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“St. John Neumann”
photographer and date are unknown |
Readings for January 5th, Christmas Weekday [2]
Readings from the Jerusalem Bible [3]
Readings and Commentary: [4]
: 1 John 3:11-21
Beloved:
This is the message you have heard from the beginning:
we should love one another,
unlike Cain who belonged to the Evil One
and slaughtered his brother.
Why did he slaughter him?
Because his own works were evil,
and those of his brother righteous.
Do not be amazed, then, brothers and sisters, if the world hates you.
We know that we have passed from death to life
because we love our brothers.
Whoever does not love remains in death.
Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer,
and you know that no murderer has eternal life remaining in him.
The way we came to know love
was that he laid down his life for us;
so we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.
If someone who has worldly means
sees a brother in need and refuses him compassion,
how can the love of God remain in him?
Children, let us love not in word or speech
but in deed and truth.
Now this is how we shall know that we belong to the truth
and reassure our hearts before him
in whatever our hearts condemn,
for God is greater than our hearts and knows everything.
Beloved, if our hearts do not condemn us,
we have confidence in God.
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Commentary on 1 Jn 3:11-21
St. John continues his narrative on righteousness and love in this passage. Note, he has not really focused on what he considers to be the central teaching of Christ: love one another. In this particular section he begins with the comparison from Scripture of Cain and Abel (Genesis 4:1-16) to demonstrate that, from the beginning of human history, evil has hated good. He uses that analogy to explain why the world, which is intrinsically evil in his eyes, hates the Christian community, which is good because the members of that community love each other.
CCC: 1 Jn 3:15 1033; 1 Jn 3:17 2447; 1 Jn 3:19-24 2845; 1 Jn 3:19-20 208, 1781; 1 Jn 3:21 2631
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: Psalm 100:1b-2, 3, 4, 5
R. (2a) Let all the earth cry out to God with joy.
Sing joyfully to the Lord, all you lands;
serve the Lord with gladness;
come before him with joyful song.
R. Let all the earth cry out to God with joy.
Know that the Lord is God;
he made us, his we are;
his people, the flock he tends.
R. Let all the earth cry out to God with joy.
Enter his gates with thanksgiving,
his courts with praise;
Give thanks to him; bless his name.
R. Let all the earth cry out to God with joy.
The Lord is good: the Lord, whose kindness endures forever,
and his faithfulness, to all generations.
R. Let all the earth cry out to God with joy.
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Commentary on Ps 100:1b-2, 3, 4, 5
Psalm 100 is a song of praise and thanksgiving. In this selection we praise God because he created us. We praise God because he continues to guide us. The psalm affirms God’s saving grace, given to his sons and daughters through all generations.
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Gospel: John 1:43-51
Jesus decided to go to Galilee, and he found Philip.
And Jesus said to him, “Follow me.”
Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the town of Andrew and Peter.
Philip found Nathanael and told him,
“We have found the one about whom Moses wrote in the law,
and also the prophets, Jesus, son of Joseph, from Nazareth.”
But Nathanael said to him,
“Can anything good come from Nazareth?”
Philip said to him, “Come and see.”
Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said of him,
“Here is a true child of Israel.
There is no duplicity in him.”
Nathanael said to him, “How do you know me?”
Jesus answered and said to him,
“Before Philip called you, I saw you under the fig tree.”
Nathanael answered him,
“Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel.”
Jesus answered and said to him,
“Do you believe
because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree?
You will see greater things than this.”
And he said to him, “Amen, amen, I say to you,
you will see the sky opened and the angels of God
ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”
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Commentary on Jn 1:43-51
This selection from the Gospel of St. John continues the call of the disciples. Word of mouth now attracts Philip and he in turn invites Nathanael. The symbolism in this passage is noteworthy. Jesus describes Nathanael as: “A true Israelite. There is no duplicity in him.” Jacob was the first to bear the name "Israel" (Genesis 32:29), but Jacob was a man of duplicity (Genesis 27:35-36).”
Jesus tells Nathanael: “Before Philip called you, I saw you under the fig tree." “Under the fig tree: a symbol of messianic peace (cf. Micah 4:4; Zechariah 3:10).” [5] So, in essence, Jesus is saying that Nathanael was resting in messianic peace, implying that Nathanael had faithfully followed the law, and had a genuine love of God.
Jesus goes further than Nathanael’s faith in the final verse, telling Nathanael that he (Jesus) is the Anointed One (the Christ): “you will see the sky opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man." We note in the next entry, Nathanael is called Bartholomew.
CCC: Jn 1:43 878
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Reflection:
We take note that for the past three days Scripture has been hammering virtually the same message at us. From our reading of the First Letter of St. John we have been hearing: love one another; love one another; love one another. From the Psalms, first Ps. 98, and today Ps. 100, we hear: sing praise to God; sing praise to God; sing praise to God. And from St. John’s Gospel, we hear first from St. John the Baptist, then from St. Andrew, and today from St. Philip: Jesus is the Messiah; Jesus is the Messiah; Jesus is the Messiah.
Now let’s put it all together and we have: Love one another, because in this way we bring praise to God and announce by our actions we believe Jesus is the Messiah. Wait, there is another way to assemble them. If we go by their chronological order, the message comes out this way: Sing praise to God, because he gave us Jesus the Messiah, who commands us to love one another.
No matter which way we put the message together it comes down to a simple cause and effect formula. If we believe in our hearts that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that he came into the world as we have been told since the beginning of Advent, to bring salvation to all peoples and peace to the world, and if his message to us during his life on earth was to love one another, then we must do the same and rejoice in our good fortune. As John says in his letter, if we don’t love one another, then we must not believe that Jesus is our salvation because we have not followed his teaching.
For most of us this is probably a scary thought because it is so hard to follow, but we continue to try.
Pax
[1] Note: Universalis has published Proper Readings for this Memorial. These were used to populate this post.
[2] S.S. Commemoratio[3] The picture is “St. John Neumann” photographer and date are unknown.
[4] The readings are taken from the New American Bible, with the exception of the psalm and its response which were developed by the International Committee for English in Liturgy (ICEL). This republication is not authorized by USCCB and is for private use only.
[5] NAB Footnote on John 1:43-51.
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