4 January – First Reading

Commentary on 1 John 3:7-10

Today’s reading is a continuation of yesterday’s, which reminded us that we must ‘break’ with sin if we are to “abide in the Son and in the Father”. The passage today enunciates a very important principle:

Everyone who does what is right is righteous…

Jesus had said something very similar when he said that a tree can be known by its fruit. A good tree bears good fruit and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. But it is important for us to realise that it is not the acts which make us holy (righteous). On the contrary, our good acts are rather a sign that God is working effectively through us. Similarly, our reading says that:

Everyone who commits sin is of the devil…

The analogy of course is bad fruit = bad tree.

Earlier, the writer, speaking positively, had used expressions like: “of God”, “from Truth”, “child of God”, as an indication of how someone was living under the influence of God. Now, speaking negatively, he speaks of those who are: “of the devil”, “for the evil one”, to indicate those whose lives do not reflect the Spirit of Jesus.

Those who have been born of God do not sin because God’s seed abides in them…

God’s ‘seed’ here refers either to Jesus or to the Spirit. The image is of human reproduction. The ‘seed’ (Greek, sperma) of God’s life has been planted in the believing Christian and, because of that, the child grows in the likeness of the Father.

Once we become closely united to God and allow him to work in us, sin is excluded. God and sin are mutually exclusive. That is why Jesus could say of the sinful woman in the house of Simon the Pharisee that there was no sin in her, because she was so full of love (Luke 7:36-50). And, we might add, in the Gnostic anti-body context in which this letter is written, love expressed sexually is also included because it is a ‘holy’ thing, and God is there.

Of course, we know that in practice our union with God is never perfect, and we constantly fail in our love for him and for those around us. As well, what we often call ‘love’ can sometimes be self-centred, hurtful, or degrading. But, by and large, once we are fundamentally linked with God and with the Gospel of Jesus, that will show itself in all our relationships and behaviours. Once we have the right vision, our behaviour naturally follows. What we see, we do.

On the other hand:

…all who do not do what is right are not from God…

And the same goes for:

…those who do not love a brother or sister…

To be close to God and to love one’s brothers and sisters are two sides of one coin—we cannot have one without the other.

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4 January – Gospel

Commentary on John 1:35-42

Today we have an introductory encounter between Jesus and his first disciples. The context is somewhat different from that in the other Gospels, and it is a very meaningful passage that describes the revelation of Jesus to Andrew and Peter (in that order).

The passage opens again with the words, “The next day…”. John the Baptist is there with two of his own disciples. Just then, Jesus walked by. This is a common feature of Jesus in the Gospel, and it reminds us that Jesus also walks by us so many times in our ordinary day. Are we aware of that? And how do we respond? As Jesus passed by, John says:

Look, here is the Lamb of God!

Perhaps the disciples had already heard what John had said about the Lamb, and so they began walking after Jesus. They are not yet disciples, but were more moved by a kind of curiosity about this man.

We will be told later in the account that one of the men was Andrew. But who was the other? A tradition likes to think it was John. Very likely it is the ‘Beloved Disciple’—not yet called that because his or her discipleship is just beginning. As such, it could have been anyone. It could be a man or a woman. So why not put oneself there with Andrew and share the experience with him? It makes this passage very meaningful if we do so.

At that point Jesus turned, saw them walking behind him, and asked:

What are you looking for?

It would be good for us to hear Jesus asking that question of us too. We think we are following Jesus in our Christian life, but have we ever felt that we have been asked that fundamental question: “What are you looking for?” And indeed what am I looking for in my life, or from God? It is good to realise that God asks me that question. We often tend to think that it should be the other way round, that we should be asking God what he wants from us. But the answer to the first question is very revealing. Our answers could be very trivial, or very self-centred, or very altruistic. The answer to the question tells me a lot about where I stand with God, with other people, and with myself. If my life depended on it, what would I ask of God? And my life in the fullest sense does depend on it.

How did these two men answer Jesus’ question? They asked him one of their own:

Rabbi (which translated means Teacher), where are you staying?

Now, of course, that can be taken at face value in the sense of asking Jesus where his residence was. But in this Gospel, it has a much deeper meaning. Where does Jesus stay? ‘Stay’ is a key word in John’s Gospel and translates as the Greek verb menein.

Where can Jesus be found? He is not in any one place—he can be found anywhere. Later on, Jesus will tell his disciples that he stays in the Father, and that he also stays in them. Again, we need to reflect on the answer to this question. Where do I think Jesus stays? Where can I find him in my life? In what places, in what people, in what situations? Is he only to be found in the tabernacles of our churches? As we read through the Gospels we will find that Jesus is to be found in many places, some of them quite surprising.

What is Jesus’ answer to their question? He says to them:

Come and see.

It is the only way they will find out. Knowing where Jesus stays is not to be found in theology or catechism books or in listening to theoretical lectures. The only way we can know where Jesus stays is by personal experience of meeting him where he is. That is something which everyone can do, and it is something we need to be doing all the time. The Jesuit poet Gerard Manley Hopkins said it this way:

The world is charged with the grandeur of God…

There is in fact no place, person or situation where he cannot be found.

So the two men went with Jesus and they stayed with him. They went and they saw. What did they see? We are not told, but we do know the outcome of their experience. It was that the experience of staying with Jesus was something that simply had to be shared with others. One of the two men was Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter. He went to his brother and said:

We have found the Messiah!

They had discovered the true identity of this Jesus. And then Andrew brought his brother to Jesus, who said:

You are Simon son of John. You are to be called Cephas…

Here we have a perfect example of evangelisation. Andrew himself finds Jesus, stays with him, comes to know who he is, and then goes to bring his brother to share the experience. It was another “Come and see” situation and Peter, the fisherman, was hooked! It is also worth noting that Peter, who would become the leader of the new community after Jesus left them, was not called directly by Jesus, but by his brother.

How many people, who could do great things for Jesus and the Kingdom, are waiting for me to bring them to Jesus? I should also reflect with gratitude on the many people who have brought me in so many ways to a deeper personal knowledge of Jesus.

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