That Our Joy May be Complete
That Our Joy May be Complete
Gospel Reflection for December 27th, 2023, Feast of St. John the Apostle
In today’s Gospel, we hear the resurrection narrative as recorded by St. John. We hear that upon St. Mary Magdelene announcing to the Apostles that the tomb was empty, Peter and John ran to the tomb:
So Peter and the other disciple went out and came to the tomb.
They both ran, but the other disciple ran faster than Peter
and arrived at the tomb first;
he bent down and saw the burial cloths there, but did not go in.
When Simon Peter arrived after him,
he went into the tomb and saw the burial cloths there,
and the cloth that had covered his head,
not with the burial cloths but rolled up in a separate place.
Then the other disciple also went in,
the one who had arrived at the tomb first,
and he saw and believed. John 20:3-8
While the Evangelist records that it was St. Peter and “the other disciple,” tradition has unanimously taught us that it was St. John, who is believed to have authored this gospel. It might seem odd to have the Gospel of the Easter read two days after Christmas, but the wisdom of the Church can be seen in its connection to the first reading:
Beloved:
What was from the beginning,
what we have heard,
what we have seen with our eyes,
what we looked upon
and touched with our hands
concerns the Word of life —
for the life was made visible… 1 John 1:1-2
St. John gives testimony to what he saw that day. John and the rest of the Apostles go out and preach Christ crucified and resurrected. The former means nothing without the latter. The empty tomb is the proof that Christ is who He said He is. This witness is why this Gospel is read on St. John’s Feast Day.
We are currently in the middle of a feast day triduum, so to speak, celebrating Martyrs. Yesterday, St. Stephen, a martyr in will and in deed; today, St. John, a martyr in will but not deed; and tomorrow, the Holy Innocents, martyrs is deed but not will.1 Each of these holy martyrs gives witness to that which they believed in, the Word made flesh who died and rose again.
St. John ends the first reason with his motivation:
We are writing this so that our joy may be complete. 1 John 1:4
The joy of Christmas is complete with the joy of Easter.
In particular, tradition has it that during the persecutions of Christians in the first century, the Roman Emperor attempted to have John boiled in oil but, he was miraculously preserved. Since he could not kill him, the Emperor had him exiled to the Island of Patmos where John received the vision that constitutes the Book of Revelation. This is why he is a martyr in will but not deed. He desired to die for Christ but was preserved.