Reading 1, 1 John 3:22—4:6

22 and whatever we ask we shall receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do what is acceptable to him.

23 His commandment is this, that we should believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and that we should love one another as he commanded us.

24 Whoever keeps his commandments remains in God, and God in him. And this is the proof that he remains in us: the Spirit that he has given us.

6 We are from God; whoever recognises God listens to us; anyone who is not from God refuses to listen to us. This is how we can distinguish the spirit of truth from the spirit of falsehood.

Gospel, Matthew 4:12-17, 23-25

12 Hearing that John had been arrested he withdrew to Galilee,

13 and leaving Nazara he went and settled in Capernaum, beside the lake, on the borders of Zebulun and Naphtali.

14 This was to fulfil what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah:

15 Land of Zebulun! Land of Naphtali! Way of the sea beyond Jordan. Galilee of the nations!

light has dawned on them

16 The people that lived in darkness have seen a great light; on those who lived in a country of shadow dark as death a light has dawned.

17 From then onwards Jesus began his proclamation with the message, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of Heaven is close at hand.’

23 He went round the whole of Galilee teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and curing all kinds of disease and illness among the people.

24 His fame spread throughout Syria, and those who were suffering from diseases and painful complaints of one kind or another, the possessed, epileptics, the paralysed, were all brought to him, and he cured them.

25 Large crowds followed him, coming from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judaea and Transjordan

 The value of biblical material has to be tested by its capacity to witness to Jesus Christ. But how do we know Him? We know Him from the biblical material! Any argument about what is authentically of Christ in the Bible is bound to be circular. And yet……

 Let’s compare these two passages:  

The letter of John states very firmly that faith in the name of Jesus as Son of God, and love for “one another”, are all-important. The Christian community has the spirit of truth, and all people of truth will listen to its message.

 The Gospel portrays Jesus as light in a land shadowed by death: his ministry asks everyone to change their lives in the face of God’s rule (kingdom) in the world, a rule which is evident in the generosity of Jesus’ care for the bodies and souls of the people.

 I’m left with the suspicion that John’s community has become inward-looking. They are to love one another, not their neighbour, or their enemy; and the transforming energy of God’s rule has been turned into a fierce conviction of doctrinal truth. There’s something unattractive in their assurance that only they are right.

 I realise that this is more a matter of taste than of theological judgment: I can only say that I prefer the all-embracing practical demonstration of God’s concern depicted by Matthew; I can’t “prove” that Matthew’s Gospel is more the Word of God than the 1^st Letter of John, especially as the letter includes the first clear statement that God is love.

 Provided I keep both before me I may not go far wrong.