Everything that was born from God wins the world (the John 5: 1-13)
Biblical reflections* by Giacomo Tessaro **
The last chapter of John's first letter speaks of faith in Jesus, of the nature of this faith and the testimony that of this faith give the spirit and the two sacraments established by Jesus, the baptism and dinner. We Christians have received faith in different ways: some of us through our parents, others through the testimony of friends, relatives or acquaintances, others by reasoning about life and their place in the world.
These are the human ways through which we receive faith, we listen for the first time the preaching of the Word of God, we listen to the testimonies of the believers, we tissue relationships with the people of God: but why faith can really be born there is a need for the intervention of the Spirit, who is manifested through a person, an event, a visit, a chat ... They are all human expedients through which a different life is made in our life, We had taken into consideration: faith in God and in his Son Jesus Christ.
There are many ways through which God can testify in our life to transform it: the main one is his word that we find in the Bible, but before arriving at the Bible it often takes a small push: perhaps today a non -believer person will be able to reflect between himself and find his life, impregnated with materialism, unsatisfactory and disappointing, and perhaps at that point he can open a bible that had been taking dust for a long time on a shelf, A Christian acquaintance to visit his Church; Or find a friend who, among the usual chatter, speaks to him nothing less than of eternal life, of the possibility of meeting the God of life, and perhaps he can invent him to finally open it, that Bible held for a long time on the shelf.
Often we need a push to get to where God wants to bring all women and men: to the Son and to life in Him, to the water and the blood of which chapter 5 of our letter speaks. As we said, the testimony of God and his Spirit is present first in the word, in his reading, in his meditation, in his preaching; Giovanni says in our passage: "I wrote to you these things because you know that you have eternal life, you who believe in the name of the Son of God" and, in parallel, in the lock of his Gospel: "Now Jesus made many other miraculous signs in the presence of the disciples, who are not written in this book; But these have been written, so that you believe that Jesus is Christ, the Son of God, and, so that, believing, you have life in his name "(John 20: 3-31): from this we understand that reading the word is essential for faith, it is a place where the testimony of the spirit is present.
For those who have already met the word, its preaching and a community of faith, there is a further step to perfect their Christian experience, another place where the testimony of God in the Spirit is present in the spirit according to this epistle: the water and the blood, which according to many interpreters, in addition to symbolizing the baptism and death of Jesus, that is, two capital moments of his mission of Son, also symbolize the baptism and dinner, that is, two capital of the life of the believer. Once we made the decision to accept the testimony of God in the Spirit, we must access the two symbols of the truth that mark the life of and believers: the sacraments established by Jesus.
John, as in his Gospel invites those who are still uncertain to the faith, with this epistle wants to confirm the believers in faith, those who have their son and believe in his name, and who are preparing to live the testimony of the spirit: "He is the one who came with water and blood, that is, Jesus Christ; Not only with water, but with water and blood. And it is the spirit that testifies to it, because the Spirit is the truth. Since three are those that testify: the spirit, the water and the blood, and the three agree "says the epistle (verse 6-8).
Receiving the spirit is essential to believe, to welcome the testimonies we find in the Bible and those of our sisters and brothers, who perhaps helped us at the beginning of our journey of faith; To continue to receive this spirit, the sacraments are then essential.
Often, not only among Catholics, baptism is administered to children of a few months, therefore it is unlikely that we can speak, in this case, of a sign of faith, of a testimony of our faith: however, it remains a sign that God places in our small hearts and that one day he will be able to give his fruit; God testifies to his love for every creature and of this love is a sign the baptism of the infants, the pledge of the solicitude of the Lord for each of us. The dinner, for its part, is a pledge of a life lived in the testimony of faith in Jesus Christ and in the one who sent him, of a life sanctified by the Spirit and blood of Jesus.
It is a promise to follow in the footsteps of those who have established it: in our Valdese and Methodist system this sacrament is open to anyone, as long as it is baptized, even to those who are not a member of our Church: dinner is anticipation of the day on which we will sit at the table with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, a way to continue the speech started with our baptism, and it does not matter if this speech has been interrupted for years or decades: I remember my emotion in making my first dinner in the community that welcomed me and in which my faith still live, almost eight years ago, when I had just started attending it: I remember that, in the act of taking bread, I was taken from a scruple and I asked the pastora that leaned me "can I".
For me that moment, as well as the first cult to which I took part, was a milestone of my path of faith and life. From that moment I can say that a speech, interrupted very soon or rather never really started, was able to start: a new Christian had come to the world.
“Whoever has his son has life; Those who do not have the Son of God, do not have life "continues our letter: perhaps it sounds strange to say it in this era of irreligiousness, however I feel like saying that the life of faith gives a particular flavor to everyday events, a flavor that without the testimony of God in the Spirit cannot be understood (without what we commonly call" the gift of faith ") but that we cannot fail to wish us, ideologies.
Savoring life in faith, listening to the word that talks to us of a father/a mother who loves us and wants everyone to be saved, is what we have to offer a world tired of himself and their contradictions as Christians: we can only invoke the spirit to make us reach the ends of the earth with the Gospel of Jesus Christ: this is what is expected of us since our baptism. Amen
From the first epistle of Giovanni 5: 1-13
Anyone who believes that Jesus is Christ was born from God; And anyone who loves the one who generated, also loves who has been generated by him. From this we know that we love the children of God: when we love God and observe his commandments. Because this is God's love: that we observe his commandments; and his commandments are not heavy. Since everything that was born from God wins the world; And this is the victory that won the world: our faith. Who is the world wins, if not the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?
He is the one who came with water and blood, that is, Jesus Christ; Not only with water, but with water and blood. And it is the spirit that testifies to it, because the Spirit is the truth. Since three are those that testify: 8 the spirit, water and blood, and three agree.
If we accept the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater; And the testimony of God is what he made to his Son. Those who believe in the Son of God has this testimony in themselves; Those who do not believe in God makes him a liar, because he does not believe in the testimony that God has made his son. And the testimony is this: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his son. Whoever has his son has life; Who does not have the Son of God, does not have life. I wrote to you these things because you know that you have eternal life, you who believe in the name of the son of God.
* The biblical steps are taken from the new revised version
** Giacomo Tessaro, born in 1980, began to attend the Valdese and Methodist Church in 2008, after many years of adhesion to materialistic atheism and after a conversion to faith in God gained in his religious and philosophical readings. Since the beginning of his Protestant attendance he has been in charge of preaching in his little oneMethodist community of Vintebbio, in the province of Vercelli, for which he also carries out pastoral care tasks. He has the passion of writing and translation and carries out the translator activity for the monthlyÉvangile et LibertéSince 2010, as well as for the Gionata - Faith and homosexuality project.
