Monday • 4/19/2021
Week of 3 Easter

This morning’s Scriptures are: Psalm 25; Daniel 4:19–27; 1 John 3:19–4:6; Luke 4:14–30

This morning’s Canticles are: before the Psalm reading, Pascha Nostrum(“Christ Our Passover,” BCP, p. 83); following the OT reading, Canticle 9 (“The First Song of Isaiah,” Isaiah 12:2–6, BCP, p. 86); following the Epistle reading, Canticle 19 (“The Song of the Redeemed,” Revelation 15:3–4, BCP, p. 94)

Antichrist to come, and antichrist already. The early church understood that Christ’s victory over sin and death provoked a satanic counterattack. Peter likens the devil to a mortally wounded lion in desperate, violent death throes (1 Peter 5:8). Paul expects history to culminate in Christ dealing a final crushing blow to a “man of lawlessness” who will mount a final futile assault on God’s people (2 Thessalonians 2:8). Paul also recognizes the “spirit of lawlessness” already at work in the world, and against which the church must strive until the end (2 Thessalonians 2:7). John has an identical view: he predicts the rise of “antichrist” towards the end of history, whom Christ will put an end to at his glorious return (1 John 2:18; Revelation 13). Like Paul, John sees this future evil already in play in the world, attacking the church through “many antichrists,” and operating under the influence of “the spirit of antichrist” (1 John 2:18; 4:3).

Christ “coming in the flesh.” Thus, John understands how important it is to hold fast to the fact (to render John’s Greek somewhat literally) that Jesus is the Christ-coming-in-the-flesh (1 John 4:2).

John’s perspective is breathtaking. The God of the universe has taken to himself bodily form. Jesus came 2,000 years ago to begin the redemption and renewal of all physical creation: … and the Word became flesh (John 1:14). In John’s Gospel, Jesus also teaches that he comes in Word and Sacrament to his gathered people to continue to redeem and renew all of physical creation (see especially John 6). In the Book of Revelation, John describes how Jesus will come again in power and glory one day in the future to finalize his redemption and renewal of all creation (Revelation 19–22).

In the meantime, John’s epistles would have us understand, there’s not a single aspect of our existence that Jesus does not care about. As the noted Dutch theologian and statesman Abraham Kuyper (1837–1920) put it, “[T]here is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry: ‘Mine!’”

Do not believe every spirit. That’s why it’s crucial, says John, for the church to discern the Spirit of God, the Advocate whom Jesus promised to send, and who would lead us into all truth. For the “spirit of antichrist” will speak falsehoods intended to lead us away from God and the life he has for us.

One way to tell it’s the spirit of antichrist that we are hearing is when we recognize voices in the church promoting sin. John has already provided examples of what that spirit advocates: “the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life” (1 John 2:15 RSV). To flesh out John’s teachings the church has developed the taxonomy of “the seven deadly sins.” The “deadly sins” comprise a helpful vocabulary for discerning the siren voices that would seduce us with illicit physical pleasure, tempt us into idolizing beauty, and entice us into taking pride in building our “brand.” In our day, I’m pretty sure that John would enjoin us to be alert to voices that urge:

A dismissive attitude toward the church’s and Israel’s long history and experience (“I don’t care what the Bible said back then, I’m hearing something different now!”), thus exuding the first deadly sin: pride.

A political doctrine of resentment that feeds the second deadly sin: envy.

A paralyzed focus on external, impersonal, and intractable social forces that causes us to ignore the poison of the fourth deadly sin: sloth.

An aesthetic that glorifies amassing wealth and that makes us effete snobs about everything we consume (“O dear God, I’ll die before I drink rotgut coffee!”), surrendering, “in the day of slaughter” (James 4:5), to the fifth and sixth deadly sins: avarice and gluttony.

A championing of sexual liberation that capitulates to the demands of the seventh deadly sin: lust.

This is the commandment… But in the end, John keeps it simple for us. He’d have us focus on one commandment with two dimensions: “Believe in the name of [God’s] Son Jesus…” (that is, the fullness of who he is and what he has done, is doing, and will do for us) “…and love one another” (thus fleshing out, almost as an extension of the incarnation, the reality of the eternal communion of love here on earth—1 John 3:23).

Collect for the Third Sunday of Easter. O God, whose blessed Son made himself known to his disciples in the breaking of bread: Open the eyes of our faith, that we may behold him in all his redeeming work; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Be blessed this day,

Reggie Kidd+

Image: Enfo, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons