St. John, Apostle and Evangelist, 27 December, anno Domini 2,017

Collect of the Day:  

Merciful Lord, cast the bright beams of Your light upon Your Church that we, being instructed in the doctrine of Your blessed apostle and evangelist John, may come to the light of everlasting life;  for You live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God,now and forever. Amen.

Lessons:

Revelation 1: 1-6

Psalm 11

1 John 1: 1-2: 2

St. John 21: 20-25

St. John was a son of Zebedee and brother of James the Elder (whose festival day is July 25). John was among the first disciples to be called by Jesus (Matthew 4:18 -22) and became known as “the disciple whom Jesus loved,” as he refers to himself in the Gospel that bears his name (e.g., John 21:20). Of the Twelve, John alone did not forsake Jesus in the hours of His suffering and death. With the faithful women, he stood at the cross, where our Lord made him the guardian of His mother. After Pentecost, John spent his ministry in Jerusalem and at Ephesus, where tradition says he was bishop. He wrote the fourth Gospel, the three Epistles that bear his name, and the Book of Revelation. Especially memorable in his Gospel are the account of the wedding at Cana (John 2:1-12), the “Gospel in a nutshell” (John 3:16), Jesus’ saying about the Good Shepherd (John 10:11-16), the raising of Lazarus from the dead (John 11), and Jesus’ encounter with Mary Magdalene on Easter morning (John 20:11-18). According to tradition, John was banished to the island of Patmos (off the coast of Asia Minor) by the Roman emperor Domitian. John lived to a very old age, surviving all the apostles, and died at Ephesus around AD 100. (From The Treasury of Daily Prayer, Concordia Publishing House)

St. John 1

 ¹ In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.²He was in the beginning with God. ³ All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. ⁴ In him was life, and the life was the light of men. ⁵ The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

 ⁶There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. ⁷He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. ⁸ He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light.

 ⁹ The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. ¹⁰He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. ¹¹He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. ¹²But to all who did receive him,who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, ¹³who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

 ¹⁴And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Reflection:  My wife, a chemist and scientist, once pointed out to me that physically you can bring light into the darkness, but you can not physically bring darkness into  the light.  I can cup my hands like making a snowball  so that the interior is darkness and I open my hands and the dark dissipates.  But we can spiritually bring darkness into the light.  In fact, by nature, separated by sin from the Lord, we are darkness (Ephesians 5:8). Into the darkness the light shines, Jesus Christ.  This is the great theme of Apostle and Evangelist remembered this day in the Scripture the Lord breathed into him to write.  The Gospel above is the appointed Gospel reading for the last service of Christ Mass Day. It is the light of love’s pure light, Jesus Christ, the dark world needs and yet knows not Him.  This is the light of His Word made flesh that His Church is to shine in the world.

And so there is no compromise between the darkness of idolatrous sin and the light of Christ:

For you are all children of light, children of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness. 1 Thessalonians 5: 5

for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light  Ephesians 5:8

Or what fellowship has light with darkness? 2 Corinthians 6: 14

There can be no fellowship between light and darkness.  No compromise because once compromised the darkness prevails under the guise of light.   Almost as frightening as being in the darkness of sin and death is living in the twilight zone.  In the shadows, the devil lurks. What is the Lord’s response?

Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. Ephesians 5: 11

This is our God-given, cross bearing, following the Light of world, Jesus, daily struggle:

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

Living in  the light of the Lord is the Lord’s doing, His grace ALONE:

He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. Colossians 1: 12-14

Our strength is the Lord’s alone together as His Church, His Body in the world:

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. 1 Peter 2: 8-10

Let us pray…

Lord Jesus Christ, we implore You to hear our prayers  and enlighten the darkness of our hearts by Your gracious visitation;  for You live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.