Catholic lectionary for 27 December 2007

King James Version (en)

King James Version (en)

1 John, Chapter 1, verses 1-4

¹ He describeth the person of Christ, in whom we have eternal life, by a communion with God

¹That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life;

²(For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;)

³That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.

⁴And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full.

Read more:1 John, Chapter 1

John, Chapter 20, verses 2-8

¹ Mary cometh to the sepulchre, ³ So do Peter and John, ignorant of the resurrection

²Then she runneth, and cometh to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple, whom Jesus loved, and saith unto them, They have taken away the Lord out of the sepulchre, and we know not where they have laid him.

³Peter therefore went forth, and that other disciple, and came to the sepulchre.

⁴So they ran both together: and the other disciple did outrun Peter, and came first to the sepulchre.

⁵And he stooping down, and looking in, saw the linen clothes lying; yet went he not in.

⁶Then cometh Simon Peter following him, and went into the sepulchre, and seeth the linen clothes lie,

⁷And the napkin, that was about his head, not lying with the linen clothes, but wrapped together in a place by itself.

⁸Then went in also that other disciple, which came first to the sepulchre, and he saw, and believed.

Read more:John, Chapter 20

NOTES

When reading the accounts of the Resurrection, it becomes clear that despite everything Jesus had told them during His earthly ministry, the apostles were completely unprepared to meet the Risen One. It is no accident that John mentions...

When reading the accounts of the Resurrection, it becomes clear that despite everything Jesus had told them during His earthly ministry, the apostles were completely unprepared to meet the Risen One. It is no accident that John mentions the burial garments, the “linen wrappings,” which first made the apostles wonder whether something unusual was happening (vv. 1–9). Indeed, according to Jewish custom, the body was wrapped in a shroud so tightly that it was practically impossible to unwrap it without damaging the cloth. Yet the apostles saw this shroud not only intact but apparently even undisturbed, so that the cloth usually tied around the dead person's head, the “face cloth” of v. 7, remained lying separately, apparently in the place where the Saviour's head had been before the Resurrection. What had happened could not be explained otherwise than as a miracle. But the apostles apparently still had no very clear idea of exactly what had occurred.

Mary Magdalene did, of course, see the risen Jesus while still in the garden and immediately reported it to the apostles (vv. 11–18), but her testimony was probably not enough for them. The real encounter took place that same evening (vv. 19–23), and then the apostles were finally able to convince themselves that their Teacher was truly alive. It is no accident that Jesus allows them to look at His hands, feet and ribs (v. 20). The marks of the wounds were to convince the apostles that what stood before them was not a ghost, not a shade that had emerged from the tomb, as they might have thought after hearing from Mary Magdalene that the Risen One had not allowed her to touch Him (v. 17). This was extremely important, for the matter concerned not only the Person of the Risen One, but also the nature of the Kingdom. If it differed in no way from the world of shades and spirits, its influence on the world would be no stronger than theirs. Shades and spirits may sometimes make their presence known, but they are unable to exert a serious influence on the existing order of things, much less to change it radically, as the world is changed when it becomes part of the Kingdom.

But despite all its objectivity and tangible reality, the Kingdom apparently differs substantially in some respects from our world, which has not yet been transformed. It is no accident that the Lord still places Thomas's desire to feel Jesus' wounds with his own hands below trust in testimony (vv. 24–29). For what matters most in the Kingdom is determined by trust: trust in God, trust in Jesus, trust in one another. Trust is the foundation of everything. Without it there is no Kingdom. And it cannot depend on whether one can touch with one's hands what one believes in or the person one trusts. Not because this is forbidden, but because what matters most in the Kingdom cannot be touched with the hands. It can be touched only with the heart. Everyone who wants to live the life of the Kingdom must be ready for this.

In bearing witness to Christ, John at the same time bears witness to the Kingdom. It cannot be otherwise: they are inseparable. The very appearing of the Son is connected with the fact that God's life, the life of the heavenly Father, formerly invisible and unreachable...

In bearing witness to Christ, John at the same time bears witness to the Kingdom. It cannot be otherwise: they are inseparable. The very appearing of the Son is connected with the fact that God's life, the life of the heavenly Father, formerly invisible and unreachable, becomes visible (v. 2). Visible through a concrete Man and in a concrete Man, whom one can touch with one's hands and examine just as we can examine and touch everything that exists in our world (v. 1). And through this, one can become part of the Kingdom, share in the life by which the Father lives and which the Son bears in Himself in all its fullness (v. 3). This is Christianity. John does not speak by chance of the fullness of joy (v. 4; the Synodal translation calls it "perfect joy"). The point is that joy which is connected with God's presence in the life of a person or a community. This joy, of course, was known even before the coming of Christ.

But no one in pre-Christian times knew its fullness. And the issue here is not that it was never experienced in fullness by anyone, nor even that every joy, together with life, then ended in Sheol, the world of shadows, the kingdom of the dead, which made everyone equal. The issue is that the breath of God, the breath of the Kingdom, could not be contained in fullness in any human heart - and therefore could not be revealed to the world from within, so as to be accessible to every seeker.

From outside, this breath reached people, and in the world at all times there were people who sensed it. But to transform our world completely, to return it to the state in which it could again become part of the Kingdom, as it was before the fall, can be done only from within. And the Savior, coming into the world, brings the Kingdom into it. In all the fullness now accessible to every seeker who is ready to trust Him.

But to share in the life of the Kingdom means not only to touch it outwardly. It also means to let it in. To make our heart become the door through which the breath of the Kingdom enters the world. This is beyond the strength of fallen man. But one can open one's heart to Christ, let Him into one's life, and then He will make our heart the door through which the breath of the Kingdom will burst into the world just as it once burst into it through the open windows of the upper room in Zion. Then our life will become Christian to the end - we will live by the Kingdom and in the Kingdom.

The beginning of the letter echoes the beginning of the Gospel written by John, which in turn recalls the beginning of the book...

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