The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today challenge us to contemplate how the Love of God translates into living in truth and action.
The reading from the First Letter of John exhorts us to love one another.
* [3:11–18] Love, even to the point of self-sacrifice, is the point of the commandment. The story of Cain and Abel (1 Jn 3:12–15; Gn 4:1–16) presents the rivalry of two brothers, in a contrast of evil and righteousness, where envy led to murder. For Christians, proof of deliverance is love toward others, after the example of Christ. This includes concrete acts of charity, out of our material abundance. (1 John, CHAPTER 3, n.d.)
In Psalm 100 All lands are summoned to Praise God.
* [Psalm 100] A hymn inviting the people to enter the Temple courts with thank offerings for the God who created them.
* [100:3] Although the people call on all the nations of the world to join in their hymn, they are conscious of being the chosen people of God. (Psalms, PSALM 100, n.d.)
In the Gospel of John, Jesus calls Philip and Nathanael.
* [1:47] A true Israelite. There is no duplicity in him: Jacob was the first to bear the name “Israel” (Gn 32:29), but Jacob was a man of duplicity (Gn 27:35–36).
* [1:48] Under the fig tree: a symbol of messianic peace (cf. Mi 4:4; Zec 3:10).
* [1:49] Son of God: this title is used in the Old Testament, among other ways, as a title of adoption for the Davidic king (2 Sm 7:14; Ps 2:7; 89:27), and thus here, with King of Israel, in a messianic sense. For the evangelist, Son of God also points to Jesus’ divinity (cf. Jn 20:28).
* [1:50] Possibly a statement: “You [singular] believe because I saw you under the fig tree.”
* [1:51] The double “Amen” is characteristic of John. You is plural in Greek. The allusion is to Jacob’s ladder (Gn 28:12). (John, CHAPTER 1, n.d.)
Tom Purcell asks “How do we, who profess to be His followers, follow Him “up and down, all the way and all around?” (“Follow Me” by John Denver)
How do we, who profess to be His followers, follow Him “up and down, all the way and all around?” How do we welcome immigrants and asylum seekers? Do we provide food and shelter and clothing to people who find themselves hungry or homeless or without warm winter coats? How do we comfort those of our sisters and brothers who are struggling with their gender identity? Do we seek first to understand, before we clamor to be understood, when women are confronted with difficult decisions about their bodies and pregnancies? How do we respond to our fellow citizens who break the law and need to be incarcerated? How do we lessen the persistent levels of poverty and starvation and disease in our neighborhoods and villages and cities and around the world? How do we use this beautiful gift of creation and steward it for future generations?
It is easy to get caught up in a crowd professing allegiance to a charismatic leader. It is much more difficult to order our individual lives to follow the inspiring message. And so, my prayer today is for the grace to have the strength to say to Jesus: “Take my hand and I will follow you,” in my intentions and actions and deeds. (Purcell, n.d.)
Don Schwager quotes “The Lord of Angels,” by John Chrysostom (347-407 AD).
"Do you see how he [Jesus] leads him [Nathanael] up little by little from the earth and causes him no longer to imagine him as merely a man? For one to whom angels minister and on whom angels ascend and descend, how could he be a man? This is why he said, 'You shall see greater things than these.' And to prove this, he introduces the ministry of angels. What he means is something like this: Does this, O Nathanael, seem to you a great matter, and have you for this confessed me to be King of Israel? What then will you say when you see 'angels ascending and descending on me'? He persuades him by these words to receive him as Lord also of the angels. For on him as on the king's own son, the royal ministers ascended and descended, once at the season of the crucifixion, again at the time of the resurrection and the ascension, and before this also, when they 'came and ministered to him' (Matthew 4:11). They also ascended and descended when they proclaimed the good news of his birth and cried, 'Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace' (Luke 2:14), when they came to Mary and also when they came to Joseph... Our Lord made the present a proof of the future. After the powers he had already shown, Nathanael would readily believe that much more would follow." (excerpt from the Homilies On the Gospel of John 21.1) (Schwager, n.d.)
The Word Among Us Meditation on John 1:43-51 comments that these stories show us that God sees what no one else sees. And when he sees, his heart is filled with compassion, and he responds with love.
Even if you feel as if nobody else sees you, your heavenly Father sees you. He never takes his eyes off you. When your heart is troubled or rejoicing, and even during the ordinary, everyday moments of life, his eyes are on you and his love follows you. Yes, he is more aware of your sins and failings than you yourself are, and yet he continues to watch over you and invites you to come to him.
Let that knowledge inspire you, like Nathanael, to love the Lord and to follow him in return.
“Lord Jesus, thank you for being the God who sees me. Thank you for your loving mercy!” (Meditation on John 1:43-51, n.d.)
Friar Jude Winkler notes that the passage from 1 John reminds us that care for our brother in need is witness to a life of righteousness. The transformation of Jacob from “deceiver” to the truthfulness of Israel is key to the calling of Nathanael. Friar Jude reminds us that we are seen by Jesus as we strive to see Him as He is.
Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, introduces pastor, theologian, and mystic Howard Thurman (1900–1981) who describes the faith of the Hebrew prophets. Prophets view God as actively involved in our lives, and Thurman challenges us to respond to this dynamic intimacy.
Now there is another point of view, and this is the point of view of the prophet. And that is that human life, as well as the lives of nations, takes place within a context that is dynamic. That always when I am in the presence of any event, I am caught in an encounter with a series of potentials that spread out in the widest possible directions and with the most amazing variety of variation. So that if I am alert in the presence of the event, I seek to deal with the event in terms not merely of what it says, what it looks like, but in terms of what seems to me to be the dynamics of the event, the potentials of the event.
Do you deal with events of your life in that way? Do you believe that life is really dynamic? That it isn’t quite finished yet? That not only are you involved always in a circling series of potentials, but that you are potential. You, potential. And no time band, no time interval is able quite to contain you and the dynamics of your life and your situation. Do you believe that? (Rohr, n.d.)
We are inspired by the Spirit to be open to the bigger reality of living in relationship with God that extends the experience of living to greater fullness.
References
John, CHAPTER 1. (n.d.). USCCB. Retrieved January 5, 2023, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/john/1
Meditation on John 1:43-51. (n.d.). The Word Among Us: Homepage. Retrieved January 5, 2023, from https://wau.org/meditations/2023/01/05/575842/
1 John, CHAPTER 3. (n.d.). USCCB. Retrieved January 5, 2023, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/1john/3
Psalms, PSALM 100. (n.d.). USCCB. Retrieved January 5, 2023, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/psalms/100?1
Purcell, T. (n.d.). Creighton U. Daily Reflection. Online Ministries. Retrieved January 5, 2023, from https://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/010523.html
Rohr, R. (n.d.). Daily Meditations — Center for Action and Contemplation. Center for Action and Contemplation. Retrieved January 5, 2023, from https://cac.org/daily-meditations/gods-dynamic-intimacy-2023-01-05/
Schwager, D. (n.d.). Come and See. Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations – Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Retrieved January 5, 2023, from https://www.dailyscripture.net/daily-meditation/?ds_year=2023&date=jan5
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