Third Sunday of Advent
December 14, 2014
John 1:6-8,19-28
"I am not the Messiah (John 1:20)."
Because how our world and society
work, it is just impossible to have all to stand as number one. At the Olympic
swimming competition, it is absurd to declare all swimmer as gold medalists.
Or, in corporate world, a company simply collapses if it has more CEO than
ordinary employees. Because of this structure, only few can reach the
summit, while the bulk of humanity has to be satisfied occupying positions somewhere lower.
The good news is though we cannot become the commander-in-chief, we are called
to thrive to be the best.
However, to become the second best is one of
the most difficult tasks to do. This is because we are facing two-sided
temptation: one side is our desire to be ahead of everyone else and sometimes,
at the expense of others. “Why would we settle for second if we can come up as
number one?” Runners are encouraged to compete on the tracks but if the rivalries
go beyond the lines, then it turns out to be unhealthy and even dangerous. And,
the other side is mediocrity. “If we cannot reach the top, then why would we
try to excel anyway?” A business will not prosper if only the CEO is working so
hard yet the rest of the company just siting lazily. Obviously, these are not the
right attitudes.
Our today’s Gospel tells us of
John the Baptist. He is personification of the ‘second best’. He knew that he
had all the charism and vigor to draw people to himself. He could have been a
superstar preacher and even a political leader, if he had proclaimed himself as
the Messiah. Yet, he did not. He knew well that the Messiah is Jesus and ‘to
untie the strap of His shoes’ John was not even worthy. That makes him ‘second’
to Jesus, the best man of the bridegroom. But, what makes him ‘best’ is that another
thing. He was well aware he was not the One, and instead looking for another
job or settling for less, he simply did what was possible to serve the true
Messiah and to prepare the way for His coming. He possessed that giant humility
to accept his identity as a second man, and he displayed a massive commitment
to his vocation as the best man.
Like John, we are not Christ. In
our daily life, we are not holding the highest position in the office, or becoming
priests in a parish, but it does not mean that we have to be mediocre.
Thousands of faithful troop toward Santo Domingo Church, our church in Metro
Manila, for Sunday masses. If the priests alone serve these people without dedicated
lay ministers and lectors, they could have fainted anytime. Definitely there
are a lot of ways to be our best despite not being on the top position. Let me
share you this story of Edmund Halley, the astronomer who discovered Halley
comet.
We are familiar with story of
Isaac Newton’s discovery of the law of gravity because an apple fell, but it
was actually Halley who was virtually responsible for Newton’s theories
becoming famous. Halley challenged Newton to come up with his own theories to
explain the falling of the apple and even he evaluated Newton’s mathematical
works. Not only did he encourage Newton to create his opus, Mathematical
Principles of Natural Philosophy, but he edited the book, supervised its
publication, and financed its printing, even though Newton was actually richer.
Halley received little credit. Halley could have stolen the idea or let Newton
solve the problem by his own, but Halley knew well that he was the best man of
Newton and certainly the best friend would not fall into that cheap temptation.
It is never easy to become
‘second best’, but learning from Edmund Halley and John the Baptist, we can
thrive also to become our own version of ‘second best’.
Bro. Valentinus Bayuhadi Ruseno,
OP
Inspirational..
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