Word to the Wise
Tuesday, January 5, 2021 - Tuesday after Epiphany, or Jan. 8
[1 John 4:7-10 and Mark 6:34-44]Beloved, let us love one another, because love is of God; everyone who loves is begotten by God and knows God. Whoever is without love does not know God, for God is love. In this way the love of God was revealed to us: God sent his only-begotten Son into the world so that we might have life through him. In this is love: not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as expiation for our sins. [1 John]
JANUARY 5 ST. JOHN NEUMANN, cssr
The First Letter of John is providing the first scripture for the next few days and I recommend to the Beloved Congregation that you take the time to read the whole letter (it's only five chapters!). Many of the themes and much of the language will have echoes of the Gospel According to John. Most of us will recall the lines from that gospel which Jesus speaks to Nicodemus: "God so loved the world that he sent his only-begotten Son, do that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life." {John 3:16] That citation was on banners at sports events for years! But the message in the gospel and in the letter is the same: God loves us. God put skin on that love by becoming human and living amongst us and dying and rising for us.
Right now, in this season of Christmas/Epiphany which will end next Sunday with the Baptism of the Lord, the emphasis is on the "Incarnation." and what it means beyond simply the physical birth of Jesus, important as that is. The Gospel According to John, in the Prologue, puts it simply and profoundly, "And the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us, and we saw his glory, the glory as of the Father's only Son, full of grace and truth." [John 1:14] The whole of Jesus' life and mission - the manifestation of God's love for us - is contained in that statement! The next few days' passages from the First Letter of John will challenge us to realize what the implications of that revelation are for us! AMEN