Tuesday of Quasimodo Geni1 John 5:4-10
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.
This is the testimony of God that He has testified concerning His Son: the One born of Mary, Jesus of Nazareth, who came in the flesh, manifested by water and blood, that is by His Baptism and Crucifixion, is the sole-begotten Son of the Father in whom alone there is Life.
This is the testimony, the marturia, of God the Father concerning His Son. This is the testimony of God the Son concerning Himself. This is the testimony of God the Holy Spirit concerning the Son. These three agree.
For the Father reveals Himself in the Son; having begotten the Word from all eternity. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. He who has seen the Son has seen the Father. He who has the Son has the Father, together with the Holy Spirit. He who has the Spirit has the testimony in himself. For the Spirit does not speak of His own authority, but whatever He hears He speaks. Nor does the Spirit speak of Himself, but declares to you the things of the Son. All that is the Son’s is also the Father’s and so also the Holy Spirit’s.
All this is to say that the testimony of Athanasius is the testimony of St John is the testimony of the apostles is the testimony of God that He has borne concerning His Son.
And this, then, is the testimony of the Church to the world, the testimony of sent men to all creation: the Paschal Victim is the Victor! The Lamb the sheep has ransomed!
In the world you have tribulation and sword, nakedness and famine, heartache and sorrow. In your own flesh you have sin and death, guilt and remorse. But take heart, Christ has overcome the world. Be strong and of good courage, for Christ your Passover Lamb gives you His victory by the testimony of His Spirit, through His Baptism, which is the sprinkling of His precious blood.
He was anointed with your sin in His Baptism. He poured out His lifeblood upon the Cross. He yielded up His Spirit, only to be vindicated by the Father and vivified in the Spirit. To His Twelve He bestows His life-breathing breath with the authority to loose men from their sins; to free you from bondage to this dying world and comfort your troubled conscious.
For He who became your Sin and cursed Death opened His side, emptying His very Life, sanctifying the water of baptism with His blood. With this washing He baptizes you into His victory over death. He gives you His conquest of sin. By faith in Him you overcome the world, for you are born of God.
For to all who receive Him, who believe His testimony concerning His Son, the Father has bestowed the right to be called children of God; begotten, not of the flesh, nor of the will of man, nor of blood, but begotten from above by your Father who is in heaven, through His Son, by His Spirit.
What beautiful and marvelous power St John ascribes to faith: it is the victory that has overcome the world! Your fragile flesh and blood could not attain such victory. This clay vessel could not defeat Satan.
But through water and blood, that Baptism and His Cross, you are brought into the riven side of Christ, made part of His very body, flesh of His flesh and bone of His bone. When He died, you died in Him. When He descended to hell to proclaim His victory over Satan, you were victorious. When He rose from the dead, you rose in and with Him. As it is written, God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loved us, made us alive together with Christ and raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus (Eph 2:4, 5, 6).
All of this requires and comes by way of the Word, through which the Holy Spirit testifies to you and gives the gift of faith, extending the promise and grace to all who believe, “so that when you are hurled into many great trials and are weighed down under such hardship and turmoil, you nevertheless fight your way out and triumph,” (AE 30:306) already attaining the victory by faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, be glory and honor, now and forever. Amen.
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.
This is the testimony of God that He has testified concerning His Son: the One born of Mary, Jesus of Nazareth, who came in the flesh, manifested by water and blood, that is by His Baptism and Crucifixion, is the sole-begotten Son of the Father in whom alone there is Life.
This is the testimony, the marturia, of God the Father concerning His Son. This is the testimony of God the Son concerning Himself. This is the testimony of God the Holy Spirit concerning the Son. These three agree.
For the Father reveals Himself in the Son; having begotten the Word from all eternity. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. He who has seen the Son has seen the Father. He who has the Son has the Father, together with the Holy Spirit. He who has the Spirit has the testimony in himself. For the Spirit does not speak of His own authority, but whatever He hears He speaks. Nor does the Spirit speak of Himself, but declares to you the things of the Son. All that is the Son’s is also the Father’s and so also the Holy Spirit’s.
All this is to say that the testimony of Athanasius is the testimony of St John is the testimony of the apostles is the testimony of God that He has borne concerning His Son.
And this, then, is the testimony of the Church to the world, the testimony of sent men to all creation: the Paschal Victim is the Victor! The Lamb the sheep has ransomed!
In the world you have tribulation and sword, nakedness and famine, heartache and sorrow. In your own flesh you have sin and death, guilt and remorse. But take heart, Christ has overcome the world. Be strong and of good courage, for Christ your Passover Lamb gives you His victory by the testimony of His Spirit, through His Baptism, which is the sprinkling of His precious blood.
He was anointed with your sin in His Baptism. He poured out His lifeblood upon the Cross. He yielded up His Spirit, only to be vindicated by the Father and vivified in the Spirit. To His Twelve He bestows His life-breathing breath with the authority to loose men from their sins; to free you from bondage to this dying world and comfort your troubled conscious.
For He who became your Sin and cursed Death opened His side, emptying His very Life, sanctifying the water of baptism with His blood. With this washing He baptizes you into His victory over death. He gives you His conquest of sin. By faith in Him you overcome the world, for you are born of God.
For to all who receive Him, who believe His testimony concerning His Son, the Father has bestowed the right to be called children of God; begotten, not of the flesh, nor of the will of man, nor of blood, but begotten from above by your Father who is in heaven, through His Son, by His Spirit.
What beautiful and marvelous power St John ascribes to faith: it is the victory that has overcome the world! Your fragile flesh and blood could not attain such victory. This clay vessel could not defeat Satan.
But through water and blood, that Baptism and His Cross, you are brought into the riven side of Christ, made part of His very body, flesh of His flesh and bone of His bone. When He died, you died in Him. When He descended to hell to proclaim His victory over Satan, you were victorious. When He rose from the dead, you rose in and with Him. As it is written, God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loved us, made us alive together with Christ and raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus (Eph 2:4, 5, 6).
All of this requires and comes by way of the Word, through which the Holy Spirit testifies to you and gives the gift of faith, extending the promise and grace to all who believe, “so that when you are hurled into many great trials and are weighed down under such hardship and turmoil, you nevertheless fight your way out and triumph,” (AE 30:306) already attaining the victory by faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, be glory and honor, now and forever. Amen.
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