Our call to holiness

Has anyone ever expressed a particular interest in you and your gifts and then held out expectations of you that surpassed what you thought you were capable of or willing to fulfill? A parent, teacher, boss, or spouse perhaps? This can be a daunting experience that makes us wonder if this person really knows us. Our reluctance, and perhaps even active resistance, likely comes more from the fear of failure than the imposition of someone else's agenda for us.

The scripture passages for this Second Sunday of Ordinary Time should cause us to examine what may cause us to shrink from the call to holiness that our Lord continually and patiently makes to us. Isaiah looks directly into our eyes and into our hearts and expresses our Lord's desire for us. It is not enough for Him that the children of Israel serve to recover their inheritance, but he rather invites and encourages all of His children to bring His light to the entire world. The mission is much larger than once understood and his chosen ones are now understood to be all who answer his call. That is, of course, you and me, just as Paul describes us as being sanctified in Christ Jesus, through whom we live and move and have our being.

The psalmist hears this and is filled with gratitude to the Lord for this opportunity. Here am I, Lord; I come to do your will. This is not sung with any sense of remorse or foreboding of some impending failure. It is expressed with confidence and joy in what the Lord has done for him, giving him everything necessary to achieve His purpose. Will we sing this psalm with the same sense of God given purpose?

What has the baptism of our Lord to do with this? It is about the reception and acceptance of mission. The Baptist clearly knew who his cousin Jesus was but the revelation of the fullness of his Lord's divinity or his mission had not yet been revealed to him. The immense implications of the incarnation of God into the created world is simply beyond the capacity of the creature that is man to draw from his own imagination. It must be revealed and John, although predestined to be the prophet who announces the Christ, received the revelation over the time to which he was subjected; just as you and I do.

We should not be discouraged because we do not now understand the full scope of God (we can't) or the future that may be ours, embraced by Him, as his servants. We should, however, yearn deeply for this like nothing else. To desire to know Him and His will for us should be our paramount concern. To love our Lord necessarily requires us to trust Him and to trust in our love of Him. It is with this heart that we can sing, Here am I, Lord; I come to do your will.