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Each of the gospel readings provided for the feast of the Holy Family in the three year lectionary cycle provides an incident from the childhood of Jesus. For year A it is the flight into Egypt; for year B the presentation of the Child in the temple; for year C the finding of the child Jesus in the temple. Each of these gospel readings deals with the relationship of Jesus to Mary and Joseph and each of them teaches us something special about His identity.
The second (optional) reading for year C, from First John, has to do with identity also, but its subject is our identity. In this letter the rambling, wise old author repeats the lessons of wisdom that his life in the Lord has taught him. Today’s reading is from the beginning and the end of chapter 3, where he is talking about the implications of our being children of God.
First of all, at the beginning of the chapter, he says that being children of God is a gift we have received from a loving God. It’s not something that the world sets great store by, because God isn’t important to the world. But being God’s children is not some sort of inert prize that God has given us. It is something that grows and develops to an extent that will only become clear at the end of time when God Himself is fully revealed.
The verses from the end of chapter 3 deal with certain practical implications of our relationship to God as His children. Certain standards of behavior are expected of us and the observance of those standards brings with it a certain level of contentment and confidence because we know that we are striving to do what pleases God. The behavior that we are called to is contained in two basic commandments: believe in Christ and love our neighbor. Those who do this remain in a family relationship with God and God remains in them through the Holy Spirit that is conferred on them.
It’s important for each of us to know who we are, because if we lose sight of who we are, our lives are without direction and we merely drift through it. Most of us know our parents and families. We have memories of our own growth and development. We are aware of the people to whom we relate in our present life. All this contributes to our identity. It tells us who we are.
But there are other elements to our identity which are not so obvious, elements which we might overlook, but which are nonetheless more important than other facets of our identity that are more clear and present to us. The most important feature of our identity is that we are children of God, not just in the sense that God is our creator, but in the sense that God has given us His own life to live through Christ and the Holy Spirit. We belong to the Lord. We belong with the Lord. Our association with the Lord is what gives meaning and direction to our life now and what will constitute our fulfillment and happiness for all eternity. Everything else is secondary to that. Everything else is less important.
This fundamental spiritual identity that we have received from God offers direction for the way in which we are to spend our life. The most important thing for us is to believe in Jesus. This faith (which is not just as matter of accepting certain truths but also of committing ourselves to the Lord Jesus) is what keeps us in touch with our source and goal. If we reject faith, we are no longer children of God, and we are condemned to wander through our life on our own. The second primary commandment is that we love our neighbor, that is, that we extend ourselves to want and to do good to all those who are God’s children and so our brothers and sisters. Just as God looks after the world and the human beings He has created, so must we do also because we share God’s life. Loving runs in the family. One might say it’s God’s family business.
Christian life can get tense and complicated. Often it seems that the Church demands so much of us, that the moral code we are called to observe gets so complicated. We never seem able to grasp fully what Jesus teaches us. There are always further implications of His life and preaching to learn and assimilate. Our relationship with an increasingly complex world around us seems itself to grow ever more complex. Who are we, anyway? Where are we supposed to be going?
Identity questions can get very painful. Yet our identity is clear: we are children of God, brothers and sisters to the Lord Jesus. Living out the implications of that is what constitutes our Christian existence. God has given us some basic directions ("Believe in Jesus and love one another"), and following those directions will keep us in touch with our identity and its demands.
The important thing to remember is that it’s all gift. We don’t have to work hard to make ourselves children of God. We simply have to strive as God has commanded us to respond to the identity that we have already received.
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Conversation Questions
How do I experience and express my identity as a child of God?
How does my faith affect my relationships with the people around me?
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