First John Day Two

The speaker reflects on the joy of sharing the Gospel during the octave of Christmas. They emphasize the importance of taking time to contemplate the mystery of the Incarnation. They discuss the message of St. John's first letter, highlighting the concept of God as Light and the call for believers to walk in the light. They emphasize the need for repentance and surrender to God's merciful love. The speaker also mentions the transformative power of encountering Jesus and the role of Jesus as our Advocate. They encourage further reflection and meditation on the passage. Overall, the speaker expresses joy in sharing the Gospel and invites listeners to deepen their relationship with God. Greetings, friends. What a joy to share the Gospel. Thank you again for joining me on this fourth day of the octave of Christmas, these eight days that are really celebrated as one single day, the day of Christmas, when God entered into this world as one of us. The mystery of the Incarnation is so dense, so rich, so filled with transcendence, that we simply must take more than a single day to mark it. To begin with, we take this octave, these eight days, so as to slow down time, that we might stay at the manger, contemplating the Word made flesh. At the invitation of the Church, through her liturgy, we are walking with St. John in his first letter. Let's pause for a moment, preparing ourselves to encounter the Word as living and present still 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. Lord Shepherd, may I hear your voice. This is the message that we heard from Jesus Christ and proclaimed to you. God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with Him while we continue to walk in darkness, we lie and do not act in truth. But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, then we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of His Son, Jesus, cleanses us from all sin. If we say we are without sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we acknowledge our sins, He is faithful and just, and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from every wrongdoing. If we say we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His Word is not in us. My children, I am writing this to you so that you may not commit sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous One. He is expiation for our sins, and not for our sins only, but for those of the whole world. Dear friends, St. John began this exhortation by proclaiming the person of Jesus Christ as one to be seen, heard, and touched. Here now, he points us to the proclamation of Jesus Himself. What did Jesus come proclaiming? Jesus came as the revelation of the God who is Light. Light, that is, brilliance, pure goodness, authenticity, transparency, truth, wisdom, beauty. All of that and more is taken up in that one phrase, God is Light. The heart of this passage is the call of the Christian to walk in this Light. Fellowship with God is here now defined as living in the Light. To live in fellowship with God is to live imbued with the very Life of God, which is the Light, that truth, beauty, authenticity, and pure goodness of God. This means, as a consequence, confronting sincerely the reality of sin in our lives, places of dishonesty, ugliness, duplicity in our actions, speech, and thoughts. Clearly, for John, repentance is not a reality simply for the moment of initial conversion, but characterizes the whole of Christian life. The Christian life is one of repentance, a constant surrendering oneself to the compassionate, merciful love of God. Two things in particular stand out in these verses that we've shared together. One, John insists that the inbreaking of Jesus into our world and our personal encounter with Him—seeing Him, hearing Him, touching Him—is transformative. It draws us into fellowship with God, and from this fellowship with God, God's own Light increasingly radiates outward from within us. But—and this is also central—this is a work of God in us. There is no room for self-righteousness. Because of sin—and to say we have not sinned is to be a liar, and even worse, it's to make God a liar—because of sin, it is only by yielding to the merciful work of the Advocate, Jesus Christ, that we come to live in righteousness, to live in the Light of God. Here it is again, only in seeing, hearing, touching, walking with Jesus, do we come to share in the Life of God, who is Light. My friends, once again, there is so much here. Let us turn to a second reading, a second hearing of this precious passage. Let us quiet ourselves again. Very intentionally now, become sensitive to what in the passage stirs your heart, your imagination—a single word, a phrase, a deep sense you gain as you listen. And so, again, we read from the first letter of John, chapter 1, verse 5, to chapter 2, verse 2. This is the message that we heard from Jesus Christ and proclaimed to you. God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with Him while we continue to walk in darkness, we lie and do not act in truth. But if we walk in the Light as He is in the Light, then we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of His Son Jesus cleanses us from all sin. If we say we are without sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we acknowledge our sins, He is faithful and just, and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from every wrongdoing. If we say we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His Word is not in us. My children, I am writing this to you so that you may not commit sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous One. He is expiation for our sins, and not for our sins only, but for those of the whole world. Now the second movement of Lectio Divina, that is meditation. In our hearts and minds, in the deep parts of our spirits, we chew over the Word just received in proclamation. What moves you? What stands out for you? What stands out for you? Follow that Word, phrase, or image that has touched your imagination. Let's allow, friends, the Word to open us to the experience of the God who is light, the God of awesome wonder, beautiful goodness, splendid truth. And let us not be afraid to see in that light our own sin, unafraid because of the Advocate we have in Jesus Christ. Jesus is with us, defending us, healing us, and drawing us ever deeper into the fellowship He shares with the Father. Lord Jesus Christ, reveal to me your Father. Help me to know God. In the light of God, help me to see more clearly myself, yes, my sin, knowing that you are my Advocate, filled with mercy, ready to defend me, and eager to transform me into light. Lord Jesus, draw me into the fellowship you have with the Father, that I might be a source of goodness and love to those I encounter along the way. And, friends, what a joy to share the Gospel with you.