The term “influencer” has gained its prominence in our social media-driven culture and there are so many influencers on social media platforms. They’re not traditional celebrities but regular everyday folks with expertise or a passion for a specific niche. If their content is fun, useful, and issue-making, many people will follow their social media channels and they become social media celebrities. Does this create any income? Yes, it does. This is a serious business nowadays. For infants, toddlers, and their parents, Ms. Rachel, for example, would be a YouTube star. Since 2019, she has started creating educational videos for her toddler son who had speech difficulty, knowing that there were not that many useful videos available. She has more than 7 million subscribers and over 1 billion views.
One way or another, we have our influencer and we become one whether that influence is positive or negative. As followers of Jesus, we are definitely influenced by Jesus and his teachings. What about Jesus himself? Who was he influenced by? In today’s gospel, we see one person who would be a significant figure or influence in Jesus’ life. That is his strange and mysterious cousin St. John the Baptizer. He is a hermit living in the wilderness of Judea, eating locusts and wild honey. St. John plays a crucial role in two of Jesus’ life-changing events. The first one is the baptism of Jesus. St. John is the means to affirm and confirm Jesus of God’s inner presence. Jesus’ baptism is both personal and universal. We see his encounter with God’s presence dwelling in him which is expressed metaphorically in the voice coming from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.” This is indeed personal but also universal in that we too are to hear the voice from heaven that we are beloved. The second event that St. John has a huge impact on Jesus is his arrest. He is arrested for his uncompromising criticism of Herod Antipas for marrying his brother's ex-wife Herodias. We very much know how he dies. This tragic event prompts Jesus to embrace and own his vocation, continuing St. John's teaching of God's pervasive presence in everyone and everything. Yet, there is a missing puzzle piece that connects these two events where St. John plays a significant role. Jesus’ encounter with the Breath of God in his breath, embodying the experience of God’s indwelling presence is a costly one. It has an economic consequence that he has to “spend” time and “pay” attention to God’s presence. (This insight is from Clare Carlisle in her book, "Spinoza's Religion" on p. 24.) God is freely and omnipresently available but it isn’t free to be cultivated. One has to work on it. Any radical existential change is costly which makes it worth more than anything in this world. The Spirit thus drives Jesus to the wilderness where he faces all the inner voices that provoke his desire for sensual pleasure (turning stones to bread), honor (throwing himself from the top of the temple and angels protecting him), and wealth (bowing to the power that be), and accuse him for not having any of them. (Matthew 4:1-11) When the light of God shines upon our minds, it reveals every single desire we may have. The wilderness is the time and place where Jesus candidly steps back and sees them for what they are. This temptation isn’t really a type of temptation of choosing Satan over God or whether the presence of God is compatible with sensual pleasure, honor, and wealth. The issue is that they distract one from being wholly present in God’s presence by creating anxiety and fear between security that they may seemingly bring and insecurity of lacking them. This place of the wilderness is a fitting image of Lent for us. But before we place ourselves in the wilderness of looking deep in fear and anxiety that distract us from God’s presence, let’s not forget the first and second events of Jesus in which St. John participates: his baptism and calling to share the good news. We remember our baptism and the good news of Jesus. We keep in mind that our baptism awakens and resurrects our sense of God’s inner presence. This light or enlightened sense of the divine presence in our human nature sheds light on our hidden sources of fear and anxiety. You may feel like all alone in this wilderness but be assured that God is ever present. The saints living and dead are with you. Fellow companions are together in this wilderness as they themselves are going through it. May the light of the resurrection continue to expose what’s binding us and lead us to the true good and freedom of the Spirit. |
Paul"...life up your love to that cloud [of unknowing]...let God draw your love up to that cloud...through the help of his grace, to forget every other thing." Archives
January 2025
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