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January 11, 2020“He must increase; I must decrease.”
The spiritual life demands we ask this important question: “What kind of life does God intend for us humans? In God’s view, what would a life well-lived look like?” It is easy to say what it does not look like. A woman in Haiti once told me, “I spend all day looking for food, water and firewood for my family.” I know that this is not the life God intends for his children. If our resources were fairly shared, there would is enough food, water and firewood for everyone. No one should have to spend their entire life in search of basis sustenance and survival. God created humans for higher purposes; to seek truth and beauty, to write books and symphonies, to find cures for deadly diseases, to use our God-given gifts to contribute to the building up of the Kingdom of God, and especially to enter into loving and life-giving relationships that lead to growth in freedom, compassion and virtue.
But, alas, we are sinners, and sometimes, as the first reading from 1 John tells us, “sin is deadly.” Sometimes, as the reading cautions, we humans fall under the influence of the “power of the Evil One,” We are prone to create idols and invest our lives in the very things that make living the life God intends for us impossible. And in this dark turn towards sin and idolatry, we cut ourselves off from the peace and joy that we offered to us during the Christmas season when hope comes into the world through the birth of an infant child.
Understanding the kind of life God intends for us is one thing. However, the greater question that should concern us is: How do we learn to live the life God intends for us?” In today’s Gospel reading, John the Baptist offers the best possible answer to this central spiritual question. “Jesus must increase. I must decrease.” In other words, all our thoughts and actions must be directed toward increasing Jesus’ presence and influence in our lives. Jesus must increase, and we must decrease; decrease our self-importance and reliance on the things that will never lead to fullness of life that God offers us, in Christ, through the Spirit. As Jesus increases and we decrease, we can live the life Gods intends for us; a life marked by love, joy, kindness, generosity, reconciliation, humility, wisdom, and a peace the world cannot give.
