Today the Church presents us with a profound meditation on the boundaries between the divine and the mundane. The eternal rivalry between the two finds man at its center. He must battle and overcome the attractions of the world through faith in Jesus Christ. The readings of today (1 John 5:5-13 and Luke 5:12-16) invite us to consider what it means to truly overcome the world, and how the testimony of faith cleanses the leprosy of the soul.
The Greek word ‘kosmos’ translated as the ‘world,’ in the Johannine tradition, is not a reference to the beauty of creation or the people within it. Rather, it refers to an organized system of values that functions in opposition to God.
The World
The World is essentially characterized by the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life (1 John 2:16). Such attractions and their deadly consequences are reflected in the Eden episode, where Adam and Eve yielded to these worldly attractions, resulting ultimately in their fall and the plunging into darkness of all creation.
But when Jesus, the Sun of Righteousness arose, with healing in his wings (Mal. 4:2) he permanently defeated this darkness, restoring man to his former glory. He withstood all the temptations of the world and by his ultimate obedience to his Father’s will, yielding himself to the sacrifice of the cross and securing victory for all who believe in him. Overcoming the world, therefore, is not a military conquest, but a refusal to let the world’s system of temporary desires dictate one’s eternal identity.
Fleeting Vs. Spiritual Elements
The Three Witnesses in John: While the world offers witnesses of power, wealth, and social validation, which are fleeting, the three eternal witnesses of our faith are ‘water’, ‘blood’, and ‘Spirit’. These three witnesses are not mere symbols; but they are the spiritual elements of our transition from death to life.
The Water represents the Baptism of Jesus and our own. It is the witness of cleansing and the initiation into God’s family. The Blood represents the Eucharist and the Passion of Christ. It is the witness of sacrifice and the cost of our redemption. The Spirit is the internal witness that confirms the truth of the Water and the Blood in our hearts. By these witnesses, we gain eternal life.
Overcoming the Leprosy of the World: a Parallel
In the Gospel (Luke 5:12-16), we encounter a man full of leprosy. In the ancient world, leprosy was the ultimate symbol of damnation. It was a physical manifestation of being unclean, cut off from the community and the temple.
The leper’s cry, “Lord, if you will, you can make me clean,” is the outcry of an ailing soul. The world responds to leprosy by isolation, fear, and condemnation. On the contrary, a leprous soul can experience God’s response through faith, which transcends physical boundaries. When Jesus reaches out and touches the leper in the gospel, he performs a revolutionary act by the standards of the world. The touch should have made Jesus unclean, instead, it made the leper clean. The purity of Christ (the witness of the Spirit) is so potent that it flows outward, overcoming the disease of the flesh, and indeed of the soul.
Let us cry out to him from the darkness of our pains, our sins, our sicknesses, our isolation, our sorrows, and our condemnations, and surely he will reach out and touch us. His healing is true and his salvation sure!
