I am writing to you, children,
because your sins have been forgiven for his name’s sake.
Our sins were cleansed and we received the Holy Spirit when we were baptized. At that moment we became children of God by adoption. This reality was meant to be profoundly experiential. The Holy Spirit himself would teach us to cry out to God as "Abba, Father!" from the depths of our hearts.
I am writing to you, fathers,
because you know him who is from the beginning.
We tend to think of God's fatherhood as an analogy to that of fathers here on earth who are the real source of the concept which we then loosely apply to God. But it is just the opposite. Earthly fathers know something about fatherhood by analogy, but they are meant to recognize the true Father "from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named" (see Ephesians 3:15). God is Father perfectly, because his fathering of the Son is from the beginning, and never changes. Parents on earth only gesture toward the complete outpouring of self from the Father, the outpouring that actually is the person of the Son. Our own experience of the positive aspects of family here on earth can help reveal something of the mysterious wonder of the life of the Trinity. And when our own experiences are something less than positive that very privation itself points to God in whom nothing is lacking. When earthly families fall short God desires our participation in his own Triune life console us.
I am writing to you, young men,
because you have conquered the Evil One.
Yes, brothers and sisters, we have conquered the Evil One. The young men in John's original audience probably also asked, 'Who me?' But that is exactly why John was teaching them and did not take for granted that they already understood. Whether children, fathers, or young men, whatever stage of growth, physical age or level of spiritual development, John wanted to remind his readers what was true about them in Christ.
In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world (see John 16:33).
We can take heart because we are union with Jesus is so deep that we are able share in his own victory.
For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith (see First John 5:4).
May we come to see ourselves more as John saw his audience. We are meant to think of ourselves as children, beloved children, not guilty but forgiven, who know the Father who was from the beginning. We are meant to live a victorious Christian life but this isn't entirely automatic. We first have to believe that we have the victory and to learn to think and act accordingly. The criteria for what victory means must no longer be established by the world. Victory cannot consist in "the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life" any longer, for those things are definitively defeated, already passing away.
But whoever does the will of God remains forever.
We will be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power (see Ephesians 6:10) if we ensure that the word of God remains in us. This means we can't simply hear or read it and then forget. It must come to shape our entire way of thinking, to become a refrain to which we constantly return, that gives order and direction to the rest of our thoughts.
She never left the temple,
but worshiped night and day with fasting and prayer.
Anna's mind was centered on the promises of God's word. Neither age nor widowhood had defeated her, as might well be reasonably understandable for someone in her circumstances. Instead, she ensured that the word of God continued to define her thoughts and her words.
And coming forward at that very time,
she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child
to all who were awaiting the redemption of Jerusalem.
The world could not see one such as Anna as victorious. In her own day she would have been viewed, perhaps, as an unfortunate charity case. In our day, she would have probably been considered a waste of space. Some nations might have asked if she really needed to keep consuming the world's resources when, to their understanding, her life was as good as over. But Anna had conquered all of that. She experienced the promised victory of God more during that time of her life than ever before.
The child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom;
and the favor of God was upon him.
Jesus himself grew in order to teach us how to grow. His life was an example of increasing in strength and wisdom, of always choosing God and the things of God first. He who was the very Word of God always found his greatest strength in the hidden bread of God's word. When difficult circumstances arose, he rose and went engage in a dialog of prayer, words between the Father and the Son by the Spirit. When challenged by the Evil One, he countered by speaking the word of God which he always made the source of his strength. The growth of Jesus can bless us as we try to imitate his passion for Scriptures and his reliance on the word of God. When we are tempted to prefer the things of this world we can ask Jesus to make his own wisdom and grace shine forth in us instead.
Let the heavens be glad and the earth rejoice!
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