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Morning Devotion for the Season after Pentecost
October 2, 2024
Remigius of Rheims
The Invitatory
The earth is the Lord’s for he made it: O come, let us adore him.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son: and to the Holy Ghost;
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be: world without end. Amen.
Reading: 1 John 4:1-6
Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God; for many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. And this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming; and now it is already in the world. Little children, you are from God, and have conquered them; for the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. They are from the world; therefore what they say is from the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us, and whoever is not from God does not listen to us. From this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.
Meditation: Jo Ann B. Jones
There is a very high contrast of the sense of spirituality in the first century - how absorbing and fantastic (fantastical) and imagination driven it was- with contemporary life spent looking at one screen or another and the connection made almost exclusively with it/them, There was the same kind of competition for Jesus. More importantly, in the first century there was a strong sense of the life of the Spirit that created its own complications. These arose from the fact that the early Church was vividly and vitally alive, together with many diverse spiritual expressions. There was a need for some criterion to underscore what was essential to faith. In addition, those in the ancient world were acutely conscious of the power of evil , so much so, that it was experienced personally. One perceived a battleground on which the forces of light and dark clashed This battle was also waged in the minds of humans. Finally, the coming of the Holy Spirit was a more palpable phenomenon. When the Spirit came, one expected to see it.
In the context of 1 John, there were many ways to be spiritual. The basic issue, according to this passage, is whether spiritual claims are centered in the Word that Jesus embodied. This epistle proclaims an essential Christian belief easily expressed in one sentence: “The Word became flesh, and dwelt among us>” Any other “spirit: denied the reality of the Incarnate God and was not of God. One’s belief, therefore, was grounded in: 1) Jesus is the one for whom all history was a preparation: 2) He is the fulfillment of God’s promises; and 3) His is the true kingship. To deny this truth has real consequences: Jesus is not our example, the high priest, the Savior, salvation and that there can ever be any real union between the divine and the human.
The incarnate Word cannot be reduced to spiritual abstraction. Divine love is not simply an idea. It takes tangible form in the life Jesus lived and the death that he died. In John’s gospel and epistles, the death of the human being named Jesus is the most radical expression of divine love for the world. If God’s Word was not embodied, there is no reason for faith to be embodied. The reality of the incarnation is central to Christianity.
While this is the great truth of Christianity, it confronts one great problem. Despite the victory Jesus Christ won over the power of evil, false teachings will gain some acceptance. This persists because of the opposition of the world to God. And the temptations of the world have not lost their appeal to humankind. Those who look to God welcome the truth. Those who look to the world, will reject the truth. This is just as much the case in the first century as it is today. Thanks be to God that God’s grace is limitless, God has the power to break down every barrier. While we may resist, even to the end, Jesus Christ is always present to humankind so that his voice might be heard even above the clamor of the world.
Prayer
O God, the Most Holy Trinity, Who sees that truth itself will not instruct us without Thy preventing, guarding, guiding grace: grant us to live by every word that proceedeth out of Thy mouth; and to walk and rejoice in the light of Thy truth; and give us grace so to bring forth both fruits of the Spirit to attest that Divine indwelling to all men; and if it please Thee to our own humble consciousness. Amen.
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