(1) Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God!  Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him.  (2) Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.

(21) Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence toward God.  (22) And whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight.  (23) And this is His commandment:  that we should believe on the name of the Son Jesus Christ and love one another, as He gave us commandment.  (24) Now he who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him.  And by this we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us.

This pastoral letter was written by the Apostle John and the Catholic Church designated these verses to be read on the Sunday before Christmas.

  The failure of the world to know God is one of the themes of John’s gospel and he returns to it here.  The world did not recognize Christ as God and did not know/cannot know or relate to those who by faith are the children of God.  Those who live in the world are those living in the material world of darkness.  The believers – those who are the faithful recipients of God’s gift of love earned, not by man, but by the redemptive sacrifice of Christ – are those who live in the light.

 John is writing about the basis for our new birth being the Father’s great love.  Our priority must be relationship over service/works  – our service must be grounded in our love for God.  John opens  this new chapter with the command to Behold – to pay attention and consider who we were and who we are now.  He uses the word agape when referring to this astonishing love – the verb is always active and means love as an act of will, not merely an emotional reaction.  Love may involve emotion but always involves action.  Agape is unrestricted, unrestrained and unconditional.  Agape love is the prerequisite love for all love.  The Father’s great love should teach us about our relationships with one another.  This love is a gift – and the use of the word for bestow means to make a gift of/ to confer.  We cannot earn this love and this great love is not just for a period of time but for all eternity.  This love which results in the believers being called children of God is a permanent gift.  Behold indeed!!!!

We celebrate Christmas as a reminder of the incarnation which was the beginning of our deliverance from the curse of death.  Quoting C.S. Lewis  “The Son of God became man to enable man to become the Son of God.  What a fabulous message and what a wonderful gift we have been given.  Merry Christmas.