The Apostates

It is not easy being a Christian in today’s world: the media bombards us with messages of materialism and gratification that few seem willing to resist.

As Christians, we understandably look to each other for support in standing against the ways of the world, but then how great is our discouragement (if not despair) when we find that one of those we relied on, our brother or sister in the Lord, our comrade in spiritual warfare, has given up the fight, walked away, and slipped into the ranks of the worldly.

Perhaps it was a schoolmate, a fellow parishioner, a fellow novice, a fellow seminarian, or even a spouse. Perhaps it was someone we looked up to: a parent, a teacher, a pastor, a superior, or even a bishop.

Sometimes it is only a temporary lapse: like many of us, they fall, repent, and return to the Lord.

Sometimes they do not come back… except to attack the body of Christ that had once lovingly nurtured them.

In today’s first reading, Saint John comforts a flock that has been greatly disturbed by those who had been their fellow worshippers and even teachers and had now turned on the faith.

In response to this spiritual tragedy, Saint John has three messages of comfort:

• First, that we had already been warned of antichrists, implying that their attacks have already been factored into God’s plan for our ultimate salvation;
  
• Second, that they were not really “of our number,” implying that our true brothers and sisters in the Lord, who have been given to us for our encouragement, are still there for us when our false brethren have gone; and
  
• Third, although we must be instruments of grace for each other, our faith and life in Christ ultimately depends on God himself:
  
  But you have the anointing that comes from the Holy One

If – God forbid – any one of us should fall, we must beg for the grace of repentance and forgiveness.

Then, all of us, the weak and the strong, must continually work to strengthen one another: guarding against enemies inside and outside our fellowship and building all of ourselves up in true faith and true love by the grace of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.