In the Beginning

In the Beginning

The Seventh Day in the Octave of Christmas

Children, it is the last hour; and just as you heard that the antichrist was coming,
so now many antichrists have appeared. Thus, we know this is the last hour. They went out from us, but they were not really of our number; if they had been, they would have remained with us. Their desertion shows that none of them was of our number. 1 John 2:18-19

In the beginning, was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came to be through him, and without him, nothing came to be. What came to be 4through him was life, and this life was the light of the human race; the light shines in the darkness, John 1:1-5 

Piety

Let the heavens be glad, and the earth rejoice! Psalm 96:11

Study

Seven days into the Christmas season and the scriptures for daily mass contemplate the beginning and the end.  The Alpha and the Omega.  Past, present, and the future. How appropriate for New Year’s Eve? How appropriate for New Year’s Eve.  The Romans depicted Janus (namesake for January) as a head looking in two directions. Today, we do the same. 

Let the heavens be glad, and the earth rejoice that 2020 is ending. The Good News for today is that we consider the hope of the future, not the pain of 2020.

The letter from Timothy contemplates the period between the death and resurrection of Christ and his second coming. Timothy also warns of the adversary (the antichrist) who opposes the light of God. Through the scriptures, writers warn us of this under many names even though “antichrist” only appears in John. Matthew and Mark warn of the “pseudochrists” (translated “false messiahs” in Mt 24:24 and Mk 13:22), and Paul cautions about the “lawless one” in 2 Thessalonians 2:3. 

If there were “many” antichrists in Biblical times, those have only multiplied as our distractions multiply. Our job is to remain steadfast and allow them to pull us away, nor to seek our happiness in other places or from other people and things. 

 

Now the Spirit explicitly says that some will turn away from the faith by paying attention to deceitful spirits and demonic instructions in the last times. 1 Timothy 4:1

 As we close out the pain-filled and heavy-hearted year of 2020, John gives us the light of hope. Ironically, John uses the same words that open the Book of Genesis in the Tanakh, “In the beginning.”

These opening verses in John’s gospel help to realize our faith must grow in three different directions. 

“In the beginning was the word…” Our faith in the Word must come to be through piety, study, and action in the world. Once we are aware of its existence, then we can do something with it. Love God back. Love our neighbors. Love ourselves.  

“…the Word was with God:” Our lives have no significant meaning in isolation. Just as John teaches that the Word exists in relationship to God, so, too, must we have that relationship as a wandering child to an ever-loving parent. 

“…and the Word was God” predicts that no matter who tempts us, God works to pull us back to our original state of being in relationship to the Creator, the world, and each other. No matter where we take our inheritance, John predicts that we will reunite with God as the Prodigal Son returned as well.

Our study of today’s Good News ends in an excellent place for a start to a new year: with the analogy of light overcoming darkness (again, just like God brought light to the creation in Genesis). John predicts a New Genesis. 

Action

Existence. Relationship. Predication.

These three dimensions are areas we can use in formulating any resolutions for a new year. If we can grow in one, two, or all three of those areas in 2021, we will look back in 365 days and say that this was good.

 

Image 1  by olia danilevich from Pexels

 

Image 2: Photo by Jess Bailey Designs from Pexels