John the Baptist sees his cousin Jesus walking toward him and announces,
“Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.”
He baptizes Jesus and later says,
“I saw the Spirit come down like a dove from heaven and remain upon him.”
“Baptism of Jesus” by Giotto
Filled, through this baptism, with the Holy Spirit, Jesus goes out to preach and cure and, ultimately, to give his life on the cross.
With baptism, each Christian is filled with the Holy Spirit. As Paul says in the first letter to the Corinthians, we are “called to be holy.”
Holiness is not a static thing, not something we obtain and store up like a treasure. Holy is as holy does. Filled with the Holy Spirit, we are called, as Isaiah writes, to be “a light to the nations.”
When Isaiah writes, “My God is now my strength,” he is referring to Jesus as Savior, and he is referring to each of us.
In being “a light to the nations,” we need that strength because, like Jesus, we are living countercultural lives. We are compassionate in a hard-hearted world.
Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., whose holiday is Monday, quoted Isaiah in his great 1963 speech:
I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.
We, as a light to the world, are working to make that dream a reality.
Patrick T. Reardon
1.18.25
Written by : Patrick T. Reardon
For more than three decades Patrick T. Reardon was an urban affairs writer, a feature writer, a columnist, and an editor for the Chicago Tribune. In 2000 he was one of a team of 50 staff members who won a Pulitzer Prize for explanatory reporting. Now a freelance writer and poet, he has contributed chapters to several books and is the author of Faith Stripped to Its Essence. His website is https://patricktreardon.com/.