January 16, 2011

2nd Sunday Ordinary Time Cycle A

Isaiah 49:3,5-6; Psalm 40:2,4,7-10; 1 Corinthians 1:1-3; John 1:29-34

What’s wrong with second place? What's wrong with playing second fiddle?

First place is worth fighting for, isn’t it?

Don’t we want our kids to be all they can be?

To be the best, achieve the most, get the highest marks, get into the best schools, live in the best neighborhoods?

What’s wrong with that after all?

I guess the greatest second fiddle of all time is John the Baptist.

I’m going to tell you something about John that some might not know.

John the Baptist had disciples.

He had people who followed him just like the disciples we know so well followed Jesus.

They were devoted to their master, John, but they faced a crisis.

When Jesus came along, John says, "Here’s the guy I was telling you about. Leave me and follow him."

John could well have ignored his calling to point to Jesus and had a great ministry. It’s great when people follow you and it could have gone to his head.

But it didn’t, the moment Jesus arrived on the scene John pointed him out and took a back seat.

We don’t even read about John’s death in John’s gospel, he just disappears.

And that’s what we learn from John.

We learn from John how to point.

When someone goes hunting for grouse or pheasants, the best thing he can take with him is a dog.

A dog trained to point.

Pointers can smell and hear the game and they point towards it and the hunter knows where the bird is and can make the kill.

We Christians are the pointer dogs of the world!

Our job is to point the hunters to the prey - Jesus Christ.

The hunters of course are the seekers of truth.

The hunters are those on a quest for justice or peace.

The hunters are sometimes broken sinners whose lives are being flushed down the toilet.

The hunters are sometimes broken-hearted people.

They all need God.

John pointed people to them.

So are we to.

How then do we point, its all very well that I tell you this but what do we do is point to Jesus.

Remember that we should always play second fiddle to Jesus.

That means that we should allow Jesus to guide the way we handle things and not ourselves.

Jesus says that if we should follow him that we should deny ourselves.

It means that when some one who we don’t like so much or that we know is incredibly different from us shows up

that we should still reach out to them…even if it makes us uncomfortable – deny yourself.

This is the hard part though, it is so much easier and more comfortable to be alright with our personal spirituality and not to worry that others also need Christ.

You and I stand in second place.

We’ll never get higher.

Because Jesus is in first place.

Our job is to point to him.

To be witnesses. (Acts 1:8)

It’s okay to play second fiddle, when first chair first is Jesus Christ