Feast of Saint John, Apostle and Evangelist
Two days after Christmas and we’re reading about Jesus’ resurrection from the dead (John 20:1a, 2-8). It certainly seems out of place as we are still in the Octave of Christmas, but the readings were chosen to celebrate today’s feast of Saint John, Apostle and Evangelist. John was one of the earliest of the twelve apostles and is referred to in the Gospel of John as “the disciple whom Jesus loved.” Although John may not have been the actual writer of the gospel that is attributed to him, it is believed to be the product of a community near the end of the first century that traced its identity and spirituality to the apostle John. This gospel’s message emphasizes the importance of loving one another as Jesus loved us; maybe not so unrelated to Christmas after all.
Today’s first reading from the First letter of John (1John1: 1-4) is also attributed to an unknown person associated with the community that produced the Gospel of John. Its message is related to the apostles’ witness to the incarnation of “life” by their experience of the historical Jesus whom they have heard, seen, looked upon and touched. “What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we looked upon and touched with our hands concerns the Word of life --”(vs.1) Here we have the Christmas connection: the incarnation, God becoming flesh. John and the other apostles were witnesses to the incarnation of God in Jesus.
The “disciple whom Jesus loved” is a witness to the relational, loving nature of God as shown in the incarnation that we celebrate at Christmas; God being present to humanity as one of us and in relationship with us. How blessed we are to know that our God loves us so much as to become one of us and dwell among us!
I remember wishing as a child that Jesus could be on earth now as he was two thousand years ago. And there are certainly times in my adult life that I would love to be able to see Jesus face to face, to have a conversation with him like a close friend. John and the other apostles were privileged in that way. John’s is the only Gospel that tells of Jesus addressing his disciples as friends: “No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends.”(15:15) What an example of friendship Jesus gave us, that he lay down his life for us that we may have eternal life!
Now that Advent is over and we are in the Christmas season, the readings call us to ask ourselves, how can we live the love that God has shown us in the gift of Jesus? How can we be witnesses to that love as the first apostles of Jesus were? Robert Ellsberg’s book All Saints tells us that Saint John was supposedly known for delivering the following same short sermon, regardless of the circumstance or occasion: “Brothers and sisters, love one another.” And when asked by members of his congregations whether they could sometimes hear a different message, he was said to have replied, “When you have mastered this lesson we can move on to another.”
Two thousand years later, we’re still trying to master Jesus’ lesson of love. As John and the other apostles know, we are not left to do it alone, but it takes faith to believe. When the disciples ran to the tomb and found it empty, they saw and believed. Later in the Gospel when Jesus appears to Thomas after the other disciples, Jesus says to him, “Have you come to believe because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.” (John 20:29)
We are the Christians who have not seen and yet have believed. Let us pray that we may be strengthened in our belief this Christmas season, so that we may better live God’s message and bear witness to “love one another,” that others may also believe.
-Eileen Miller