Called, Revealed, and Sent

From the very beginning, God’s plan was not only to repair what had been broken by sin, but to draw all people back to Himself. Sin fractured our relationship with God, with one another, and even with creation itself. Left to ourselves, we could not restore what was lost.

The prophet Isaiah speaks into this longing when he tells us that God formed His servant even before birth. Israel is gathered back to God, not for its own sake alone, but for a greater purpose. The Lord says, “I will make you a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.” From the beginning, God’s plan was never narrow. Election was always ordered toward mission.

This is an important shift. God gathers His people so that they might be sent. Being chosen is not about privilege. It is about responsibility. Israel is restored so that the world might see the light of God’s saving work.

In today’s Gospel, that mission comes into sharp focus. John the Baptist sees Jesus approaching and declares, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.” This is the first public identification of who Jesus is and what He has come to do.

John does not present Jesus as a political liberator or a moral teacher. He presents Him as a sacrifice. The Lamb is the one whose life will be offered so that sin can be removed and communion with God restored. What began as promise in Isaiah now begins to take flesh in history.

John also tells us something important about how Jesus is revealed. He admits that he did not know Him at first. It is only when the Spirit descends and remains upon Jesus that John understands. Revelation is not something we figure out on our own. God makes Himself known, and He does so through concrete signs in history.

This brings us back again to Baptism.

The Spirit descending upon Jesus at the Jordan is not only a moment of revelation. It is a moment of preparation. From this point forward, Baptism becomes the ordinary way God brings people into Christ’s saving work. The waters that Jesus enters become the waters through which others will pass.

Saint Paul, writing to the Corinthians, addresses his letter “to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be holy.” Notice the language. He does not say they will someday be sanctified. He says they are sanctified. Something real has already happened to them.

This is what Baptism does. It does not merely symbolize a change. It brings about a change. Through Baptism, we are united to Christ, cleansed from sin, and made holy. To be sanctified means to be set apart for God, to belong to Him, and to share in His life.

But sanctification is never an end in itself. Just as Israel was gathered to be a light to the nations, those who are baptized are called and sent. Holiness is not separation from the world, but a new way of being in it. We are made holy so that Christ can be made visible through us.

The Second Sunday of Ordinary Time reminds us that the Christian life unfolds in this rhythm. We are called. We are revealed. We are sent. The Lamb of God has taken away the sin of the world, and through Baptism, we are drawn into that saving work and entrusted with its continuation.