When John uses the somewhat strange phrase "whoever is begotten by God," he means everyone who believes that Jesus is the promised Christ, the Messiah, and that he was born a man. That is us! In fact, Catholics profess this each week at Mass when we recite the Nicene Creed. I appreciate how our faith today still aligns with the original teachings of Jesus' friend John.
This letter of John was written, in part, to combat certain false ideas about Jesus that had begun to grow in the sixty or so years since Jesus' death and resurrection.* Earlier in the letter, John is a bit more explicit about what the false ideas were. He tells us that some former members of the community of believers, had begun to teach that Jesus was not the Christ. Others began to deny that he was a true man.
If we are not careful, it is easy to be misled into some wrong ways of thinking.
John reminds us that it is our faith in Jesus which gives us victory over the world.
Today, I will marvel at the mystery of Jesus: Born a man, sent by God as the promised Christ, yet true God; and I will seek victory in my own life over the influences of this world that would mislead me.
Saint Joan of Arc, patron of the military, pray for us.
No comments:
Post a Comment