Please read the Scripture passage before the homily.
The Gospel according to John starts out telling us that grace and truth have come to us through Jesus Christ (John 1:17). We may ask what the truth is about John the Baptist. The Jewish authorities from Jerusalem sent an investigating team to learn the truth.
The truth about John is not what the people or the authorities think about John. In fact, John tells us more about what he is not than about who he is. He is not the Christ; he is not Elijah; he is not the prophet. He is simply a voice. He also has a mission, to baptize with water and so call people to repent of their sins.
John was less than a slave. A slave would bend before the master and untie his shoes for him, but John was not worthy enough even to do that humiliating job. He is a voice, a voice in he desert, far from the comfortable cities, a voice lonesome in the desert, yet a voice compelling people to gout into these deserts.
John baptized in several different places. One of these was across the Jordan in Bethany where there was abundant water. This is in the territory of Jordan. The places of Jesus’ life and times, the places of the Holy Land are spread throughout the ancient Middle East. The One God of our ancestors is calling us back together, uniting separated peoples into one people, uniting the Holy Land into a land of peace.
John the Evangelist wrote the Gospel to call all people to the truth about God and God’s dealings with us. Today we learned the truth about God’s messenger, John the Baptist. John will continue to play an important part in this first chapter. He will continue to preach and point out Jesus. He will also succeed in directing his disciples to Christ. When his disciples meet Jesus, they come to believe in Jesus.
This first chapter of John’s gospel starts of, as does Genesis, with what happened in the beginning. It now shows us the new week, seven days of the new creation. The passage we have considered today is the first day of this new week. Verse 29 speaks of the second day; verse 35 describes the third day; verse 41 and 43 describe the fourth and fifth days. The third day after this brings us to the end of the week and the wedding at Cana in Galilee. In this new week, we shall see the disciples of Jesus come to a firm faith in Jesus.