John 3:22-30

1 John 5:14-21

Psalm 149:1-2, 3-4, 5-6a and 9b

John 3:22-30

Jesus and his disciples went into the region of Judea,

where he spent some time with them baptizing. 

John was also baptizing in Aenon near Salim,

because there was an abundance of water there,

and people came to be baptized,

for John had not yet been imprisoned. 

Now a dispute arose between the disciples of John and a Jew

about ceremonial washings. 

So they came to John and said to him,

“Rabbi, the one who was with you across the Jordan,

to whom you testified,

here he is baptizing and everyone is coming to him.”

John answered and said,

“No one can receive anything except what has been given from heaven. 

You yourselves can testify that I said that I am not the Christ,

but that I was sent before him. 

The one who has the bride is the bridegroom;

the best man, who stands and listens for him,

rejoices greatly at the bridegroom’s voice. 

So this joy of mine has been made complete. 

He must increase; I must decrease.”

Opening Prayer: Lord God, you fulfilled your ancient promise and sent your Son to be our bridegroom. I am humbled by this mystery and cannot fathom its depth properly. Enlighten my mind with the light of your grace, introduce me more deeply into this mystery, and move my will to embrace it fully. 

Encountering the Word of God

1. The Nuptial Covenant of Creation: In the Gospel, Jesus is manifested as the divine bridegroom. Through the prophets, God promised that he would come to his people and enter into a nuptial covenant with them. John, today, proclaims that Jesus is the divine bridegroom and also that he is the “best man” of the bridegroom. As the “best man,” John prepares the bride by washing her in the Jordan River. The mystery of the divine bridegroom is found all throughout the Old Testament. The very purpose of creation was the nuptial union of the human and divine. God created the first couple, Adam and Eve, to share in his divine life. God is not just our Creator. He is our Bridegroom, and he calls human beings to an intimate communion of life with him. God does not forsake his bride when she sins and breaks the nuptial covenant of creation.

2. The Bride of Christ: On Mount Sinai, God entered into a covenantal wedding with his people. Many of the prophets, like Hosea, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel, all depicted Israel at the time of the Exodus as a young bride. They also understood that when Israel sinned, she acted as an unfaithful and adulterous bride. Through the prophets, God promised to take back his adulterous bride, forgive her sins, and establish a new and unbreakable marriage covenant. At the wedding of Cana in Galilee, Jesus assumed the role of the divine bridegroom. On the cross, he poured out from his side two sacramental gifts for his bride: the cleansing water of Baptism and the divine blood of the Eucharist.

3. The Message of the First Letter of John: Today, we conclude our sequential reading of the First Letter of John. It is good to recall and meditate on the overall message of the three parts of the letter. The first part invites us to walk in the light of God and Jesus. Walking in the light means being honest about our failings, struggles, and sins. We need to imitate the way Christ walked, heed the new commandment to love, choose to love God rather than the world, and reject the denial of truth. In the second part of the letter, John invites us to walk in the righteousness that belongs to the children of God. In the third part of the letter, John encourages us to walk in love and seek the perfection of love. God loved us first, and when we walk in love, we are responding to the generous and total self-giving of the Father. The final message of John, which we read today, is that we need to pray for one another, for our brothers and sisters, that as the Bride of Christ, they can be victorious in the struggle to overcome sin. 

Conversing with Christ: Lord Jesus, help me to love you more deeply and imitate your love for my brothers and sisters. I want to give my life for others and truly seek their good as you did.

Living the Word of God: Do I see my relationship with God in a nuptial way? Do I realize that the faithful love between a husband and wife is but an image of the love between Christ and the bridal Church, between the Father and his children, and between the Spirit and his indwelling in our souls?