Two-Minute Reflection by Steph Rogers for the Second Sunday in Ordinary Time 2023.
“The Messiah who the Israelites were spending their whole lives waiting for, is here. Jesus Christ is here, waiting for you.”
- Two-Minute Homily Transcript
Two-Minute Homily Transcript
Author: Archdiocese of BrisbaneHave you ever waited for something? When I was pregnant with my first born, we didn’t find out the gender and throughout my whole pregnancy I was so ardently waiting to find out if my baby would be a boy or a girl. At the hospital, when the doctor announced that she was a girl. There was this new feeling I experienced that finally I knew her. I’d known her for the past nine past months sure, but I didn’t know who she was until I met her and held her in my arms.
The people of Israel had dedicated their whole lives explicitly waiting for the promised Messiah. Generations upon generations waiting for the one who was to come and save them. And finally, he was revealed. This is the moment we hear about in today’s Gospel, as Jesus walks towards John the Baptist. This Gospel is so interesting because twice, John says, I did not know him. John dedicated his life preparing the way for the messiah, he knew every single prophecy about him, he knew the scriptures, he listened to God, yet he emphasised, I did not know him.
Maybe for us today, we know so much about our faith and our Church, we’ve heard so much about God growing up, that we have fallen into the temptation of just saying, yeah yeah, I know Jesus, and have actually missed out on encountering Jesus personally. We can encounter Jesus daily through the Sacraments of The Eucharist and Reconciliation. We can encounter Jesus through his living word. We can encounter Jesus through silence or music or any time we bother to pray and have a conversation with him.
You don’t have to wait anymore. The Messiah who the Israelites were spending their whole lives waiting for, is here. Jesus Christ is here, waiting for you.