Today’s gospel is the Prologue from the Gospel of John. In part, it reads:
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” … “What came to be through him was life, and this life was the light of the human race; the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”… “…to those who did accept him he gave power to become children of God, to those who believe in his name.” (John 1:1, 4-5, 12)
It is a glorious and amazing passage which promises the “power to become children of God, to those who believe in his name.” Here in the shadow of our celebration of the Feast of the Holy Family, it speaks to the everlasting Holy Family of God in eternal life. Here in this life it asks that we clothe ourselves in the Word of God so that we focus our life on the will of God in the here and now, to become witnesses to the love and embrace of God that all might “believe in his name.”
In this context, later in life, John the Evangelist writes in his 2nd letter: “Children, it is the last hour; and just as you heard that the antichrist was coming, so now many antichrists have appeared.” (1 John 2:18) In our time “antichrist” is a loaded term to say the least. Interestingly, the term ὁ ἀντίχριστος is used in the NT only in the Johannine letters and is not assigned as a moniker to an individual, rather it points to those who deny Jesus as Messiah/Christ and Savior.
But that never stopped later church writers all the way up to modern times from speculating who might be The Antichrist. Ancient candidates include Antiochus IV, the Selucide monarch who desecrated the Jerusalem Temple with a statue of Zeus. Or maybe it was the Roman Emperor Nero who persecuted 1st century Christians. It is worth noting the word “antichrist” does not appear in Revelation – although some who argue the idea is present in the various “beasts” described in the last book of the New Testament.
In our day the basic idea is more widespread and has consistently generated a cottage industry attempting to identify the antichrist.
But if we had simply added the next verse to our first reading, we would have an answer: “Who is the liar? Whoever denies that Jesus is the Christ. Whoever denies the Father and the Son, this is the antichrist.” (1 John 2:22)
I doubt you deny Jesus is the Christ or the Triune God, but I have often wondered if a believer can be a part-time antichrist? Part time in that your denial of Jesus is in the life lived apart from the community of believers – in what you have done and what you have failed to do. The moments we remained silent. The moments we did not feed the hungry, clothe the naked, visit the imprisoned/isolated/the lonely.
Our lives, imperfect as they are, need to model the faith we profess, so that while our words profess Jesus as Lord and Savior, so too do the actions of our lives, lest we become part time believers.
Image credit: St John the Evangelist Church, Silver Springs MD, Public Domain