Our culture has reduced the Christmas season to one day, the 25th, and even more so that one day has been reduced to one or two hours for opening presents and eating a meal. Then for most families the celebration is all over. We have lost a lot in the reduction and commercialization of Christmas.
The Christmas season is twelve days long. Twelve days to renew our relationship with the Prince of Peace. In today’s Gospel John the Baptist is a pilgrim in the desert. He publicly identifies Jesus as the Lamb of God. That is a term that all practicing Jews from that time would have recognized immediately. Since we are not Jews from the first century, the term is sort of a code that we do not really understand. The Israelites were accustomed to the obligations of making constant sacrifices in the temple as sin offerings or thanksgiving offerings. John points to Jesus rather than to the temple or to a sacrificial animal or practice. Jesus is the new point of encounter for humans and God. Everything human and divine is united in the incarnation. Identifying and proclaiming was the culmination of John’s mission. It was the joy of his life. As Christians we have to same joy and the same mission.
The reading from John’s letter says God loves us so much through Jesus that we are children of God and that we will be untied to God. This is a new experience that purifies sin. No external animal sacrifice or practice necessary – only a new relationship with Jesus. In this Jubilee Year Pope Francis calls us all to live as pilgrims of hope and joy.
Christmas is twelve long days of celebrating and renewing our joy for being joined to God’s life through Jesus Christ and our mission to share that experience. We are pilgrims, like John the Baptist. Our mission is to prepare others, help them renounce sin, and proclaim the Prince of Peace, the Lamb of God.
Christmas with Easter is a way of life, a life of constant witness. Not just a few hours of one day a year!
‘He is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’
Now I have seen and testified that he is the Son of God.
Image: https://enactedword.com/2019/02/05/behold-the-lamb-of-god-john-129-34/