Joy In Evangelism

𝐉𝐀𝐍. 𝟐, 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟔: 𝐒𝐀𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐒 𝐁𝐀𝐒𝐈𝐋 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐆𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐓 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐆𝐑𝐄𝐆𝐎𝐑𝐘 𝐍𝐀𝐙𝐈𝐀𝐍𝐙𝐄𝐍

𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐈: 𝐉𝐧 𝟐:𝟐𝟐-𝟐𝟖

𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐏𝐬𝐚𝐥𝐦: 𝐏𝐬𝐚 𝟗𝟖:𝟏-𝟒 “𝐀𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐡 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐆𝐨𝐝.”

𝐆𝐎𝐒𝐏𝐄𝐋: 𝐉𝐧 𝟏:𝟏𝟗-𝟐𝟖

𝐊𝐞𝐲 𝐕𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐞: “…𝐌𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐋𝐨𝐫𝐝.” (𝐯.𝟐𝟑) 

         The world has changed considerably over the years. In times past, the people benefit from the proclamation of the Word of God and the word that comes from God through the prophets and other messengers appointed by God as well as from Jesus who was sent to proclaim the Good News of Salvation and the forgiveness of sins.

         Following the establishment of the first Christian Church after the Apostles and the early Christian disciples received the anointing and empowerment of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost, the Church has mushroomed into hundreds if not thousands of denominations over the years. And persons with access to the Scriptures, since then, have been proclaiming the Word of God to the world either as Pastors, Ministers, or as Evangelists who make use of the different forms of media platforms in pursuit of their mission.

         What followed was widespread confusion even on matters of faith such that the Church on Dec. 8, 1869 – Oct. 20, 1870 held the First Vatican Council and promulgated that the Magisterium of the Catholic Church was to be the sole depository and interpreter of “𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐝𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐂𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐜 𝐟𝐚𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐆𝐨𝐝, 𝐰𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐧 𝐨𝐫 𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐧, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐂𝐡𝐮𝐫𝐜𝐡, 𝐞𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐛𝐲 𝐚 𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐞𝐦𝐧 𝐣𝐮𝐝𝐠𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐨𝐫 𝐛𝐲 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐫𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐚𝐥 𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 [𝐦𝐚𝐠𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐮𝐦], 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐟 𝐚𝐬 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐝𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐝.”        

         Even so today, there are many divergent voices that we hear and it has become a problem as to which of these voices have a touch of truth in them. The advent of modern communications has added to the confusion such that even young children in their formative years have access to radio, television, cellular phones, podcasts, etc., and parents oftentimes are unaware of the kind of information that are being processed by the young and immature minds of their children.

         This free flow of information, however, is not exclusive to the youth as even adults are bombarded with tons of information that they get from the media especially the internet and the social media where the proclamation of the Word of God compete for every available air space with what the world promotes.

         This is still the reality in today’s post-modern world and what this shows is that the battle between good and evil is still being fought today and has spilled over to the media which has become the new battlefield and there is now a call to arms for all Christian disciples to defend our faith.

         Take the case of the controversial RH Law that has been signed into law during the administration of President Benigno Simeon Aquino III. Despite protestations of its immoral features that run against the grain of the Christian faith, the RH Law was passed for the simple reason that the Filipino people who will be affected by the population control measure was not provided enough information as to its features. In other words, the RH Law was fought in the media and this passed through Congress for the simple reason that there were not enough opportunities to mount a successful information campaign against the RH Law.

         This is also true with the proclamation of the Word of God and those engaged in such activity must ask themselves as to whom they are leading the people to. Is it to God or to their own persona as many organizations today have been turned into a cult-like organization that draw people to their leaders who use the name of God as a bait to lure people into their cult. Many times, confusion sets in because there is a very thin line that separate the authentic proclamation of the word of God from the false prophets.

         Today we are still at war against these hypocrites in robes and as we go into battle and put on the armor of God (𝐄𝐩𝐡 𝟔:𝟏𝟏-𝟏𝟖), we should get our inspiration from John the Baptist who went before the Lord to prepare his way but who never lost sight of his role that he was merely a forerunner and that his primary mission was to point the people to Christ.

         Even if his coming was foretold by Isaiah (𝐉𝐧 𝟏:𝟐𝟑), John did not even for once claim to be Elijah (𝐉𝐧 𝟏:𝟐𝟏) whose return was also being awaited by the people at the time or, the Messiah as some mistook him to be. In all humility, John said he was just a voice of one calling from the desert to make straight the way for the Lord.

         He could have easily arrogated unto himself the title of Messiah, but he did not as he confessed he was not the Christ (𝐉𝐧 𝟏:𝟐𝟎) and in all humility he declared that Christ is “𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐦𝐞, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐰𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐥𝐬 𝐈 𝐚𝐦 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐡𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐞.” (𝐉𝐧 𝟏:𝟐𝟕).        

        John was able to say this not just out of humility, but he was very much aware of who he was and who Jesus Christ as he testified that “𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐦𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐩𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐦𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐦𝐞.” (𝐉𝐧 𝟏:𝟏𝟓) What this verse shows was that John was aware of the preexistence of Christ who was the Word of God made flesh.

         What then can we learn from the example of John? For one, what he did and showed was a powerful testimony for all Christians especially those who call themselves disciples of Christ because as followers of Christ, our preoccupation is like that of John.

         Today, all baptized Catholics are being sent on a mission by the Church as defined in Evangelii Gaudium (Joy of the Gospel) and that all Catholics are to proclaim the Gospel and to see the responsibility to evangelize as their own.

         In other words, we are the continuation of the mission of Christ and the 12 Apostles and our primary duty as Christians is to proclaim joyfully the Gospel that is centered on our remembrance of what Christ did and what he has done in our lives. Regardless of the circumstances we are in, in the family, workplace, among out business associates, where we live, on the street, wherever we are we are being called to stand as a witness for Christ.

         However, we should also remember that we are being sent to merely announce the coming of Christ and what he did for us and we must not forget that regardless of how honored we are in life, the titles to our name, position and achievements or our social status, we are not the Christ. Our mission is to bring Christ to others by deflecting attention from ourselves and to point people to Christ.

        At some point in his ministry, John confessed: “𝐇𝐞 𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫, 𝐈 𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬.” (𝐉𝐧 𝟑:𝟑𝟎) This is what we must also confess and say to ourselves that notwithstanding who we are, we must decrease simply by acknowledging that there is someone greater than us, someone who can do more than what we can do, someone who is better than us, someone who is more talented than us. For it is only when we confess with our lips that we are nothing will Christ come and fill all the areas of our hearts.

        Amidst the many voices that we hear some of which can be deceiving, what we need to do is to hear and heed what the Word of God says because when the Word is incarnated in our hearts we not only unite our finite selves to the Son and the Father but with the Holy Spirit that is in us we are brought to life and God in his goodness allows us to partake of his divine nature. (𝘌𝘥 𝘔𝘢𝘭𝘢𝘺 - 𝘑𝘢𝘯. 2, 2026)