Christmas Weekday
I JN 5:14-21
Ps 149:1-2, 3-4, 5-6A & 9B
JN 3:22-30
Summary
The first reading, from 1 John, addresses sin and our one true God, with several key lines:
'..if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in regard
to whatever we ask, we know that what we have asked him for his ours. If anyone sees his brother
sinning, if the sin is not deadly, he should pray to God and he will give him life?All wrongdoing is
sin, but there is sin that is not deadly.¯
As we are reminded in our own lives, none of us is 'perfect¯, and we all sin to some degree. We
must be cognizant of this, and not to dismiss 'sins¯ that are less than deadly but are sins none-
theless. But must be just as cognizant that we have a forgiving God that we can pray to at any
and all times, about sins both minor and more significant, to ask for help, guidance, and forgive-
ness.
The gospel reading from John brings us to an instance where John was seen baptizing in Aenon
and was asked about this by some in the crowd, and he provided some significant insight for us
to remember daily. 'No one can receive anything except what has been given from heaven?.The
one who has the bride is the bridegroom; the best man, who stands and listens for him, rejoices
greatly at the bridegroom?s voice. So this joy of mine has been made complete. He must in-
crease; I must decrease.¯
That must have been a difficult concept for the people of that time, to be witnessing John baptize
people and not think he was the one they should be following, but as he reminds in this gospel,
there can be only ONE voice that we must truly listen to, pray to, and follow, and that is God and
no one or nothing else.
Reflection
Sin is one of those words and concepts that we would all prefer to avoid thinking about or re-
flecting on, as if it were just easier to put it in a drawer and not deal with it or think about it. Un-
fortunately, our lives cannot be made to be that 'simple¯ or 'easy¯. None of us is perfect, but that
also doesn?t mean that God indicts us or looks less favorably upon us because we all do sin and
in some way or another are all 'sinners¯. We can?t look upon ourselves as not sinning just be-
cause we don?t do something 'deadly¯ as referenced in John?s first letter. It might be something
'small¯ like harming a co-worker, our spouse, or one of our children with some less-than-kind
words. It doesn?t even have to be 'actions¯ that can be harmful, but words can inflict the same
kind of pain, and these are sins even though they may not be 'deadly¯. This is merely an example
for us all to contemplate of sins that we commit everyday that may not be 'moral sins¯ but none-
theless make us less than perfect, and that we should ask God to forgive us for, and guide us to
act more as God would in the future. It doesn?t have to be 'deadly¯ to be a sin, and we must not
