Feast of Saint John, Apostle and evangelist

 Lectionary: 697

What we have seen and heard
we proclaim now to you,
so that you too may have fellowship with us;
for our fellowship is with the Father
and with his Son, Jesus Christ.
We are writing this so that our joy may be complete.

Words cannot express the beauty, majesty, depth, and subtlety of Saint John's Gospel. It's grandeur begins in the mysterious depths of God. But the number of efforts to do so throughout these two millennia attests to its importance. Saint John is a friend in our youth and a companion in our old age, a counselor who knows our world, with its beauty and its danger. His gospel and three letters provide endless delight for those who take the time to read, study, reread, and reflect upon them.  

This morning I have noticed in Saint John's first letter his attention to the fellowship of believers. No one wants to be saved alone. Like the Lord himself, we have deep attachments to family and friends; we have bonds of affection for distant strangers and ancient enemies. We do not wish to be ripped from our society to join a band of strangers, regardless of their holiness. Rather we seek that complete joy which we must share with everyone we've ever known, from the mothers who gave birth to us to the bullies who terrorized the neighborhood. 

I suppose philosophers and historians could tell us how our society became so obnoxiously self-centered. I grew up with heroes of the 1950's like the Lone Ranger and Superman; they reappeared in the sixties and seventies as Maverick and Clint Eastwood's Harry Callahan. But my heroes followed in the footsteps of Raymond Chandler's "Phillip Marlowe." These solitary men, with neither family nor friends, with their infallible sense of what is good and what is evil, fought wickedness in city hall and state capitals. Because they were isolated, no threats could deter them from the fearless pursuit of justice in  a world of endless gray. I suppose today's Spiderman has picked up the tradition. 

The Lord offers us a fellowship of believers who travel with and in him on the road to salvation. If we fight evil, we do it with kindness. 

To be with Jesus is to know salvation despite the threats around and within us. We experience betrayal, of course, within the Church; but that does not dissuade us from clinging to him. No one I have met compares with the treasonous Judas Iscariot. 

The Church provides the guidance each one needs even as we learn to guide others. We enjoy the stories, teachings, prayers, and companionship of many generations of saints, who represent innumerable nationalities. We watch our elders follow the Way even as we invite youths to walk with us. 

Is it easy? It's not supposed to be. In the same way that Jesus embraced his cross, we forget our ideals -- the way things should be -- and embrace reality for the love of God. We're not saved by ideals, and we soon learn that idealistic heroes are little more than pixels. 

Saint John knew the Lord. He is the Horatio who walked with the Lord's Hamlet from the Jordan River, through Cana and Jerusalem, on the way to Calvary and Easter. As a witness, he testifies to the truth, and as we study his writing we learn to trust him, his Church, and his Savior. There can be no finer companion.