Wednesday, 4/21/2021
Week of 3 Easter 

This morning’s Scriptures are: Psalm 38; Daniel 5:1–12; 1 John 5:1–12; Luke 4:38–44

This morning’s Canticles are: before the Psalm reading, Pascha Nostrum(“Christ Our Passover,” BCP, p. 83); following the OT reading, Canticle 11 (“The Third Song of Isaiah,” Isaiah 60:1–3,11a,14c,18–19, BCP, p. 87); following the Epistle reading, Canticle 16 (“The Song of Zechariah,” Luke 1:68–79, BCP, p. 92)

How do we know God? We don’t have to decipher mysterious words on the wall (Daniel 5:1–12). We don’t have to decide if we can take the word of an expelled demon (Luke 4:41). We have, says John, the water and the blood and the Spirit. “This is the one who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ, not with the water only but with the water and the blood. And the Spirit is the one that testifies, for the Spirit is the truth. There are three that testify: the Spirit and the water and the blood, and these three agree” (1 John 5:6–8). The water, the blood, and the Spirit—these three, he says, are God’s true testimony about his Son, and about the life that we have in him. 

The water speaks. John reminds us of that day when he saw water flowing from the spear wound in Jesus’ side (John 19:34). It cannot but underscore the fact that Jesus came to us in the water of baptism to wash away our sins. At the River Jordan, John the Baptist recognizes the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29). Jesus says he will provide living water that will eternally quench our thirst: from his own being will flow rivers of living water (John 4 and 7). The blind man washes in the pool of Siloam, and receives his sight (John 9). With a basin of water and a servant’s towel, Jesus models his new regime of love (John 13). Jesus still comes to us in the water of baptism, to purify us and give us new life. This is God’s  true testimony for us. 

The blood speaks. John also calls us back to the sight of the blood flowing from Jesus’s pierced side (John 19:34). On that cross, as we’ve seen in our reading of 1 John, Jesus shed his blood to be a  propitiation (substitution) for our sins. Lifted up on the cross, Jesus becomes healing for the soul-sickness of sin (John 3). He casts out the prince who has kept the nations in darkness. And he begins to draw all people to himself (John 12). To this day, Jesus comes to us in the wine of the Eucharist (“Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them”—John 6:56), to assure us of forgiveness and to give us a foretaste of the banquet at the end of the age. This too is God’s true testimony for us. 

The Spirit speaks. The Spirit also testifies, says John.  The Spirit came to rest upon Jesus at his baptism, empowering his ministry throughout (John 1:32). The beloved disciple had heard Jesus teach that it was in order to gain the Spirit for his disciples that he was going to ascend the cross and return to his heavenly Father’s side: “[I]t is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you” (John 16:7). Then, as our Eucharistic Prayer so elegantly puts it: “And, that we might live no longer for ourselves, but for him who died and rose for us, he sent the Holy Spirit, his own first gift for those who believe, to complete his work in the world, and to bring to fulfillment the sanctification of all.” 

And of course John was there when Jesus gave birth to the church, and launched the worldwide mission: “[H]e breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained” (John 20:22b–23). This is God’s true testimony for us: that Jesus takes up residence within us by the Holy Spirit to make our hearts glad in the truths of his Word, and to fortify our will to live out those precious truths.

Be blessed this day, 

Reggie Kidd+

Image: "Inspiration" by Lawrence OP is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0