Belonging To God in Jesus Christ
Introduction
In a sort of profession of faith, the apostle John sums up his letter. We belong to God on account of Jesus Christ. He has brought us eternal life; this life does not tolerate sin; because we live in him, he hears our prayers.
John the Baptist bears the same witness: we belong to Christ as the bride to the bridegroom; our life must be identified with his, his life must grow in us.
In this Eucharist, may the Lord let us share more deeply in his life.
1 Reading 1 John 5:14-21
Beloved:
We have this confidence in him
that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.
And if we know that he hears us in regard to whatever we ask,
we know that what we have asked him for is ours.
If anyone sees his brother sinning, if the sin is not deadly,
he should pray to God and he will give him life.
This is only for those whose sin is not deadly.
There is such a thing as deadly sin,
about which I do not say that you should pray.
All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that is not deadly.
We know that anyone begotten by God does not sin;
but the one begotten by God he protects,
and the Evil One cannot touch him.
We know that we belong to God,
and the whole world is under the power of the Evil One.
We also know that the Son of God has come
and has given us discernment to know the one who is true.
And we are in the one who is true,
in his Son Jesus Christ.
He is the true God and eternal life.
Children, be on your guard against idols.
Responsorial Psalm, Ps 149:1-2, 3-4, 5-6a and 9b
R. (see 4a) The Lord takes delight in his people or: R. Alleluia.
Sing to the LORD a new song
of praise in the assembly of the faithful.
Let Israel be glad in their maker,
let the children of Zion rejoice in their king. R.
Let them praise his name in the festive dance,
let them sing praise to him with timbrel and harp.
For the LORD loves his people,
and he adorns the lowly with victory. R.
Let the faithful exult in glory;
let them sing for joy upon their couches;
Let the high praises of God be in their throats.
This is the glory of all his faithful. Alleluia. R.
Alleluia: Matthew 4:16
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
The people who sit in darkness have seen a great light,
on those dwelling in a land overshadowed by death
light has arisen.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel: John 3:22-30
Jesus and his disciples went into the region of Judea,
where he spent some time with them baptizing.
John was also baptizing in Aenon near Salim,
because there was an abundance of water there,
and people came to be baptized,
for John had not yet been imprisoned.
Now a dispute arose between the disciples of John and a Jew
about ceremonial washings.
So they came to John and said to him,
“Rabbi, the one who was with you across the Jordan,
to whom you testified,
here he is baptizing and everyone is coming to him.”
John answered and said,
“No one can receive anything except what has been given from heaven.
You yourselves can testify that I said that I am not the Christ,
but that I was sent before him.
The one who has the bride is the bridegroom;
the best man, who stands and listens for him,
rejoices greatly at the bridegroom’s voice.
So this joy of mine has been made complete.
He must increase; I must decrease.”
Commentary
The reference to Jesus’ baptism ministry in today’s Gospel is singular in the New Testament. At this early stage, this is evidently a reference to the same type of conversion baptism that John the Baptist administered. The Spirit baptism was a post- Easter reality. This pre-Easter baptism was a commitment to a profound change of life in anticipation of the final era. This activity of Jesus lent support to the ministry of John and endowed the latter with credibility as an eschatological prophet.
At the same time, the words of John are decisive. He was not the messiah and unhesitatingly deferred to Jesus, the one whose star was in the ascendancy, in the face of whose surpassing significance John can only decrease in importance. To defer to another is not always easy in life. We all seek assurance of our own worth and merit. But it is always the Christian thing to defer with dignity rather than chagrin and unpleasantness. John was not interested in accruing honor to himself. He may have been the groomsman but he was not the groom. There is a lesson there for all of us.
In the letter of John today, he speaks of different grades of sin. Not all sin was deadly; apostasy was obviously one that was.
As our epiphany octave draws to a close, we are again given reason for gratitude. What Christ has promised has come to life in all of us. Baptism is our door to life. If we have faltered after that, God’s goodness has touched us time after time. We are forgiven. Let us put the past behind us and move ahead. We now live a life that springs up to eternity. We have indeed been blessed.
Blessing
With John the Baptist may we say: may we decrease, that is, consider ourselves less important, but may the Lord Jesus increase and grow in us, with the blessing of almighty God, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen!