Life itself was revealed in the flesh

Treasures of Our Faith with Deacon Richard Vehige

Today, December 27, as our church celebrates the Feast of John, Apostle and Evangelist, our Church invites us to read and reflect on a passage from the first letter of the apostle John (1: 1-2:3), entitled “Word of life and light of God”. Our treasure, which follows, is from a tractates on the first letter of John by Saint Augustine, bishop.

St. John the Apostle was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus and traditionally believed to be the author of the three Letters of John, the Fourth Gospel, and possibly the Revelation to John in the New Testament.

Saint John first met Jesus when he was fishing with his brother James on the Sea of Galilee. After an entire night of fruitless efforts, they were dubious when Jesus told them to lower their nets into the water once more. Yet they complied and caught more fish than they could keep in their boat. After this miracle, Jesus asked them to follow him, saying he would make them fishers of men. Immediately, they cast aside their nets to follow him, and did not look back. What is striking about this account is that there was no hesitation on their part. James and John’s response to the call to follow Christ was immediate, unquestioning, and complete.

John is known as the disciple “whom Jesus loved.” John was one of Jesus’ closest disciples and was present for some of the critical moments of Jesus’ time on earth – witnessing the Transfiguration and the raising of Jairus’ daughter, and accompanying Jesus the night before His crucifixion in the garden of Gethsemane. He was also the only disciple to be present at Jesus’ crucifixion. During the Last Supper, John is described as having his head resting on Jesus, in a posture customary of the Eastern dining tradition and indicative of their close friendship.

John and his brother James were the only people to receive nicknames from Jesus. John and his brother James‘ fiery evangelical zeal and extreme reactions inspired Jesus to – rather humorously – dub them “the Sons of Thunder”. When James and John heard a man casting out devils in Jesus’ name, they forbade him from doing it. Later in that same chapter, when Jesus set out for Jerusalem and the Samaritans refused to receive him on his journey, James and John were incensed. “Lord, do you want us to call down fire from heaven to consume them?” they asked. In both instances, Jesus rebuked them for their extreme reactions and unnecessary hostility.

Throughout his Gospel account and epistles, John emphasizes the significance of love. In John’s telling of the Last Supper, Jesus’ final lesson centers on love: “As the Father loves me, so I also love you. Remain in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and your joy may be complete. This is my commandment: love one another as I love you.” – John 15:9-12

John’s Gospel includes numerous minor details that are not seen in other Gospel accounts. John’s Gospel is also unique because John’s principal purpose is to account for Jesus’ divinity, beginning with, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

John was the only disciple to pass away peacefully rather than in martyrdom. His zeal for evangelism and heart of love continue to inspire the faithful and strengthen the devotion of believers throughout generations.

Saint Augustine was born at Tagaste in Africa in 354. He was unsettled and restlessly searched for the truth until he was converted to the faith at Milan and baptized by Ambrose. Returning to his homeland, he embraced an ascetic life and subsequently was elected bishop of Hippo. For thirty-four years he guided his flock, instructing it with sermons and many writings. He fought bravely against the errors of his time and explained the Faith carefully and cogently through his writings. He is also a preeminent Catholic Doctor of the Church. His writings influenced the development of western philosophy and western Christianity, and he is viewed as one of the most important Church Fathers of the Latin Church in the Patristic Period. He died in 430.

The "Tractates on the Gospel of John" are actually 124 pieces of writing. Augustine used the word "tractate" for any prepared spoken communication. Many of these tractates he delivered as homilies or sermons from the pulpit, and they were copied by stenographers in the congregation; others he dictated directly to stenographers in private, but in a way that they could later be read aloud in a church as a homily by others. His commentary on the Gospel of John is primarily pastoral rather than consciously being highly theological. Augustine's focus in these tractates is on Incarnation, or the Word made flesh. This is not only a distinctive and important theme in the Gospel of John; it was a significant part of Augustine's own conversion, as mentioned in the Confessions.

The First letter of John is identified in early Christian tradition as work of John the apostle. The purpose of the letter is to combat certain false ideas, especially about Jesus, and to deepen the spiritual and social awareness of the Christian community. Some former members of the community refused to acknowledge Jesus as the Christ and denied that he was a true man. The specific heresy described in this letter cannot be identified exactly, but it is a form of Docetism or Gnosticism; the former doctrine denied the humanity of Christ to insure that his divinity was untainted, and the latter viewed the appearance of Christ as a mere stepping-stone to higher knowledge of God. These theological errors are rejected by an appeal to the reality and continuity of the apostolic witness to Jesus. The author affirms that authentic Christian love, ethics, and faith take place only within the historical revelation and sacrifice of Jesus Christ. The fullness of Christian life as fellowship with the Father must be based on true belief and result in charitable living; knowledge of God and love for one another are inseparable, and error in one area inevitably affects the other. Although the author recognizes that Christian doctrine presents intangible mysteries of faith about Christ, he insists that the concrete Christian life brings to light the deeper realities of the gospel.