We are in the season of Advent, the time when we prepare for the feast of Christmas—the feast of the Light coming into the world. Everywhere we look, people prepare by hanging lights on trees and in their homes. Of course we want to celebrate Jesus, the Light of the World who wants to be with us! This is such good news. The Gospel for this Sunday starts with the words, "The beginning of the good news." We hear more about who Jesus is.
The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
In those words, we hear three names for the good news.
Jesus.
Christ.
Son of God.
JesusÂ
We know Jesus, of course. We know Jesus is the Light of the World. We know Jesus is the Good Shepherd who calls his sheep by name. We know this because he said so. But there are two other names here. What do they tell us?
ChristÂ
Christ means "anointed one." But what does "anointed" mean? Anointed means to pour holy oil on someone's head. When someone is anointed, it means that they are chosen, that they are special, that they belong to someone holy. Who is holy? God. God has chosen Jesus; Jesus belongs to God.
Son of God
When parents have children, they have sons and daughters. A son is a boy child. A daughter is a girl child. We can say that they belong together. They are family. Jesus is the Son of God. So he is a boy child; he belongs together with God; God is his family.
The Gospel says,
The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
It is just the beginning because there is much more good news.
Jesus is the Christ, the Anointed One, and he shares this anointing with us. At our Baptism, we are also anointed. The priest pours holy oil on our head. It is called Chrism...it is the Christ oil. We are anointed because we are chosen, we are special, we belong to someone holy.
Who chooses us? Who do we belong to?
Just like Jesus, we belong together with God. God is our family. We are sons and daughters of God. We are God's children.
How does this happen? In the Gospel this Sunday, we hear John the Baptist tell us,
I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit! The Holy Spirit comes to us in the waters of Baptism, making us children of God. This is Good News indeed!
We proclaim that Good News, arms up high: "I am a child of God!"
We whisper that Good News, bowing our head: "I am a child of God."
This can be our prayer this week.
