Today our first reading in 1 John we are immersed deeper into the truth of God’s love for us. We have all experienced the bliss of love, it’s comfort, it’s boundless allure. Once tasted, we desire more. Love we know is God himself and every time we love, we experience more of God. Yet, how to enjoy more, receive more? Today’s first reading directs us beautifully, by loving our brother. “…Whoever loves God must also love his brother.” (1 John 4:19)
When we find ourselves hating another, our brother, this is a sure sign we are separated from love to some degree. However, this hatred also presents us with an opportunity to love more and experience more of God. After all, to proclaim we love God when we hate our brother makes us a liar, one cannot love God and hate his brother because God is in this brother of ours. To love God fully begins with our loving one another fully. After all, it is in loving our brothers that we experience God and his love.
To love our brothers requires faith, faith that forgiveness and healing in our relationships can happen. This healing happens through Jesus Christ, after all, he authored forgiveness. Believe in Jesus Christ and we are begotten by God, once begotten we are on our way towards fully loving our brother. Here, by loving and following God’s commandments, we will conquer the world. Our faith in God and his son Jesus Christ will lead us.
The love of God continues in our Gospel today. Word of Jesus was spreading throughout the region, people were drawn to his message of love and the love he offered to all. As he proclaimed the fulfillment of the scripture in the synagogue of his hometown Nazareth, reveling his divinity to all, all eyes were intently focused on him. He is the one foretold in sacred text, the one who would bring heavenly richness to the poor, heal the blind, free the captives and the oppressed. His words were gracious, full of amazement for the crowd. Yes, their Jesus, the little boy who grew up among them in the home of Joseph and Mary, came back home and announced who he really was – the fulfillment of the word, the one who God called his children to listen to, God’s only begotten son.
There was obviously something profound in his reading of sacred text, this young man who they watched grow up, because all eyes were on him. His announcement came that day: “Today the scripture passage is fulfilled” (Luke 4:22) There it is, all we need to know! Jesus is indeed the son of the one true God whom the Spirit of the Lord rests upon.
Just as all those years ago in that synagogue in Nazareth, when the people looked intently at Jesus and listened to him, we too are called to look intently at Jesus and listen to his words. He spoke the truth then to those who listened and he will speak the truth to us now. The truth our hearts yearn for, the most beautiful and gracious words our ears could ever receive or our hearts could ever imagine. All we need to do is listen and look at him intently.
Jesus – I love you.
