Making it Our Own

Gospel: John 1: 29-34

Many of us have had the experience of learning how to cook at home.  We are given a recipe for a certain dish, and we are instructed to follow the directions on how to make it as this is the approved way, the way it has been done for generations in our family.  And it is a good recipe that leads to a good outcome.  However, recipes are always improvised, and very often those variations lead to incredible outcomes as well.  It is often the case that the dish does not become one's own until we have the experience of owning it ourselves.  

John the Baptist heard about the coming Messiah from the tradition in which we was raised.  He even met Jesus on a number of occasions, but he did not recognize him.  Even in prison he asks whether Jesus is the one or should we seek another.  Even at the moment of baptism today's Gospel portion notes that John did not realize the identity of Jesus until afterwards.  Tradition and ritual are important things, but they are not sufficient for a life of faith.

If we live on tradition and ritual alone we have a vicarious faith that belongs to someone else.  More often than not we accept the tradition and partake of the ritual more to please others rather than because it is our own faith life.  Only when we can wed our life experience to a tradition and a ritual that it truly becomes our own faith.  Even if it contains a bit of variation, that's OK.  It is ours.  It is authentic.  It is based on the tradition.  John's experience is so often our own, if we allow it to be so.