2,Sunday A Joh 1,29-34

A Christian’s life obliges him to bear witness (Jn 1:29-34)

We are required daily to witness life for sacrifice

We know that there is no testimony like testimony. The testimony of a responsible and mature person has more value and meaning than an irresponsible or possibly a child. The argument of one who knows the matter from his own life and experience will carry more weight than one who has only heard about it. They say that reading about something is beautiful, but being there once, seeing it, experiencing it – that’s more than reading about it a hundred times.
Our faith teaches us to know and to want to testify about what we know, what we know, and what we have already experienced. The world around us rightly expects us Christians to show them our faith not only with words but especially with deeds.

We see an example in St. John the Baptist, who confessed about Jesus: “Behold, the Lamb of God” (Jn 1:29), but the Gospel also speaks of another example of testimony, when St. John the apostle writes: “And I have seen it and bear witness that this is the Son of God” (Jn 1:34).

John the Baptist was the first Christian who understood his calling. The vocation of a Christian is to bear witness. The mission of a Christian is to bear witness to Christ with his life, even when he is not directly aware of it. A Christian must not be indifferent to his mission. The power of example either builds or destroys. The figure of John the Baptist and subsequently also the apostle John in today’s Gospel do not encourage personal correction, nor do they emphasize some religious truth as usual, but they make people more familiar with Jesus Christ. The texts of the readings have a common idea, an experience of personal life. They bear witness not to remain silent when it is necessary to speak and even shout about God. John the Baptist, when he recognized Jesus in the crowd, surely with the help of the Spirit, that he was the awaited and predicted Messiah, cried: “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (Jn 1:29). John fulfilled his mission. He prepared the way for the Messiah, and it is still necessary for the Messiah to be presented to both the nation and all people until the end of time, so that he may die quietly in Herod’s prison. When he refers to Jesus as “the Lamb of God,” he refers to him as the Messiah. Already in the Old Testament, the Messiah was presented as a lamb or a ram, which scatters enemies with its horns and wins over the world, and cleanses the world of all evil.
More than sixty years passed from the event – when Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist – to the writing of the Gospel by Saint John the Apostle (baptism in the 28th year – the 95th year of the creation of the Gospel). And this period is proof that Jesus was the Messiah. First, Jesus himself teaches the apostles and the crowd for three years, proves his power and mission by word and deed, and dies on the cross for our sins, so that on the third day – as he predicted – he will rise from the dead with his power, when he meets with the disciples for another fifty days before with his ascension to heaven, he returned to the Father, so that his work could be continued by the disciples in the power of the Holy Spirit, whom he had sent upon them with the Father. And at this time, the title “Lamb of God” was not only confirmed, but many are more and more aware of the importance of Jesus Christ in their lives. Jesus died at the moment when the lambs were being slaughtered in the temple before the Easter holidays.
The secret of our salvation is the secret of love. John the Apostle bears witness to this: “God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son so that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (Jn 3, 16). And the apostle St. Paul says about God: “… he did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all” (Romans 8, 32).

The testimonies of John the Baptist and the apostle John are a challenge for us to bear witness to God’s love for man. The Johns began the life of witnesses of Christ. They set an example. They accomplished their mission. Our task, who have believed in Christ, is the obligation in our own time, in a way appropriate to us, to continue what the Johns started. The Johns grew in their testimony. In the beginning, their testimony was not the same as at the end of their lives. We should also pay attention to that. We have all been washed by the blood of the “Lamb-Christ”. And so Jesus’ words about the cross: “Whoever wants to come after me…” (Mt 16:24), but also the words: “And everyone who leaves homes or brothers and sisters for my name’s sake…” (Mt 19,29), became a challenge for many and gave their lives to testify to God’s love.

In mid-February 1958, the state police tracked down the priest Štefan Vlk, who had been hiding for several years, and was accused of spreading religious literature. The policeman noticed that the bench in the hideout was covered with a tarpaulin. When he lifted the blanket, he found no anti-state material, but a board studded with nail tips. He was horrified and shouted: “And what is that?” And when the priest did not answer him immediately, he asked loudly: “Why are you doing this?” Priest Štefan answered after a while: “When he died for us on the cross, it is fitting that we also suffered something.” When he was already in prison for the fourth year and was transferred to the camp in Valdice, he brought with him from Příbram a sentence of 250 days of correction, which means that the prisoner only got to eat once every three days, and that’s why that he never did on Sundays.

Testimony needs to be given even today. Although not immediately by prison or by his blood, but each by his own life. We do not live in such a time and society where everything is in order about the orders of God and the church. And that’s why. When the world does not believe in Christ today, it means that one reason is weak: we Christians are weak. If there are unbelieving people or non-practicing Christians in our neighborhood today. It must not and cannot satisfy us that each of us is the mastermind of our happiness, and possibly that what doesn’t burn you, you don’t put out. Our insufficient example of faith in our life must burn and torment us. It is not enough to be a good person, it is necessary to be a holy Christian Catholic. If the “good guys” were really good, there would be a lot fewer bad guys. The example ignites, both bad and good. The challenge for us: is to ignite ourselves so that we can ignite others. He who does not burn cannot ignite. Who is dead in soul

It is right that we want to be among those who are not silent in their lives when they have to talk about God, faith, about what is essential in a person’s life. Even in our surroundings, many people know very little about God. And there are even more who hear more about God and see only negative and bad things from Christians. And in this wide field, there is a place for each of us. The life of a Christian is correct when it is the life of a witness of Christ. The world is waiting for our testimonies. Indeed, words are often not enough. We know it from our surroundings and life.

The woman talks sweetly and often about God, but people run away from her, avoid her, and even laugh at her. He goes to church every day. He wears a rosary around his neck. Catholic greetings to everyone. He does not miss any pilgrimage or church celebration. All right? She is angry with the priest because he does not do as she wants. In the church, they pull away from her because she wants to excel in prayer, singing, and piety. When the children grew up, they stopped fulfilling the duties of Christians, because in childhood it was often a terror of faith, violence, and not an example of love. It is a memento for many of us.

God wants our cooperation. God sees even in secret. God likes our faithfulness, perseverance, sincerity, and humanity… Therefore, let’s know God in heartseart and through love in humility let’s open the door to him in our actions. Jesus, Mary, and Joseph lived in the silence of Nazareth. And everyone fulfilled their mission in their own time. Challenge? Memento? Addressing? Yes, to each of us.