The prophet Isaiah, Paul and John the Baptist all encourage us today to remember that we belong together. We are a community of faith; while each one of us is brought into being for a particular purpose, that purpose is for the building up of the body of Christ, for the life of the community. At the level of soul, we intuitively sense that our personal destinies are bound to the destiny of the community. Yet we also sense that our individual life is at risk. The whole spiritual life is a wrestling with this tension between my unique life and my participation in the life of God, which includes everyone and everything. Will I disappear when I surrender my will completely? Or will I discover the deepest truth of my own life in the heart of a community of faith? Sometimes it is difficult to trust the greater good is best for me.
Isaiah's preaching is addressed to whole community of Israel as if the community is one person. Likewise, Paul addresses his letter to the whole community of Church in Corinth as though they are one body, for so they are. John the Baptist describes his ministry of the baptism of repentance as a means of revealing Jesus to Israel, not to each person as much as to the whole community.
Every Sunday we celebrate Jesus' sacrifice for us, his outpouring of life for the salvation of the world. When we say "Amen", we pledge our intention to pour out our lives completely for the life of the world. Our soul is ready to go all in for Christ. Let us trust the holy movement of our own soul.
Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.