Psalm 113 (114) : 3, 4; Matthew 3 : 13 – finish; Titus 3 : 4 – 8; 1John 5 : 5 – 13; Acts 10: 34- 39; Psalm 76 (77) : 16; Luke 3 : 21 - finish

The article below explains contemporary appreciation for the above readings

Celebrating the Twelfth Day of God the Incarnate Word

Today, as in the fourth century, when this feast appeared, together with the celebration of Christ’s birth as an infant, there are many disputing how much of  traditional Faith might still be relevant for modern man.  St. John, the Baptizer of our Lord, dedicated his life to being just as attuned to God’s revelation as the elements of nature prevailing in that wilderness where he lived and preached.  Like the elements of water, rocks and beasts, he appreciated the real thing when He came along. 

By contrast, even in early church history there were those supposing Jesus to have either been just a very specially blessed creature or a phantom that could only have appeared in history as physically human.  And within recent history we behold thousands of attempts to either make an incomplete “Bible” the only credible source of belief, as well as others with new attempts to further distort the traditional message by using modern academia to establish yet another scriptural canon, more amenable to their agenda. 

Specifically, I refer to a group calling itself “The Westar Institute” which is responsible for a contemporary project they call “The Jesus Seminar.”  Claiming religious literacy as their goal, they vote on what they consider to be believable.

That is why our holy God-bearing Fathers appointed feasts prepared for by fasts to be observed in cycles, yielding the right interpretation of texts they had approved as being authentic scripture.  We must repent of our selfishness to receive matching inspiration to faithfully copy the whole package, which they had been inspired to approve, as being inspired by all who wrote correctly about God’s immutable purpose.  As our Saviour Jesus Christ told His cousin St. John, “Let it be so now; for it is proper for us in this way to fulfil all righteousness.” (Mat. 3:15) 

St. Paul’s letter to Titus, reminds us that “…when the goodness and loving-kindness of God our Saviour appeared, 5he saved us, not because of any works of righteousness that we had done, but according to his mercy, through the water of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit.” 

Lest any fall into that classical trap of imagining that salvation is only a mind game, that requires no sweat equity, St. John’s 1st General Epistle reminds us of the response expected from each of us, in the time that God gives us, “Who is it that conquers the world but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?” John, the Theologian, goes on to list important signs of true belief. In Luke 3:22, that author answers by referring the reader to the fullness of testimony, to which we have been called and should share, by all of our works.  It can be transmitted, only by faithfully demonstrating that what we believe to be the absolute truth, was revealed By God the beloved Son.  He came to become one of us, leading us, that we might, by everything that we do, proclaim Him as “Lord of all.”           

Abba Thomas, January 2008