only when we begin to make this radical change that we begin to become part of that Kingdom and God starts ruling our lives. When we come before God confessing, we are giving up control of our lives.  We are throwing our sinful lives on the mercy of God.   Repentance is the ongoing lifestyle of the people in the kingdom.

 The mission of preaching, teaching and healing which Jesus began in Galilee is now the responsibility of the Church.  Most of us are just lukewarm Catholics never bothered about taking up the mission of Jesus and the Church as our own mission of life. Imagine how different things would be if every Catholic used the same energy and creativity to build the Church as they use to build their businesses, careers, and hobbies. Business leaders use their heads to come up with effective business plans. Sports leaders use their heads to come up with effective game plans. We Christians are supposed to use our creativity and intelligence to pursue a much worthier goal.  

In addition to our call to be missionaries, God is relentless in calling us back to Himself when we stray away from Him.  Let us make a personal effort to bring others to the Truth and the Light, so that they may rejoice with us in the Church, the mystical Body of Christ.

OT II [A]: Is 49:3, 5-6; I Cor 1:1-3; Jn 1:29-34 

The human race was created to live in communion with God, in whom alone we find happiness. This is our fundamental purpose in life - it's the reason that nothing else in the world satisfies our deepest desires. 

Not money, because money runs out.

Not pleasure, because pleasure wears off.

Not power, because power corrupts.

Our hearts were made for more than all those things. They were made to love and be loved with an eternal love, and that can only come from God.

But Adam and Eve walked out on God, and the human race became lost and fell under the power of the devil. We couldn't save ourselves, so Jesus came to rescue us. As a true man and true God, he was able to end  mankind's rebellion against God and reestablish our communion with God. It is hard to understand, but it's true.

There once was a boy who spent many hours building a model sailboat. When he put it in the local river, however, it moved away from him quickly. He chased it along the bank, but the strong wind and current carried the boat away. The heartbroken boy knew how hard he would have to work to build another sailboat. Downriver, a man found the beautiful boat, took it to town, and sold it to a toy store. Later, the boy was walking through town and noticed the boat in the store window. He explained the situation, but the shopkeeper didn't believe him and said that the only way to get the boat back was to buy it. The boy wanted it back so much that he did exactly that.

Then he looked at the boat and said, "Little boat, now you're twice mine: I made you and I bought you."

That's what God did for us - we are twice his. He created us and bought us back when we were lost, but instead of paying cash, he paid with his blood - the blood of the Lamb of God.

John the Baptist's favorite title for Jesus is "the Lamb of God." It also became one of John the Evangelist’s favorite titles. He uses it here in his Gospel, and then he used it again, twenty-nine times, in the Book of Revelation. Rev. 5:6 says: “Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing at the center of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures and the elders.” (that banner hanging here at the back signifies the risen lamb in heaven).

This lamb figure brings together three images that would have been familiar to the Jews of those times.

By calling Christ the "Lamb of God," St John is telling us that those ancient images are fulfilled in Jesus. 

The first image: In the Old Covenant, God required the Jews to sacrifice a lamb twice a day to expiate the sins of the people (cf. Exodus 29:39). So the lamb symbolized the price to be paid for sin.

The second image: The primary holy day of the Jews was (and remains) the Passover. In the Passover ceremony each family sacrifices and eats a lamb to recall their liberation from Egypt in the days of Moses. On that night, God allowed the death of all the firstborn children and animals of the Egyptians, but spared those of the Hebrews. In order to indicate which households the angel of death was to skip over, God commanded the Hebrews to kill a lamb and mark their doorposts with its blood. Thus the Passover lamb signified God's merciful and saving love.

The third image: Finally, a lamb going silently and docilely to be slaughtered is one of the images used to describe the coming Messiah. He was going to take Israel's sins upon himself and wipe them away through his suffering obedience.

And so, by calling Jesus the "Lamb of God," John reminds us that all of these Old Testament symbols had been pointing towards Christ - the true Savior.

Christ is our King and our Leader. And so, to be his loyal subjects and followers, we too should bravely become Lambs of God - sacrificial offerings on the altar of our own crosses.

This self-sacrificial, self-forgetful love is so central to our faith that the Church reminds us of it in every Mass, when we pray, "Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world, have mercy on us."

And when we receive Holy Communion, we are receiving the Lamb of God, partaking of the saving Lamb, just as the Jews of the Old Covenant partook of the Passover Lamb.

And when we receive the Lamb of God with a lively faith, he strengthens us to follow his example.

Every day of our lives in this fallen world is filled with struggles and hardships, big and little, that can become instruments of salvation.

By offering himself on the cross, Jesus reconciled sinners to God. By offering ourselves on our crosses, we can do the same thing.

When we offer our daily sufferings to God in prayer, they become channels of grace for the conversion and sanctification of the world. Pope Benedict XVI invited all Catholics to renew this ancient devotion of offering up our sufferings in union with Christ's.

Many people in the world don't pray, don't believe, don't confess their sins, are continuing in their rebellion against God... We can be a bridge between them and God by offering up our sufferings through prayer, by being Lambs with the Lamb.

Today, when we receive the Lamb of God, let's do so from the depths of our hearts, filled with gratitude for his love and with a deep yearning to love him in return.