Living a mission in His Spirit

The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today invite us to contemplate our true relationship to Christ.

Saint Of The Day Most Holy Name of Jesus
of the Most Holy Name of Jesus
Although Saint Paul might claim cre...https://t.co/4XI3jp9Dai pic.twitter.com/1jD1SHdOxn

— Saint of the Day (@SaintOfTheDay) January 3, 2018

The passage from the First Letter of John declares that our actions reveal our relationship with Jesus.

* [3:4] Lawlessness: a reference to the activity of the antichrist, so it is expressed as hostility toward God and a rejection of Christ. The author goes on to contrast the states of sin and righteousness. Christians do not escape sin but realize that when they sin they cease to have fellowship with God. Virtue and sin distinguish the children of God from the children of the devil.

In the Gospel from John, the relationship of John the Baptist to Jesus is based on the mission to reveal Jesus as the anointed Son of God.

* [1:31] I did not know him: this gospel shows no knowledge of the tradition (Lk 1) about the kinship of Jesus and John the Baptist. The reason why I came baptizing with water: in this gospel, John’s baptism is not connected with forgiveness of sins; its purpose is revelatory, that Jesus may be made known to Israel.

Thomas Quinn locates our contemplation in our anticipation of how we will live in the New Year.

...we face again anticipation, watching, and waiting for the life and the ministry of the savior to unfold for us… He does dwell in and among us… We may now begin to feel that we may know Jesus through the glimpses of his life and words, but to be truly “in him” we must live in accordance with his example.

The Catholic Culture website expands our understanding of the traditional importance of names and connection to mission as today is an Optional Memorial of the Most Holy Name of Jesus.

Persons who played prominent roles in the history of salvation often received their names from God Himself. Adam — man of the earth; Eve — mother of all the living; Abraham — father of many nations; Peter — the rock. The Savior's precursor was given the name God assigned him. According to divine precedent, then, the name of the Redeemer should not be accidental, of human choosing, but given by God Himself. For His name should express His mission. We read in Sacred Scripture how the angel Gabriel revealed that name to Mary: "You shall call His name Jesus." And to St. Joseph the angel not merely revealed the name but explained its meaning: "You shall call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins." The Messiah should not only be the savior, but should be called Savior. With Jesus, therefore, the name actually tells the purpose of His existence. This is why we must esteem His name as sacred. Whenever we pronounce it, we ought to bow our heads; for the very name reminds us of the greatest favor we have ever received, salvation.

Don Schwager uses Scripture verses and quotes Cyril of Alexandria (376-444 AD) to convey a sense of redemption in the mission of Jesus who is named Yeshua or “Yahweh saves”.

John calls Jesus the Lamb of God and thus signifies Jesus' mission as the One who redeems us from our sins. The blood of the Passover Lamb (Exodus 12) delivered the Israelites in Egypt from slavery and death. The Lord Jesus freely offered up his life for us on the cross as the atoning sacrifice for our sins (1 Corinthians 5:7). The blood which he poured out for us on the cross cleanses, heals, and frees us from our slavery to sin, and from the "wages of sin which is death" (Romans 6:23) and the "destruction of both body and soul in hell" (Matthew 10:28).Cyril of Alexandria (376-444 AD)
"No longer does John need to 'prepare the way,' since the one for whom the preparation was being made is right there before his eyes... But now he who of old was dimly pictured, the very Lamb, the spotless Sacrifice, is led to the slaughter for all, that he might drive away the sin of the world, that he might overturn the destroyer of the earth, that dying for all he might annihilate death, that he might undo the curse that is upon us... For one Lamb died for all (2 Corinthians 5:14), saving the whole flock on earth to God the Father, one for all, that he might subject all to God." (excerpt from the COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 2.1)

Friar Jude Winkler notes the opposition in the First Letter of John to heretics in the community who believed that as spiritual beings they had little responsibility for their actions in the material world. Our invitation into the Love of the Trinity through the Holy Spirit, as evoked by Jesus, is our freedom from sin now, Friar Jude suggests as he ponders the nature of our eternal relationship with Love.

Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, continues contemplation, like Friar Jude, considering 1 John 3:2 and the Judeo-Christian creation story that says that we were created in the very “image and likeness” of God.

The Judeo-Christian creation story says that we were created in the very “image and likeness” of God—who is Infinite Love flowing between Three, making unity out of clear diversity. (Picture a fidget spinner in motion: three corners that appear as one.) [1] The classic “placeholder” names of Father, Son, and Spirit show us what love is: a creative and constant exchange of self-emptying and infilling, mutual giving and total receiving. Out of the Trinity’s generative, loving relationship, creation takes form, fully mirroring its Creator. This is the dynamic of life planted inside of everything, from hearts and circulatory systems to photosynthesis, gravity, electromagnetic fields, and the field of light that apparently is “one” throughout the whole universe

Our relationship with Christ calls us to a mission that will be in harmony with the name by which we are known by God to be Christ in the world.