In today’s passage, John the Baptist is describing the fabulous reality of Christ in the flesh, among the people. It’s a familiar story; variations of it appear in all four gospels. There’s something really comforting about those biblical stories we’ve heard so many times. Whether it’s a reading we hear in church, or we’re working with our own Bibles at home, those stories begin, and we think, oh yes, I know how this one goes. Like the liturgy we’re used to experiencing on Sundays, there’s a rightness to it that feels good.
But John the Baptist, although he had a special calling from God since before he was born, was also just a real person who was awestruck at the presence and magnificence of Christ in the midst of his ordinary world. Maybe we have something more to learn from him. The old stories are great, but perhaps we need to still feel the wonder at the power and grace they tell. John was amazed, and we should be, too, at the miracle of God with us, right here in our everyday lives.
Revealing God, let us keep on feeling the joy, reverence and strength we receive from your presence in our daily life. Amen. — AMG