Just a word before we go...Second Sunday in Ordinary Time...January 18, 2026
In our Gospel this weekend we hear John the Baptist confirm the divinity of Jesus when he declared “Behold the Lamb of God.” The recognition of Jesus as divine while he was clearly human informed the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry; it was a call to bring his message of healing and reconciliation to the world.
I have a memory of sitting in this sanctuary as the lector, probably in 2017, when the presider intoned, “Behold, the Lamb of God…” Fr. John was also seated in the sanctuary, unable to celebrate from his wheelchair, but present nonetheless. I experienced a profound realization that he, Fr. John, was at that moment a lamb of God; he who was suffering and who had poured out his life for the people of God. Fr. John, whose last name Baran means “lamb” in some Eastern European languages, exemplified the humility that John the Baptist did, not coming for himself but as one preparing the way for someone greater. Such is the power of Jesus and his message.
Humility is the key here, yet it is a humility that is a star, a light, a signpost for the one who is to come, who has come, who will come again. Neither John the Baptist nor John Baran dismissed their nature or the value of their own vocations, yet both acknowledged and bowed before the awesome dignity of the One God.
One of my favorite theologians has written, “ the mystery of our lives is that we are created (human) in the divine image and are called to become an image of the divine.” This is our story, our origin and our destiny...John the Baptist knew this, John Baran knew this...do we? Do we open ourselves to the gift of our lives and give thanks to the Creator who gives us life? Do we celebrate the beauty of creation, of our families, of the wonder of our world, despite its entanglements and pitfalls? Do we possess the humility to reach beyond our personal alliances, prejudices and preconceptions to recognize our common dependence upon God and our interdependence with one another?
John the Baptist and John Baran realized that we begin and end with God, and that the spark of God within each of us is guiding us toward the eternal life that awaits us all.