Homily for 12 April, Low Sunday

“These are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.”

S. John is being very clear with us about his purpose here. We aren’t being told a tale so that we can feel good about ourselves; we aren’t being told some stories because they might be useful to us in making good choices (even though they certainly are useful to us). The whole purpose of everything he wrote in his Gospel is so that we may believe that Jesus if the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing we may have life in his name.

This is clearly where he starts, right at the beginning of his Gospel. The Word was with God, and the Word was God…and the Word was made flesh (as we will hear at the end of Mass). The starting point of his Gospel is that Christ is the Divine Son of God who came to earth for us. And here, right at the very end of his Gospel too, we are being told the same point – Our Lord is the Christ, the Son of God.

He had been convinced of this fact. He spent those years of Christ’s ministry journeying with him; getting to know him; becoming the one was so close to the Lord that he is called ‘the disciple Christ loved’. He even remained so close to the Lord that he was there, standing, offering what little comfort he could to Our Lady as Christ died. He saw the blood and water flow from Christ’s side. Now he has also seen the Risen Christ. He has met with him, eaten with him, seen those wounds – just as he saw the nails and the spear create those wounds, now he sees them as the permanent marks of Christ’s merciful love for us all.

He is so convinced of this simple fact – that Our Lord is the Christ, is the Son of God – that it defines everything that he does for the rest of his life. He has one purpose, to spread the message that Our Lord is the Christ. Even though his life on earth is now ended, his work continues through that Gospel which he wrote – that he wrote so that we too may believe that Our Lord is the Christ.

But he isn’t trying to convince of us this just because it’s an interesting fact. This isn’t merely a point to be made about somebody who lived centuries ago – that would be a history lesson and nothing more. The fact that Christ is the Son of God is no mere historical fact – it’s true today, and it has an impact today as well.

S. John came to know Christ, knew what he was like, knew who he was…and because of that, he knew that he too could enter into the same eternal life which Christ has. As S. John heard of the deaths of his companion Apostles in years to come, he would have felt human sorrow at losing close friends and associates…but he would also have had faith that these men, men who also came to know the truth about Christ, had stepped into that eternal life which the faithful may have. And spreading that message was entirely fundamental to everything which he did, because that message had transformed his life, and so naturally he wanted it to transform the lives of as many others as possible.

When we read the Gospels, whether S. John’s or the other three, we can see that feeling, that passion behind it. Each writer brings his own style, his own focus to relating the various elements of Christ’s life – but each of them has that central fact, they had come to know Christ, they had come to enter into the eternal life which he promises, and they wanted ever more and more people to do so too.

All of these centuries later, we still hear that message. We still hear it because it is as true today as it was when Christ appeared and showed his wounds to his disciples. We still hear it because it has the same power to change our lives, the same power to bring us into the eternal life of Christ, as it had to bring those first disciples into that eternal life.

There are all sorts of good things which we can do in this life – but as S. John came to recognise, there is one thing which sits above them all. Coming to know Christ – to know about him, to know that he is the Son of God; but also, as S. John did, to come to know him personally. To meet with him in the written words which he inspired; to meet with him in prayer; to meet with him in the Sacraments.

At the Last Supper, S. John reclined with his head against Christ’s chest. Those years later, S. John would write his Gospel because he wanted everybody else to have the same chance for an intimate relationship with Christ.

We have not seen those wounds. What we do have is the testimony of his followers. We have S. John who would devote his entire life to spreading what he knew to be the truth about Christ. We have S. Thomas who clearly doubted, but whose doubts were overcome completely and responded “My Lord and my God!” And went on to spend his life, even being willing to die to bring more people to know that truth, to bring more people to join him in saying “My Lord and my God”. Those men met with Christ, they saw what he was like, they came to know who and what he was.

Today we have their example, we have their writings, they invite us to come close to Christ; to recognise who he is; to repeat those beautiful words “My Lord and my God.” For if we do so, if we place our trust in him, then as S. John assures us – we may have life in his name.