The Day Before

A Reflection on the Gospel for January 19th, 2019:
​Second Sunday in Ordinary Time

JOHN 1:29-34

29 The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, "Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! 30 This is he of whom I said, `After me comes a man who ranks before me, for he was before me.' 31 I myself did not know him; but for this I came baptizing with water, that he might be revealed to Israel." 32 And John bore witness, "I saw the Spirit descend as a dove from heaven, and it remained on him. 33 I myself did not know him; but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, `He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.' 34 And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God."

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If I come around a corner into a room where people are mid-conversation and someone is saying, ‘The next day I…’, one sure thing is, I wish I’d entered the room a moment earlier to hear what happened the day before. I hate missing the setup of a good story.


What had happened the day before was that John was hanging out just west of the Jordan River on the eastern shoulder of the Mount of Olives, near Bethany, where Mary, Martha, and Lazarus lived. He had landed himself in a conversation with some Levites and priests that the Pharisees had sent John’s way from Jerusalem on a fact finding mission. The question they carried with them was one about identity. ‘Who are you?’ is what they all wanted to know. John answers them by saying, ‘You’re asking the wrong question. It’s not about who I am. It’s about who He is.’


And the next day, he’s standing in the Jordan and Jesus walks toward him. And John answers the question.


The Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world
After me in history, before me in Time
After me in the river, before me in Relevance
Resting place of the Spirit of God
Fountainhead of the presence of the Spirit in us
The Son of God


The day before, when John had explained to them that they were asking the wrong question — that they should be asking about Him — he quietly slipped in something else. John told them, ‘Among you stands one whom you do not know.’ Was Jesus right there, in Bethany listening to the fact finders, and they couldn’t see Him for who He was? The next day John says of himself, ‘I myself did not know him.’ He said it twice. He grows up with Jesus bar Joseph, but not until this moment when his cousin steps into the Jordan does John know Jesus the Lamb, the Fountainhead, the Son. And he knows it as he stands in the river, doing what his Father told him to do. ‘Baptize people in the water and wait. Wait till you see my Spirit. He will descend, land, and remain on my Son. The whole reason I’m sending you to stand in the water is to make Him visible, to make Him clear, to make Him known. To Israel. To yourself even.’  And then John says, ‘I myself have seen… this is the Son of God.’


So this is where it comes down to me in this moment. How often do I move through the ins and outs of my day and miss Him? How often do I walk right on by as He is waiting for me to see Him, waiting for me to point Him out to someone else who can’t see Him yet?


Help me to ask the right question, Jesus. To face You and see who You are. And to turn and look at others in the light of what I’ve seen.



Noreen Smith

Photo by Cristian Palmer on Unsplash

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