Love Helps Us Believe

𝐃𝐄𝐂. 𝟐𝟕, 𝟐𝟎𝟏𝟑: 𝐅𝐄𝐀𝐒𝐓 𝐎𝐅 𝐒𝐓. 𝐉𝐎𝐇𝐍, 𝐀𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐭𝐥𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐄𝐯𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭

𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐈: 𝟏 𝐉𝐧 𝟏:𝟏-𝟒

𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐏𝐬𝐚𝐥𝐦: 𝐏𝐬𝐚 𝟗𝟕:𝟏-𝟐,𝟓-𝟔, 𝟏𝟏-𝟏𝟐 “𝐑𝐞𝐣𝐨𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐋𝐨𝐫𝐝, 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭.”

𝐆𝐎𝐒𝐏𝐄𝐋: 𝐉𝐧 𝟐𝟎:𝟏𝐚, 𝟐-𝟖

𝐊𝐞𝐲 𝐕𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐞: “… 𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐰 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐝.” (𝐯.𝟖) 

         As get into the Octave of Christmas let us not forget to tie in the lessons of Christmas with the transmission of the Gospel of Christ especially at this time when we are in urgent need of a Savior who can lift us out of our miseries. And this task of making our Savior known has been placed on our shoulders.

        When the late Pope Francis published his first encyclical – Evangelii Gaudium (Joy of the Gospel), the Holy Father was calling on us to help in re-evangelizing the baptized Catholics who have drifted away from the faith, but this is easier said than done.

         For one, we cannot become an evangel to others if we ourselves are weak in faith especially on matters of what we believe in. The account of the resurrection of Jesus is an example as was his birth of a most pure Blessed Virgin Mary (𝐋𝐤 𝟏:𝟑𝟒) and these two events are a test of faith for us and others too.

         Today there are those who still do not believe these two events and it was not because the Scriptures are in error, but it is because of their lack of faith and most of all the absence of love that causes a cloud of disbelief to linger in the minds of skeptics.

         Such unbelief was to be expected because at the time the Resurrection of Jesus happened, the tradition was for family members or close friends and associates to visit the tomb of a loved one for at least three days after the body had been buried as it was the traditional belief that the spirit of a dead person hovers within the tomb until it leaves when the body can no longer be recognized due to decomposition.

         And during the time of Jesus there were differing beliefs when it comes to the afterlife. While some of the Pharisees may have rejected Jesus, they believed in the Resurrection of the dead but the Sadducees do not.

         We must bear in mind that there are at least two significant points relating to the resurrection event. One was that Mary Magdalene, upon finding the tomb empty, returned to the place where the Apostles were staying and informed Peter what she saw. Of the Apostles who were there, it was to Peter that Mary reported what she found.

         This also goes to show that notwithstanding Peter’s denial of Jesus, the disciples of Jesus including Mary still considered Peter as the leader of their group. Peter did what was natural and he ran towards the tomb followed by John whom Jesus loved and who would outrun Peter to the tomb and both Peter and John found the grave-clothes lying on the spot where the body of Jesus lay and were not messed up or disarranged with the napkin neatly folded and placed where the head of Jesus lay.

         The second point that has a bearing on our own faith was that John saw and realized what was before him and he believed (𝐯.𝟖). For John it was the fulfillment of the prophesy as the resurrection of Jesus had been foretold hundreds of years before and John was a Jew and a disciple who was familiar with the Scriptures and the prophecy concerning the birth, death and resurrection of Jesus.

         But it was not what he read from the Scriptures that led him to believe that Jesus has resurrected. It was what he saw. John, the disciple whom Jesus loved and who loved Jesus, was the first to believe in the Resurrection and it was love that gave him eyes to interpret and believe what was before his very eyes.

         What happened to John was integral to how life evolves as it is sometimes difficult to believe and or even accept the realities before us, especially with regards to relationships unless there is a bond of sympathy that exists among persons. And this was what John had, his love for Jesus was what really led him to believe that Jesus has risen from the dead.

         The message for us was in John’s first epistle that says what we have seen, heard, and touched concerns the Word of life which has existed "𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠” (𝟏 𝐉𝐧 𝟏:𝟏-𝟒). John bore witness to what has existed from all eternity. He saw and was witness to the great events in our faith history, but what is more important is for us to help ensure the continuance of the incarnation of Our Lord Jesus Christ in the body of Christ which is the Church today.

         When people around us hear the Word by proclamation and or by reading it and they listen and do what the Word says, they themselves have incarnated it. The same is true when we help those who are in need, the hungry and thirsty, the naked, the strangers, the sick, those in prison and or, reaching our to the victims of recent calamities - these events relive the incarnation story in our lives.

         When we reach out to the least of our brethren, we must do so out of love to comfort them, sympathize with them, listen to the cries of their hearts. In this way, we are making the Word of Life visible again. As we become incarnate ourselves, we also participate in the work of redemption by making sure that the Word of Life is incarnated in the lives of others thus making us partakers of the divine nature (𝟐 𝐏𝐞𝐭 𝟏:𝟒).

         This Word of Life is Jesus the Word incarnate, and one thing is certain, if Jesus had not risen from the dead and appeared to his disciples, we would never have heard of him. While his birth was a joyous occasion, it was his Resurrection that turned his disciples and the people from dejection with his death into a people radiant with joy and courage.

         The reality of the Resurrection is the foundation of the Christian faith. And through the gift of the Holy Spirit, the Lord gives us “eyes of faith” to know him and the power of his Resurrection. Thus, the greatest joy that we can possess is to encounter the living Christ and to know him personally as our Savior and Lord and it takes love to do this.

         Once there was a story of a young artist who brought a picture of Jesus to Paul Gustave Dore, a famous French artist in the 18th century, and when Dore gave his critique he said: “𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘥𝘰𝘯’𝘵 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘑𝘦𝘴𝘶𝘴, 𝘰𝘳 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘱𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳.”

         This also goes for all of us because we cannot understand Jesus or know him fully unless our hearts are configured to Our Lord in love. Love is what puts fire into our becoming bearers of the Good News because love has nothing to do with what we expect to get, it’s what we give which is the be-all and the end-all of our calling as disciples because love is the condition in which the happiness of another person is essential to our own. As with John, love is what will make us see and believe. (𝘌𝘥 𝘔𝘢𝘭𝘢𝘺 - 𝘋𝘦𝘤. 27, 2025)