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The Second Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A)

Today’s first reading from Isaiah (49:3, 5-6) speaks of God’s servant… a mysterious figure that in hindsight, we now know is fulfilled in the person of Jesus Christ. Through this servant, the broken and divided kingdom of Israel will be reunited with the nations (those who are not Israelites, from every other nation).

It is too little, the Lord says, for you to be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and restore the survivors of Israel; I will make you a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth. (Is 49:6)

In the time of Jesus, only 3 of the original 12 tribes of Israel were among those called “Jews” (those from Judah, Benjamin, and Levi) because the other tribes – before Isaiah came onto the scene – had split off and formed their own kingdom, which was eventually destroyed and exiled by Assyria to the surrounding Gentile nations. These tribes were then intermixed and intermarried among the Gentiles in such a way that they eventually lost their identity as Israelites.

In order to re-gather and restore all 12 tribes of Israel (and not just his contemporary kinsmen, the Jews), Jesus must be made known among the Gentiles (a word meaning “nations”), among whom the other lost tribes were scattered centuries ago!

God’s covenant promises to Israel turn out to be the very instrument by which the whole world is saved! Of course, God knew this all along. Divine providence, in its inscrutable ways, works for our good in ways that we could never have dreamed (Cf. Romans 8:28).

In the Gospel today, St. John the Baptist declares the colorblind nature of our redemption: “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (Jn 1:29). In the New Covenant, anyone who is baptized receives the gift of adoption into God’s family. No longer is this privilege marked out by one’s racial heritage. In like manner, one should be a Catholic not because his or her parents were Catholic, but because Catholicism is true, because of the personal decision to embrace Jesus Christ as the King of kings, the Lord of lords.

Faith is a personal act – the free response of the human person to the initiative of God who reveals himself. (Catechism of the Catholic Church, no. 166)

In the Catholic Church – God’s covenant family – Israel is redeemed in union with all the nations. Humanity is restored once again as a united international family. Every family shares a name and a nature. In the Church, we share the name of the Blessed Trinity as we sign ourselves: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We drink of the same Spirit, who gives to us a new nature in baptism and ever renews that nature through the other sacraments, especially in the Holy Eucharist.