Who Is the Liar? By Melanie Rigney

Bridge of Lies, Romania

 Who Is the Liar? By Melanie Rigney

Memorial of Saints Basil the Great and Gregory Nazianzen, Bishops and Doctors of the Church

Who is the liar? Whoever denies that Jesus is the Christ. Whoever denies the Father and the Son, this is the antichrist. No one who denies the Son has the Father, but whoever confesses the Son has the Father as well. (1 John 2:22-23)

All the ends of the earth have seen the saving power of God. (Psalm 98:3cd)

“I baptize with water; but there is one among you whom you do not recognize, the one who is coming after me, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to untie.” (John 1:26-27) 

Piety

Lord, You are the Light and the Truth. Help me to fight the forces that seek to convince me You are neither.

Study

The author of 1 John had some specific liars in mind. They didn’t deny that Jesus had existed—but they did not believe He was the Messiah sent by God. That made them antichrists, those who denied the Father and the Son, for one could not believe in one without the other, the author argued. 

And at some level, in the abstract, we as Christians get that. After all, if we didn’t believe Jesus was the Christ, what would be the point in following Him? And surely, we reject the antichrist, Jesus’s enemy.

Except, maybe, when we don’t. 

Maybe it’s a shorter path than we want to acknowledge, from thinking we can plan and organize our lives better than Jesus can to embracing the antichrist. Maybe it’s a shorter path than we want to acknowledging, from questioning why God allows bad things to happen to us and our loved ones to embracing the antichrist. Maybe it’s a shorter path than we want to acknowledge, from doubting our value or earthly purpose to embracing the antichrist.

Who is the liar? 

Action

Examine the lies, big whoppers or tiny fibs, that threaten to separate you from the Father and Son.

Image is the Bridge of Lies in Romania, https://pixabay.com/photos/liar-bridge-sibiu-romania-511910/,ionasnicolae