This is a reflection on the Mass readings of the day.
St. John’s writing style, as exemplified in today’s first reading, displays an enchanting mix of great simplicity and poetic depth.
Take, for example, the reference to the water and the blood. Jesus has come through the water and the blood, and these bear witness to Him. This same John himself bore witness, in His gospel, to the water and the blood flowing from Jesus’ side, when it was opened with a lance after He died. In his gospel, John gave great importance to this, signaling it as the outpouring of His salvation to humankind.
But reflecting on today’s first reading, we may think that John is being a bit presumptuous when He points to God Himself as testifier on behalf of Jesus as His Son. When did John hear with His own ears God’s testimony? Sounds like he’s making an interpretative jump here…
But let us not forget. John did hear God the Father’s testimony, directly, audibly. He was one of the three disciples present at the Transfiguration, when a cloud overshadowed them and he heard a voice from the cloud say, “This is my beloved Son. Listen to him.” (Mk. 9:7)
He may or may not have been present at Jesus’ baptism, listening to John the Baptist’s preaching, when a voice came from the heavens and said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” It is speculated that he was, because he is thought likely to be the second, unnamed disciple of the Baptist mentioned in his own gospel who follows Jesus immediately afterward (cf. Jn. 1:35ff). Either way, he certainly knew of the event.
It is marvelous to think that this author of the first letter of John, written in such an unassuming yet profound style, actually heard the voice of God the Father testifying to His Son.
John tells us that he who possesses the Son possesses life. Here, in a way, the divide between earthly and eternal life blurs, just a little. Life for us is possession of the Son, here, as well as there. While we suffer here, and we will not there, this distinction starts to take second place as we begin, even here, to experience the joy of life in the Son.
The teachings of the Catholic Church about the possibility of salvation for those who do not know the Church, or indeed do not know Christ at all, seem to soften John’s statement. A recent embodiment of this teaching, from the Vatican II document Lumen Gentium: “Since salvation is offered to all, it must be made concretely available to all. But it is clear that today, as in the past, many people do not have an opportunity to come to know or accept the gospel revelation or to enter the Church. . . . For such people, salvation in Christ is accessible by virtue of a grace which, while having a mysterious relationship to the Church, does not make them formally part of the Church, but enlightens them in a way which is accommodated to their spiritual and material situation. This grace comes from Christ; it is the result of his sacrifice and is communicated by the Holy Spirit. It enables each person to attain salvation through his or her free cooperation.” (LG no. 16)
But this teaching, while it should cause rejoicing at God’s glorious mercy and desire for the salvation of every human, does not weaken John’s statement at all. There is, yes, the possibility for God, in His mercy, applying the infinite grace won by His Son on the cross, to grant the life of which John speaks, which is possession of the Son, at death to those who have lived a life striving unequivocally to understand the truth about God and to live by it, but have not known Christ.
But let us not be presumptuous of this mercy. The saints unanimously teach that, even among Christians, who are pampered by God with all the grace available through the sacraments and reflection on the Gospel to perfect their choice for Jesus, there are many who do not attain salvation due to the mediocrity of their choice for God. We must be deeply concerned for those in our secular world who, aware of the Gospel, reject a life in Christ casually and out of hand due to their unwillingness to conform their hearts and lives to a demanding ideal. And as for those who have never heard of Christ: If so many Christians, with the aid of so much grace, fail to hit the mark, how are those in practice without these aids and without clear doctrine to make the choice for the divine ideal? We must not presume on some extraordinary grace for these persons that exceeds the ordinary grace provided by the sacraments, Christian doctrine, and Scripture.
So, we must preach the Gospel.
All of this is very dramatic. But let us also remember, to anyone who approaches Jesus, even tentatively, He rushes with His divine aid to firm up their hearts, their resolve, their intent. Aside from the dialogue with the repentant thief on the cross, perhaps the most moving example of this is found right in today’s Gospel passage, in the exchange with the leper: “‘Lord, if you wish, you can make me clean.’ Jesus stretched out his hand, touched him, and said, ‘I do will it. Be made clean.'”
If He wills it, Jesus can purify our hearts. And He does will it.
Ideas for conversation with the Lord: We cannot escape from a dramatic but beautiful reality, namely, that Jesus calls us to a radical transformation through the adoption of a new mode of life, that can only be found in Him, in the Son–but that this transformation leads to unimaginable happiness. As St. John points out in his first letter, God the Father Himself bears succinct but unambiguous testimony to this. Let us approach Jesus today like the leper, and ask Him to cleanse our hearts, to purify them so that He can fully infuse them with His life. And let us pray with all the passion of our hearts for those who do not know Him.
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