First John Day Three

The speaker is thankful for the opportunity to share the Gospel during the Octave of Christmas. They emphasize the importance of the Incarnation and the need to let it deeply impact our lives. They encourage the listeners to take a moment to prepare themselves to encounter the Word of God. The speaker then reads a passage from the first letter of St. John, emphasizing the importance of keeping Jesus' commandments and walking in the light. They explain that keeping the commandments means following Jesus' words and being obedient to God's will. The speaker highlights the importance of love and how it is through our love for one another that we experience fellowship with God. They encourage the listeners to reflect on the passage and allow the truth to transform their hearts and actions. Greetings, friends. What a joy to share the Gospel. Thank you again for joining me on this fifth day of the Octave of Christmas. A liturgical octave, recall, is eight days that are celebrated as one single day. In this case, the day of Christmas, when God entered into this world as one of us. The divine mystery of the Incarnation demands a long lingering, in which it might find its way into our spirits, and there begin to grow and communicate its life to us. At the invitation of the Church, through her liturgy, we are walking these days with St. John in his first letter. In this letter, John points to the Incarnation of Jesus as the radiant center of the Gospel. Let's pause for a moment. Prepare ourselves to encounter the Word as living and present to us. If you will, take a deep breath, slowly in, and slowly out. Come, Lord Jesus, allow your Holy Spirit to bring your Word to life in me. May I hear your voice, Good Shepherd. Let's enter into the Word now. We read together from the first letter of St. John, chapter 2, verses 3 through 11. The way we may be sure that we know Jesus is to keep his commandments. Whoever says, I know him, but does not keep his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps his word, the love of God is truly perfected in him. This is the way we may know that we are in union with him. Whoever claims to abide in him ought to walk just as he walked. Beloved, I am writing no new commandment to you, but an old commandment that you had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word that you have heard. And yet I do write a new commandment to you, which holds true in him and among you, for the darkness is passing away, and the true light is already shining. Whoever says he is in the light, yet hates his brother, is still in darkness. Whoever loves his brother remains in the light, and there is nothing in him to cause a fall. Whoever hates his brother is in darkness. He walks in darkness and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes. John, in this really beautiful letter, has already declared solemnly that Jesus Christ is the visible manifestation of divinity. This visible manifestation of divinity is made accessible to us through the apostolic preaching in which we first encounter fellowship with the Son and the Father. Jesus reveals to us God who is light, which calls us to walk in the light. This passage we just shared expresses what it means to walk in the light. Knowing Jesus, living in the light of his revelation of the Father, is made real and effective in us by the keeping of his commandments. Now, friends, this is crucial. Let's reflect for a moment on that word commandments. What does it mean? Most of us, I imagine, when we hear that word, think of the Ten Commandments, and properly so. And yet, thinking of the Ten Commandments, how many of us think of them as rules, laws that somehow impinge upon our freedom? Notice something here, though, in this passage. John speaks first of keeping Jesus' commandments. Then he speaks of keeping Jesus' word. Finally, John tells us union with God means walking as Jesus walked. To say that Jesus kept the Father's commandments is to say he obediently, lovingly conformed his life to the Father's will for him. He followed God's word, directing his every movement. To keep the commandments is to keep Jesus' words to us. This is to say, listening, hearing, and yielding to the voice of the Good Shepherd, who directs our lives, showing us where to walk in safety, truth, and goodness. This commandment, this word of the Good Shepherd, is then distilled for us by the beloved disciple. Whoever loves his brother remains in the light. So notice, to keep his commandments is to lean into the voice of the Good Shepherd in every aspect of our lives, to constantly be attentive to his will for us, and to follow his will in everything we do. This is given expression above all, and most concretely, in the love we have for one another. Now here we have moved significantly. How do we have fellowship with God? How do we share divine life? First, as we have already seen, through the apostolic preaching, in which we come to see, hear, and touch the divine in the incarnate Son of God. And so we listen and lean into the word of God. There, God, who is light, fills us with his light. Now, in this passage, we see that this divine life, this fellowship with God, is fully incarnate, fully alive in this world, by the love we extend to our brothers and sisters, to those we meet along our journey of life. Let me share this wonderful insight from Cezlasz Spik. He says this, The intellect can understand words and divine notions. Only love touches reality. Friends, notice this. It is the relentless, unconditional, unsparing love of God for his sinful, broken children, experienced through the expressions of love that his children show to one another, that we come to touch, hear, and see God in the world. It's this love that draws us into a very experiential encounter and fellowship with God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Please turn with me now to a second reading of this passage. Oh, friends, beg God to open your heart to receive the truth revealed here, not simply intellectually, but to make the truth of this word living within, where it might flow outward in loving care, attention to our brothers and sisters. So we read again from the first letter of John, chapter 2, verses 3 through 11. The way we may be sure that we know Jesus is to keep his commandments. Whoever says, I know him, but does not keep his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps his word, the love of God is truly perfected in him. This is the way we may know that we are in union with him. Whoever claims to abide in him ought to walk just as he walked. Beloved, I am writing no new commandment to you, but an old commandment that you had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word that you have heard. And yet I do write a new commandment to you, which holds true in him and among you, for the darkness is passing away, and the true light is already shining. Whoever says he is in the light, yet hates his brother, is still in darkness. Whoever loves his brother remains in the light, and there is nothing in him to cause a fall. Whoever hates his brother is in darkness. He walks in darkness and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes. Friends, what word, what phrase, what image pierces your imagination as you heard this reading? Intentionally, please, draw close to that word. Bring it into your spirit in a conscious act now. Loving Lord Jesus, pour forth the reality of your love upon me. Make living to me that act of love in which you gave yourself for me to the Father on the cross. May the experience of your love for me flow out from within me toward all I encounter along the way. And friends, what a joy it is to share the gospel with you. For more information, please visit www.fema.org For more information, please visit www.fema.org For more information, please visit www.fema.org