You Were Set Apart for This

Deacon Mike
Sunday, Jan. 18, 2026 – 2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time-Year A, Cycle 2  
Isaiah 49:3, 5-6, Psalm 40:2, 4, 7-10, 1 Corinthians 1:1-3, John 1:29-34 

In our first reading, we heard, “You are My servant through whom I show My glory.” Now, it’s important to know where this comes from. This reading is from what’s known as deutero-Isaiah, or Second Isaiah.

The first portion of Isaiah was written in Jerusalem, and the focus of that part of the book is to warn the Israelites that if they keep going the way they’re going, it’s not going to end well. Deutero-Isaiah was written towards the end of their exile in Babylon, the result of them not listening to First Isaiah. But it’s intended to be words of encouragement, a reminder that the reason God chose Israel in the first place was for them to show the glory of God.

Now, this is also part of the suffering servant account in deutero-Isaiah, and the Israelites in exile in Babylon realize that, in their suffering, God is still with them. And God reminds them that their purpose, even in their suffering, is to demonstrate to the world around them the glory of God.

Now, fast forward to our Gospel reading, and we hear John the Baptist. Notice our statue of John the Baptist there on the left on the high altar. Notice where his finger is pointing. He’s pointing to the arch. “Behold the Lamb of God.” Any Israelite, or Jew, who would have heard “Behold the Lamb of God” instantaneously would have thought of the fulfillment of the promise made to Abraham, when Abraham was about to kill his son and God stays his hand and says, “Do not harm the child. I will provide the sacrifice.”

And the early Church, hearing all this, immediately identifies Jesus with a fulfillment of that suffering servant deutero-Isaiah talks about, that here is the Lamb of God, and He will show the glory of God on a cross in His suffering. Now, in God’s infinite wisdom, the story doesn’t end there.

Because if you will notice in our second reading, when St. Paul is writing to the Church of Corinth, he says, “You who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, have been called to be holy.” What does holy mean? Holy means to be set aside for a sacred purpose. That’s why we have holy vessels. They’re set aside for a specific purpose.

Now, every one of us who’s baptized has been anointed to be priest, prophet, and king. And every one of those three roles is designed for exactly the same purpose as was given the Israelites, to point to the glory of God. We have been set aside for a sacred purpose to do exactly what the Israelites were chosen for, to demonstrate to the world around us the glory of God.

Look at St. John the Baptist. His one role in life was to point to Jesus. “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.” But look at the Blessed Mother. She had exactly the same purpose. “Do whatsoever He tells you,” pointing to Jesus. The early Church saw in Mary a symbol of the moon. St. Anselm referred to her as the Mysterium Lunae.

What he said was that the moon has no light of its own. What we see in the moon is a reflection of the sun. In the same way, Mary reflects the light of Christ in everything she does. But the Church saw in itself that same reflection. This is why we say there is one holy, Catholic, and apostolic Church. Not because the Church is holy in and of itself, but because it has been set aside to reflect the light of Christ, to point to Jesus.

That’s our job. And guess what? You are the Church. You’re the ones who are supposed to be pointing to Jesus. Ask yourselves, how many times have you witnessed to the glory of God? Spoken about the wonders of creation, the beauty of everything God has created, including all of us. How often have we seen ourselves as holy, as set aside in the service of God? How often have we just set aside the Lord’s Day for nothing other than serving God? That’s part of being set aside to be holy, keeping the Lord’s Day holy.

And how often have we demonstrated to the world around us that our lives point to God, especially to our children, in our homes, at work, in how we treat cashiers, waiters, Uber drivers? Our job is to point to Jesus. That’s why we’re here. That’s what God has set us aside to do. When we were baptized, we were sent out into the world to point to the glory of God. “I will make you a light to the nations to carry My salvation to the ends of the earth.”

Let’s start doing that. And Jesus, I trust in You.

Amen.