If you’ve ever paid attention to product reviews, often you’ll find a fascinating mix of two different groups: those who hate whatever the product is, and those who really love it. Certainly there is a mix of those who fall in the middle but it seems that the large majority fall into the extremes. There are those who really, really hate a product. Often you can find these reviews testifying to just how bad this product is. It broke after so long. Perhaps it never worked right, or worse, perhaps it never has worked at all. So, there is indication of just how much the person that is reviewing it is frustrated, and often there is an indicative low score.
The flip side of that is the camp that really wants you to buy a particular product. They feel it is the greatest thing ever. This thing, whatever it is, is the realization of all of their hopes and dreams. They have never seen anything greater, it worked perfectly, and even continues to work perfectly after having it for so long. They give it the highest markings and the highest ratings, because they feel that their life has been entirely changed by what they have encountered. They will never be the same because this particular product has come their way, and they cannot easily picture life without it any longer.
As much as we might think about products, though, often times we ourselves write reviews for things that aren’t online. We might speak about one another, and we can either give glowing reviews or a scathing statement. Perhaps when we are faced with circumstances we can speak similarly. Yet, we may not often think about the ways that we are being invited to testify and to give testimony to the one Son of God in our very words and actions- and we can think of it much like a review, of sorts. Do we point the way towards the one true Son of God or do we point our way somewhere else, or even perhaps to ourselves?
To begin to approach this question, we should start with the first reading, which is taken from the book of the prophet Isaiah. Even though we have left the Christmas season, we are not yet done with this book. It starts off in a different theme, but it shows a particular role that Isaiah is taking on as an instrument of God. At the outset, Isaiah says “The Lord said to me: you are my servant, Israel through whom I show my glory.” Clearly, what the Lord says at the outset is that he reminds Isaiah of the fac that he is an instrument and servant of his. That is truly a high and noble calling, and yet there is more to this story as well. When the Lord asks Him to manifest and to tell about His glory, it isn’t going to be something just one-sided. Rather, it is going to be by the Lord that he tells about the glory of God- and yet that same glory is going to be something that lifts Isaiah up as well. Thus, whenever the Lord is speaking to Isaiah, he does remind him of his glory, but there is also the reality that this glory is truly going to become something magnificent, that it is going to be a glory that not only raises up tribes, but it also restores Israel, and proclaims hope as well.
The responsorial psalm speaks in kind of the way that there is a response on Isaiah’s part to tell the Lord that he is there and that he is willing to respond to the call of the Lord. Yet, it is not just in the moment that he is speaking, but it is something that He consistently does, and continues to proclaim the Lord, and to wait on His response and the bringing about of that glory.
Then, we move on to the first letter of Saint Paul to the Corinthians. This is actually the very beginning of that letter, so it is a sort of prologue that is telling about the address of that letter. It in fact a sort of beginning, and perhaps when you heard it, it may have sounded as if the letter is just getting started- and then our selected passage ends. Yet, there is actually something important here, because when he speaks about who he is addressing the letter to, it reminds the Corinthians that they are to be a people sanctified by Christ Jesus- and that they are to be called holy. The reality of this is that it is something of a very high calling, if they think of what Paul is saying. This is a reminder that there is something powerful to this call, and Saint Paul, even though it is only a greeting, it is still a reminder of where they are called and what they are to be!
Finally, we arrive at the Gospel according to John. This is very shortly into the beginning of the Gospel, and yet, it starts in what feels like it is the period after the childhood and into the public manifestation of Jesus as He begins ministry. Yet, the important part here is that it shows John the Baptist and his role in clarity. John the Baptist very clearly speaks as to the reality that he is only a prophet- and that he is not the Messiah. This is important because it is something that was a confusing point at the time, and yet, Christ was in their midst. So, when there are those who point at John the Baptist and speak to him being the Messiah, for all intents and purposes, it means that he is pointing to someone else. Further, it shows how much he wants to provide evidence. He speaks about how the Spirit comes down from heaven, and how it came to be bestowed on Jesus, but also upon John whenever He found himself being told to notice the one that is going to be bestowing the new baptism- meaning that this one was actually the Messiah.
Yet, as we consider all of these things, we can see one fundamental similarity between Isaiah and John. When they spoke about the Lord and always worked towards His glory. No matter what they did or how they spoke it was always to the glory of God. When they worked it was always for the glory of God, and for those who needed to be led into relationship with God.
Yet, there is a question right here- whose glory are you working for in your own life? Now certainly, there are so many different things that we can work to glorify in our own lives. Sometimes there are religious reasons to point to and to glorify. Sometimes there are things that are less so, perhaps of the world, perhaps in our own nature, fame, fortune, and all sorts of things. Perhaps we can even seek glory for ourselves. And yet, we know that all of these things do not deserve glory. They do not deserve God’s place in our lives. They are not actually going to provide us with anything that lasts or are important.
And that is the challenge when we hear of Isaiah and John the Baptist. They are the ones that are pointing us to God and towards Christ- and towards the Messiah. They are the ones telling us about the one who is to come. And this isn’t just because there is some sort of selfish motivation- but because they are trying to lead us closer to God. This is the reality of what they are doing- they are trying to point us to God.
Further, when we read Saint Paul and his first letter to the Corinthians, it is a reminder- when John the Baptist and when Isaiah are speaking about and testifying about God- why are they doing this? Because we are a people called to be holy- and a people that are claimed by God in a specific and very real way. Thus, whenever we hear about why they bear testimony to God- it is because He is the one who is going to give us that grace to be holy- and to be sanctified in Christ Jesus. Thus we do need His Power and His grace.
Yet, there is one important point that I think is worth taking away from today: we should work to testify and to give witness to Christ in our every action and our life itself. We must be able to speak about our God in powerful and very real ways, so that much like Isaiah, we can speak about our own experience and how God has come to us, or perhaps like John the Baptist- and how God has revealed Himself through the Holy Spirit as well. Nonetheless, we are each called to be holy and to be sanctified. It is not just a product review, and it is not something that simple at all. Rather, what we are looking towards is Jesus Christ and how we are called to bear witness to Him in every time and every place. He is the one that we have been waiting for- and the one who calls us into light. Brothers and sisters, let us set about this work of bearing testimony to the one who is the Messiah and the one who has called us not only to show glory, but to share it as well.
