Today’s question may come under the heading of “religious education.” This Sunday is called “the Second Sunday of Ordinary time.” So, my question is: What is “ordinary time?” Most Catholics who attend mass regularly, especially here at Christ the Good Shepherd, recognize there are major seasons during the liturgical year, seasons like Advent, which begins the year. And Christmastide, which ended on the Sunday after the Epiphany, that is, the day of the celebration of “the Baptism of the Lord.” Later there will be Lent, the Easter Triduum, and the Easter season which ends with Pentecost.
And many know the rest of the year is “ordinary time,” the season when our vestments are green. But why is it called “ordinary?” Does it just mean it’s sort of “regular,” that there is nothing “special” about it? Some people would agree with such a definition. But the real reason for calling this “the Second Sunday of Ordinary time” is “mathematical” rather than philosophical.
Do you recall, in high school math, you learned the “counting” numbers like 1, 2 and 3 are called “cardinal” numbers? And what about numbers such as “first,” “second,” and “third?” Well, they’re called “ordinary” numbers. So, the Sundays which are numbered as first, second, third, etc. are called “ordinary” Sundays and these “ordinary” Sundays make up Ordinary time. So, this weekend is the Second Sunday of Ordinary time. This season extends (this year) through February 21, which is the seventh Sunday of Ordinary time. The first Sunday of Lent comes next. And after Pentecost, until Advent, the Sundays will, once again, be numbered.
But what does all of this “religious education” about the liturgical year, have to do with today’s Gospel reading and the focus for today’s homily? The answer for this is another question for you: How do you find Christ in “ordinary” time? For many of us, it’s easier to be close to God and to Jesus during the special seasons of the year, during Advent, Christmas, Lent and Easter. It, also, seems to be less difficult to be with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit during special moments in our lives, moments of beginnings like at weddings or births, or even at sad times of endings, such as divorce or death. But what about during the regular days, the “ordinary” days of our lives? Well, we’re not alone in our problem of finding Christ in the ordinary days. John the Baptist had his own problem, which is not all that different from ours. To see what I mean, let’s take a closer look at today’s Gospel reading.
In today’s reading, we have John the Baptist and his own disciples once more gathered together. John has been baptizing in the Jordan River all of those who came seeking repentance in preparation for the coming of the Messiah, the Savior of Israel. John has been telling the Pharisees and others he, himself, is not the Messiah. He says this “Anointed One,” this “Chosen One,” will come later and baptize them, not with water, but with the Holy Spirit. As the sacrificial Lamb of God, this man will take away the sins of the world.
John probably knew all “about” Jesus. Some would maintain he probably knew Jesus, personally. After all, according to the stories we heard just before Christmas, John was the son of Elizabeth, a kinswoman of Jesus’ mother, Mary. So, in some way the two Men were cousins. Although it is possible two cousins might grow up without ever seeing one another, such a case is unlikely in a small country like Israel, especially with a culture emphasizing the extended family. So, it’s likely John and Jesus were well acquainted. But it’s apparent John did not recognize that his cousin, Jesus, was the Messiah. Not until the day when the two met at the River Jordan. In today’s Gospel we read, “John gave this testimony also: ‘I saw the spirit descend like a dove from the sky, and it came to rest on him. But I did not recognize him. The one who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘when you see the spirit descend and rest on someone, it is he who is to baptize with the holy spirit.’ Now I have seen for myself and have testified, ‘this is God’s chosen one.’” And so, it took a very special occurrence, the dove descending from heaven, for John to recognize Jesus is the Messiah, the Chosen One of God.
But then what? Did John never have any doubts after that? Or was John the Baptist like many of us? We who accept Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God, at special moments in our life, but then fall into doubt during the ordinary days of our life. It seems John did have his reservations. There is the story in the Gospels of both Matthew and Luke of how John sends his own followers, his own disciples, to Jesus to ask, “Are you ‘he who is to come’ or do we look for another?”
This occurred during a low point in John’s life. According to Matthew’s Gospel, John was in prison when he sent his disciples to Jesus with their questions. Here, now, was the man who once testified that he, himself, had seen the spirit descend upon Jesus so that, having seen for himself, he could proclaim, “Behold the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world” and “this is God’s chosen one!”
But, now, he seems to be doubting what he had one observed and, so, he sends his disciples, once more, to question Jesus. And what answer did Jesus give to John’s disciples? He said: “Go back and report to John what you hear and see: the blind recover their sight, cripples walk, lepers are cured, the deaf hear, dead men are raised to life, and the poor have the good news preached to them.”
Is this not how we, too, recognize Jesus is the Son of God, by his healing actions in our lives? We seem to be closest to him when we are healed. When we have recovered our spiritual sight and lost our spiritual deafness. When we are no longer outcasts, but restored to the life of the community. When we are raised from our crippling sins and returned to the full life of grace. When we hear the “good news,” the Kingdom of God is at hand.
How does this occur to us today? How do we recognize Christ in our daily lives? Do we recognize him by some sort of miracle or special sign? The answer, I believe is both “yes” and “no.” There may be no special, observable miracles for us. A visible dove does not appear, but there is another kind of miracle. The miracle of Christian love. The miracle of Christian help. The miracle of the presence of Christ in others, in those we meet. The healing of a spouse saying, “I forgive you and I love you.” The healing of a child saying, “I’m sorry for what I’ve done and I will change.” The healing of a person saying, “I know you can use some help now, so, this is what I’m going to do.” The healing of a community saying, “we recognize what we have been doing has been harmful to others, so, this is how we’re going to correct our actions.” We find Jesus the Christ and his healing powers in the ordinary miracles of life around us. We find Jesus the Christ in the ordinary people we meet and who make a difference in our lives.
But in this meeting there is a challenge. If I hope to meet the Christ in “others,” who is the Christ for “others” to meet? In the final analysis, each one of us must be Christ-like in what each one of us does, in what each one of us says. In order to hear the good news, I am called to proclaim the good news to others. To proclaim the news not only in what I say and how I say it, but, more important, to live it out in what I do for others. To find Christ in others, I must be Christ to others.
And this is how we are to find him during the ordinary days of our lives, the days which are not part of some special time of celebration. During the days when we seem to be just numbering the hours, just marking time. These ordinary days are still days of opportunity, days when we need to hear with newly opened ears, the words from today’s reading from the prophet Isaiah: “I will make you a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.”
Second Sunday in Ordinary Time; January 17, 1993
Is 49: 3,5-6; 1 Cor 1: 1-3; Jn 1:29-34
- Some might say Pentecost is followed by Trinity Sunday and by Corpus Christi, now called “Body and Blood of Christ Sunday” and that the counting for Ordinary Sundays does not begin until the Sunday after “Body and Blood of Christ Sunday.” However, the weekdays of Ordinary Time resume on the Monday after Pentecost, having started the Monday after “The Baptism of the Lord.” Indeed, Christmastide liturgically includes “The Baptism of the Lord Sunday,” but for many of us “old-timers” the Christmas season ends with Epiphany! Otherwise, what happened to the “First” Sunday in Ordinary Time?