John the Baptist shows us true humility by pointing his followers to Jesus. Hunter D’Armond, SJ, reflects on this humility and our own mission to bring others to Jesus and get out of the way. Based on the readings for Sunday, January 17, 2021.
Hear me out, if John the Baptist played baseball, I’m sure he’d be a catcher.
Hi, I’m Hunter D’Armond and this is my one-minute reflection.
I have a great respect for catchers in baseball. They have to block balls thrown in the dirt, call the right pitches, and on top of all that they spend hours crouched down in uncomfortable positions. The Latin root of “humility” is “humilitas,” meaning “close to the ground,” and by that definition, catchers are baseball’s embodiment of humility.
In today’s gospel John the Baptist exemplifies profound humility as he points his own disciples towards Jesus and says, “Behold, the Lamb of God,” and then they go and follow Jesus. That’s the last we hear of John the Baptist in this passage!
John’s mission then is ours today: to point and lead those in our lives towards Jesus with the grace of humility. And just as the catcher calls the pitch and leaves the pitcher to deliver, so too is our mission to lead others to Christ and leave the rest up to him.