GOD’S WORD FOR THE DAY (based on Catholic Liturgical Readings)
DATE: 2ND JANUARY 2017
MEMORIAL OF SAINTS BASIL THE GREAT AND GREGORY NAZIANZEN, BISHOPS AND DOCTORS OF THE CHURCH
FIRST READING: 1John 2:22-28
PSALM: Psalm 98:1-4
GOSPEL: John 1:19-28
THEME: BEWARE OF THE ANTICHRIST
Sometime ago, I met an old friend of mine. In our teenage years, we had all been brought up in the same Christian community and shared the same Christian faith. Excited to see her once again, I asked her where she was currently fellowshipping. She mentioned the name of a new religious sect in the country. Curious to know the tenets of that religious body vis-à-vis her faith in Christ, I asked her – So, who is Jesus to you now? I discovered in her response that although she still believed in a human Jesus, she had been taught to deny his divinity. She had also been taught that Jesus is neither the Christ nor the Saviour of humankind but one of the spiritual gurus who lived on earth.
Having celebrated the birth of Christ and saviour of the human race, and still in the festive mood, the readings of today caution us to be wary of those who would seek to deny the core identity of the person of Jesus.
The author of the First Letter of John wrote his letter at a time when the nascent Christian community had to contend with a lot of heretical teachings about Jesus. Some were denying the fact that Jesus was the Christ (messiah). These heresies were nicely parcelled and presented in an attempt to sway some and make them secede from the mother Christian community.
To expose this lie, the author addresses his audience in these words, “Who is the liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son” (1Jn 2:22). He then goes ahead and encourages them to keep alive in themselves what they were taught in the beginning, “Let what you heard from the beginning abide in you…I write these things to you concerning those who would deceive you” (1Jn 2:24, 26).
We too are faced with a lot of threats from various religious sects who claim to hold the keys to paradise. The challenges they pose to our faith in Christ will not lessen in this New Year. Most probably, they will heighten. It is a known fact that some “churches” are springing up today not because they want to lead people to Christ but simply because somebody wants to make money.
John the Baptist upheld the truth which he knew right from the beginning and never changed it or departed from it when challenged by the priests and Levites from Jerusalem (see the Gospel text for today). More than ever, we too need to keep alive in us what we were taught from the beginning. The deposit of faith in Christ which has been handed over to us from one generation to the next through the teaching office of the Church is an anchor when the storms of heresies buffet us.
May the anointing that we received at baptism, an anointing that never runs dry, help us to decipher truth from falsehood and aid us to remain resolute in our faith in Jesus Christ.
Prayer: Lord Jesus Christ, deliver me from deception and falsehood. May “sweet talks” that tickle the ears not lure me away from you, who are the Way, the Truth and the Life. Amen
Andrews Obeng, svd
DIVINE WORD MISSIONARIES
BIBLICAL PASTORAL MINISTRY
(Ghana Province)
“May the darkness of sin and the night of unbelief vanish before the light of the Word and the Spirit of grace. And may the heart of Jesus live in the hearts of all people” (St. Arnold Janssen).