Today’s Gospel
John answered, saying to them all, I indeed baptize you with water; but one mightier than I comes, the lace of whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire. – Luke 3:16
Reflection
John the Baptist was the one who paved the way for the Lord. He baptized people of that time and preached the gospel of the kingdom of heaven. He only baptized them with water, but he couldn’t do the work Jesus was going to do. Only the Lord Jesus could do the work of redeeming mankind through crucifixion.
I saw such a passage in a spiritual book, “The work done by John and that done by Jesus were not alike as well as of different natures. It is from this that one determines whether or not he is God. The work of Jesus was to initiate, to continue, to conclude, and to bring to fruition. He carried out each of these steps, whereas the work of John was no more than making a beginning. In the beginning, Jesus spread the gospel and preached the way of repentance, and then went on to baptize man, heal the sick, and cast out demons. In the end, He redeemed mankind from sin and completed His work for the entire age. He also went about in every place, preaching to man and spreading the gospel of the kingdom of heaven. In this regard He and John were alike, the difference being that Jesus ushered in a new age and brought the Age of Grace to man. From His mouth came the word on what man should practice and the way that man should follow in the Age of Grace, and in the end, He finished the work of redemption. John could never have carried out this work. And so it was Jesus who did the work of God Himself, and it is He who is God Himself, and who directly represents God” (“The Mystery of the Incarnation (1)”). It can be seen that to distinguish God’s work from man’s work, the key is to see whether it can bring to us the way of life rather than how long one has worked.
