Breaking the Word

GOSPEL  READING:  John 1: 35-42

The calling of the apostles is presented in a different way in this Gospel when compared to the other three gospels. In the other gospels they were called while they were fishing or mending their nets near the sea of Galilee while here they are already the disciples of John the Baptist and it is he who is offering them an idea about following Jesus.

In John’s gospel the vocation has the following stages: 1) someone bears witness to Jesus, 2) listening or accepting the witness, 3) following the person whom one is searching 4) Jesus’ invitation to come and see and 5) remain with him. These stages are important in the vocation. All these stages add up to the experience of Jesus. Only when the experience is complete then there is a following. 

GOSPEL  READING: John 1:29-34

In this passage John is revealing one of the seven names that are given to Jesus in the first chapter of the Gospel of John. Here the name is “lamb of God”. Through this name the author is proposing the mission of Jesus. Jesus is to be the lamb that is going to be sacrificed and yet the lamb belongs to God. Jesus is going to be the messiah who will sacrifice his life for the salvation of all.

John the Baptist also bears witness to the descent of the Holy Spirit upon Jesus. He is an eye witness to the event of the coming of the Spirit. Coming of the Spirit has two purposes: one it distinguishes the Baptism given by Jesus from that of John the Baptist and the other is that this is the sign that Jesus will give baptism by the Spirit.