A reading from the first letter of saint John (5:14-21)
This is the fearlessness we have towards him,
that if we ask anything in accordance with his will
he hears us.
And if we know that he listens to whatever we ask him,
we know that we already possess whatever we have asked of him.
Anyone sees a brother or sister commit a sin
that is not a deadly sin,
has only to pray, and God will give life to this person,
provided that it is not a deadly sin.
There is sin that leads to death
and I am not saying you should pray about that.
Every kind of wickedness is sin,
but not all sin leads to death.
We know that no one who is a child of God sins,
because he who was born from God protects such a one,
and the Evil One cannot touch such a one.
We know that we are from God,
and the whole world lies open to the Evil One.
We know also that the Son of God has come
and has given us understanding
so that we may know him who is true.
We are in the One who is true
in his Son, Jesus Christ.
He is the true God
and eternal life.
Children, be on your guard against idols.
Love casts out fear (4:18), and ‘fearlessness (parresia)’ allows us to make requests of God with total confidence, whatever our needs. We can pray for the forgiveness of sin on behalf of a brother or sister, and life will be restored to that person. But John also speaks about ‘sin that leads to death (hamartia pros thanaton)’, though it is unclear what he means. He is probably alluding to those who deny Jesus is the Son of God, and who have deserted the community (2:18-19, 22). But those ‘born of God’ do not sin, even though the ‘whole world lies open to the Evil One’. The Messiah has come to give us ‘understanding’ (dianoia) so that we may know ‘him who is true (alethinon)’. We are ‘in the One who is true’ and ‘in his Son, Jesus Christ’. He is the true God and eternal life. The final words of the letter are ‘children, be on your guard against idols’.
Psalm 149 Once again we are invited to sing ‘a new song (shir hadash)’ for the gift of salvation.
A reading from the holy gospel according to John (3:22-30)
After this, Jesus and his disciples went into the Judaean countryside and he spent some time with them there and baptised. And John also was baptising at Aenon near Salim, because there was plenty of water there, and people were going there and were being baptised. For John had not yet been thrown into prison. Now a discussion arose between John’s disciples and a Jew about purification, so they went to John and said, ‘Rabbi, the man who was with you on the far side of the Jordan, to whom you bore witness, is baptising now, and everyone is going to him.’
John replied:
‘No one can receive anything
except what is given from heaven.
‘You yourselves can bear witness to me that I said, “I am not the Messiah;
but I am the one who has been sent ahead of him.”
‘He who has the bride is the bridegroom,
and yet the bridegroom’s friend,
who stands and listens to him,
is filled with joy at the bridegroom’s voice.
This joy of mine is complete.
He must grow greater, I must grow less.’
Only in this text do we have reference to Jesus baptising. But there is of course no rivalry between them, for John affirms, ‘No one can receive anything except what is given from heaven’. John has constantly maintained that his role is to prepare the way. John gives his final testimony about Jesus and refers to himself as ‘the friend of the bridegroom’ (ho philos tou numphiou), who rejoices for his friend. There is a possible allusion here to Isaiah’s song of the vineyard, in which the prophet sings for his friend about his love for his vineyard (Isaiah 5:1). The ‘joy (chara)’ of John is now complete as the ministry of Jesus begins. The remarks of John, that Jesus is to grow greater, while he is to grow less, are a further confirmation of his role as deferring to Jesus, and ‘preparing the way’, found in every gospel. We are reminded that the feast of the birth of John, at the time of the longest day in the northern hemisphere, heralds the time in which the light will ‘grow less’, while the Christmas feast, at the time of the shortest day, introduces the light of the Messiah which will ‘grow greater’. Nature appropriately reflects the births of John and of Jesus.
Why has John the Baptist been so prominent in Advent and Christmas?
The end of Christmas shows John’s final witness to the one who was to come after him.