Friday after Epiphany
Scripture Readings
It is the dead of winter, as we all know, especially in this -20 wind chill weather. Winter's bare trees and chill present themselves to us very much as the "dead" of winter, and winter is often used in poetry to depict death.
But this is also a time of year, perhaps paradoxically,when the children and teachers in the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd program do some serious reflection on the mystery of life and death. For example, this week in the Atrium, the First Communion kids and I will embark on a scripture study the True Vine in the gospel of John, where Jesus says that he is the vine and we are the branches, and if we wish to have life, we must be part of that vine. As the children and I read that passage, we will reflect on what it means to be part of vine of Jesus by participating in his own life and death. We'll think about how that relates to the Eucharist - and also think about what it means if we do things that potentially cut us off from the life Jesus gives in the vine, which will help us think more about the Sacrament of Reconciliation.
Just as the Sunday Atrium discussions focus on life, so too today's scriptures focus on life. In the midst of winter, when all seems dead, we are asked to think about life. The author of 1 John 5:5-13 speaks about the mystery of life and death very concretely, suggesting that those of us who have Jesus possess God's OWN testimony about life and death: that is to say, death does not overcome us but we have eternal life. If we think about it, this MUST be God's own testimony about life and death, for God is eternal and does not die. If we share in God's own life, then this eternal life is ours, in some kind of mysterious way. The author gives a clue as to how this eternal life is ours: the Spirit, the water and the blood, all of which are references to baptism. We share in God's own life because we are baptized into Jesus' life, death and resurrection.
I think there are at least two ways to understand our baptisms as a sharing in God's eternal life, and both are true. The first is on an individual basis - my own individual baptism means that I, Jana, have the possibility of eternal life. As the church teaches, we hope for heaven though we do not necessarily know we will get there. But the second way is a little more visible and concrete here on this earth. When last year's First Communion kids read the scriptures I mentioned above, they suggested that having life means that you GROW on the vine. In the case of baptism, it is the church as a whole that visibly grows and (hopefully) puts out fruit. The visible growth we see in our baptisms is meant to support our belief in God's eternal life, not just on an individual basis but for the life of the whole world.
This image of life as growth and fruitfulness is carried through in the gospel (Luke 5:12-16). Lepers, like the one in today's scripture, were a bit like the "living dead," forced to live on the outskirts of the city and "forgotten" by everyone else because of the fear that the disease would spread. But this leper encounters Life, in Jesus, and is able to rejoin society and be counted among the living once again. More than that, though, the leper's healing leads to his desire to give testimony to Jesus, which in turn causes a huge growth in the crowds and people that surround Jesus and seek his words.
Today, in the dead of winter, let us especially think about and pray for those who need life in the midst of death, and let us think, talk and act like Jesus, who gives us that life.
- Jana M. Bennett