Have you as a lay person recognized that you are a priest? Every person who is baptized is anointed priest, prophet, and royalty. That means you received some unique communication today as you paid attention to these scriptures.

What did you hear? How has Our Beloved God touched your soul?

If we were all in the same room, would pause right now and ask you to turn to the person next to you and take a few minutes to share the wisdom that God presented to you. Because you are a light to the nations, as Isaiah says in the first reading.

The Most High communicates directly to each of us. For me, a picture might appear suddenly in my mind. Or out of the blue I start singing lyrics that are a divine message in the moment.  I might hear one word in the Gospel that draws me back to the Scriptures later in the day. These are just a few of the ways we receive God's grace of conversation with The Most High.

We sometimes forget that the Trinity gives every baptized person the ability to preach,
just as John the Baptist preached. Last week we celebrated the Baptism of Jesus, and today we are again at the Jordan River where Jesus is pointed out by John.

Look! There he is! It's the Lamb of God!  

How do I point to Jesus with my life?

Am I willing to name when I see Christ doing something in another person?

Look! she's feeding the homeless.

Look! She just helped that woman with her groceries. Wasn't that nice?

Look! See how beautifully that woman is dressed today, and a stranger told her so?

We have opportunities all day long to point out ways that Jesus is alive and working, all around us.

John cries out, “Behold the Lamb of God.”

Do I approach the liturgy with eager anticipation to behold God—with expectations to have a genuine encounter with the Most High?

“Behold the Lamb of God” we hear at communion.  Behold.

Hold.  

Hold God in your hands.

Savor Christ in the throne room of your mouth. Hold the Lamb of God.

BE the Lamb of God to others.

And yes, we are worthy to approach this table because Christ died for us. Jesus makes us worthy.

And our world needs us to hold Christ and point out Christ’s actions to others. This is a service we give to the world.

The last line in today's first reading is God's master plan: that salvation in Jesus may reach to the ends of the earth! The first line in the first reading tells us our role in this plan: The Lord said to me (to you): you are my servant. A primary duty of a priest is to serve.

So how am I being Christ’s servant when I point out where I see Jesus in our world, just like John the Baptist did?

Isaiah was speaking to a discouraged community. We live in times where people all around us are discouraged.   As God's servants—God’s priests—we have a duty to invite people to LOOK!

God's message of love and hope is right here, in the communities we touch—the people we randomly meet throughout the day.

The Responsorial Psalm invites us to say yes to this role:  we say, “here I am Lord.” Yes. I am here and I wait on your direction. One of my favorite scriptures, from Psalm 123, uses a beautiful feminine image for God: we wait for God’s direction like a maidservant looking at the hand of her mistress (not the masculine Master).  We can think about God as our Empress.

Oh, God, be my Empress, my queen, my beloved, who I long to serve.  I wait for the gesture of your hand, and I WILL come when you call, and do as you say. As today’s psalm says, “behold ! I come.”

And I don’t come to God alone. Paul says it this way in today’s 2nd reading: we are called to be holy, with all those everywhere who call upon the name of Jesus.

When we receive Christ, he brings everybody. Every person an image of the Most High Trinity. The royal Trinity.

So what are you going to do about it? How will you serve, and preach, and name Christ for others today? How will you hold?

I will end with a paraphrase of the final words in today’s second reading: Grace to you and peace from God our Empress and Jesus Christ, our best friend and constant companion.