Isaiah 49:3, 5-6 1 Corinthians 1:1-3 John 1:29-34
"Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world. “
These words are spoken in today’s gospel by John the Baptist as he sees Jesus coming toward him. The sins of the world… the whole world. According to John, God thinks in terms of the whole of humankind. In Jesus, God’s saving love reaches out to all of humanity.
In the world as polarized as ours, this is an idea worth pondering. In the world divided so often into “us" v. “them,” it's good to attend to the reality that God does not see those walls between us. Between people of different colors, different religions, different political positions. We are all, all of us brothers and sisters, all sinners and yet all loved by God.
There are those folks, people with a following and a microphone, who would divide us, often for their own gain. Beware of those who build walls instead of bridges, who try to claim superiority for the color of their skin or the religion in which they worship. They do not speak for God. They do not speak truth. In John the Baptist’s words we see the truth: that God’s love reaches out to all of us equally. So should ours.
by: Pat Schnee