- Scripture:
Jesus, the Divine Christ! He experienced a life-giving birth and a death-killing death. Not only birth from the womb, but baptismal birth of his ministry and sacrificial death. And all the while the Spirit is confirming the truth, the reality of God’s presence at Jesus’ baptism and crucifixion, bringing those occasions alive for us. A triple testimony: the Spirit, the Baptism, the Crucifixion. And the three in perfect agreement. If we take human testimony at face value, how much more should we be reassured when God gives testimony as he does here, testifying concerning his Son. Whoever believes in the Son of God inwardly confirms God’s testimony. Whoever refuses to believe in effect calls God a liar, refusing to believe God’s own testimony regarding his Son. This is the testimony in essence: God gave us eternal life; the life is in his Son. So, whoever has the Son, has life; whoever rejects the Son, rejects life.
1 John 5 6:12 MSG
- Reflection:
Are you scratching your head, wondering what in the world that means? Today’s passage has hard-to-understand grammar and a lot of theology. Likely the writer of this letter was writing to fight the heresy of Gnosticism. These were people that had thoughts that Christ came from a divine being created on earth. The Gnostics taught that Jesus was a spiritual being and not truly human. Perhaps Jesus was God wearing a human costume? Or perhaps Jesus was like a hologram, an appearance but not reality? This is a lot to take in and may take another post to clear up. The simplest way I can explain it is that Jesus is GOD's son, period. The Word is GOD, and Jesus is the Word in Flesh form.
Where do we go from here?
God is saddened when we mistreat our bodies or when our bodies are abused or hurt. The humanity of Jesus is an awesome spiritual truth that shows us the depth of God’s love for us all.
Our Prayer for Today
Father, We thank you for our bodies, for the gift of our senses, for the peace of a quiet breath, and for the joys of movement. Thank you for choosing to become flesh and live among us in Jesus. Amen