The Letter of John in today’s first reading is a challenging exhortation as to how we should treat “our brother”. His way of describing how we should treat other people. He doesn’t mince words!
First, he says that relationships should be framed in black and white. It is a case of love or hate, there is for John no place for neutrality in relationships. No place for indifference, as one author put it, there is no twilight in the spiritual world. So how do we regard the other?
We may regard the other as negligible. We can make our plans in life without taking others into consideration. We can make the assumption that the needs of the others have nothing to do with us.
We may regard the other with contempt, one whose opinions should be brushed aside.
We may regard the other as a nuisance. Such a person would be hesitant, at best, to look out for the other, especially, those most in need.
We might even regard the other as the enemy, especially if we regard competition as the guiding principle of life. Or, we may regard the other as our brother and sister. Such a person is concerned about the interests of the other, and is also concerned about the needs of the other.
In summary John says that if we love our brother, the other person, we are walking in the light. Love makes it possible for us to make progress in the spiritual life. In contrast hatred makes a person blind, he or she walks in the darkness, his powers of judgement are clouded. He or she, cannot clearly see the issues.
Prejudice, anger, and bias grow out of hatred. All of these emotions can paralyze a person or force them to hide behind ideologies. Or categories of race or economics.
In the Gospel reading today, Simeon gives a summary of the work of Jesus. Jesus is about love. If a person responds to that love, “he is within the Kingdom”. If he remains indifferent to that love, or worse yet ‘cold’ to that love, he will be condemned.
It is Jesus who leads a person out of darkness and into the light, but the person has to accept the invitation.
In verse 34 of the Gospel, Jesus says that many will fall, but many will rise. It is not so much that God judges a man but that a man, a person judges themselves, and that judgement is a reaction to Jesus’ invitation.
To follow Jesus as a faithful disciple is not easy. There are many challenges in our world, but there were many challenges in Jesus’ time. The great hope that makes discipleship possible now is at the core of the Christmas message. Jesus became one of us, to walk the journey that we walk, and in doing so, to show us the way to redemption.
Image: “Choices” by derekbruff is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0.