HOMILY CHRISTMAS SEASON January 6

Three That Testify: Living God’s Testimony

(1 Jn 5:5-13; Ps 147; Mk 1:4-11)

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And this is the testimony: God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.

That sentence from the first reading hints at the dynamic energy and power of God at work in our lives through Jesus Christ. We are invited to experience eternal life by living this “testimony of God.” That begs the question – how does one live this testimony, and what is the meaning of the mysterious statement, “There are three that testify: the Spirit and the water and the blood, and these three agree”?

May I suggest the message for us as we prepare to celebrate the Feast of the Epiphany tomorrow is that we can experience eternal life through faith (water), love (blood) and self-awareness (the Spirit).

The first reading begins by proclaiming that the one who conquers the world is the one who believes that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. That is perhaps the easiest of these three testimonies to live, yet still demanding. We are to put our complete faith in our Trinitarian God – the Father, Jesus the Son of God, and the Holy Spirit. That faith must lead us to trust God totally, to surrender our lives to God, and to be open to the transformative power of that faith.

The more challenging testimony is the blood. That blood can symbolize the selfless unconditional love that we are to give to others, as Jesus gave himself to us. Genuinely caring for others, and sharing life with them in trust, understanding, and forgiveness are all ways to love others.

The gospel account adds another dimension to how we can love other – blessings. It ends with the baptism of Jesus in the Jordan, the Spirit descending on him like a dove, and the Father blessing Jesus as a beloved Son. It is this blessing, this powerful outpouring of the Father’s love for Jesus, that gave him the strength to face Satan in the desert and say no to those three critical temptations to possessions and pleasure; prestige and fame, power and control. Jesus, so secure in the Father’s love for him, could reject those temptations and choose to be fully human like us.

To bless comes from the Latin – “benedicere” – to speak well of. A blessing carries great power – something happens when one blesses another – the recipient is changed. I am well versed in the role of blessing within the men’s movement, and have spoken and taught it often, but recently I experienced the power of a blessing when I was blessed by an older bishop at a retreat I conducted who had been my spiritual director and professor. His comment in a thank-you card at the end, “the student has surpassed the master – am proud of you” literally blew me away. I was filled with emotions, felt affirmed, buoyed up, energized, and stunned – left almost speechless. Here was an older bishop (age 93) humbly blessing a younger bishop and helping him be more generative. He was truly an elder, a king, sharing his love and passing on life to someone younger.

We all have that power to bless others. As older persons especially, we are called to be humble, step aside, and give life to those younger than us. That is perhaps one of the best ways that we can express our faith in Jesus as Son of God, and that is to be like the Father, and bless the people in our lives, to affirm them, compliment them, encourage them, bring out the best in them, help them realize their potential and be more generative. How well are we doing this, we might ask ourselves, and challenge ourselves to do it more and more.

The Spirit that is truth is, I think, the most challenging aspect of John’s teaching about eternal life. The world that we are to conquer is not out there, but within us – our sin and sinfulness. Truth has to do with our own inner truth. Do we really know ourselves as we are? Have we accepted ourselves as we are? Can we see ourselves as others see us? Are we aware of our need for forgiveness? And are we in touch with our need for healing especially of our sinfulness, that which makes us sin, our painful emotions like insecurity, anger or envy; our negative attitudes like false pride, stubborn self-righteousness, or need for power and control? The more I observe what is happening in our world and in our church, I become more and more convinced that the need for power over others, and the compulsion to control others is like a plague infecting so much of our lives.

John the Baptist is a good example for us. First of all, he recognized Jesus and leapt for joy in his mother’s womb at the very presence of Jesus. Then he had the faith to proclaim Jesus as the long-awaited Lamb of God who alone could take away the sins of the world. John could only baptize with water for repentance; he could not forgive or take away sins. Only Jesus who would baptize with the Holy Spirit could to that – forgive and heal. Most of all, John was humble – he had no desire for power or control and could easily say that he was not worthy to undo the thongs of Jesus’ sandals. Would that we could be like John the Baptist, and humbly let go of any clinging to possessions, prestige, power and control.

The Eucharist is both a deep act of faith Jesus as Son of God, present in Word, Sacrament, and especially each other, and also a mandate to go out and express our faith in unselfish acts of love and blessings.

So remember, there are three that testify: the water and the blood and the Spirit. Let us place our complete trust in Jesus as Son of God, love others as he loved us, learn to love and forgive ourselves, and live that testimony of God that we might enjoy eternal life here and now.