Our Victory Over the World

John 5:4 “For whoever is begotten by God conquers the world.  And the victory that conquers the world is our faith.  Who indeed is the victor over the world, but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.”   When I was preparing this homily, I was drawn to these words of the reading from St. John, in his first letter, because what they are showing us is a war and an enemy at the world, and that we’re called to conquer that enemy in that war.  I think this shows us a part of the Baptism of Jesus, which we might not think about.  When Jesus begins His Baptism, He’s beginning to open conflict with the world with His enemy. After all these years of His hidden life, now begins the open conflict, it is like you stepping onto the field of battle.  As this battle gets harder and harder It will lead progressively to His sacrifice.  It is striking that St. John, right after the passage, I just read, speaks to Jesus coming by water, the water Baptism, and by blood.  So, His ministry stretches from His Baptism in the water, to His baptism in His own blood, His sacrifice.  So that this battle is such that it leads to His sacrificing Himself.   At that moment, where His enemy temporarily seems to have conquered Him when He is dying, and dead, which is the moment of His great victory.  So, this is reminding us that Jesus and the world are in opposition. Jesus speaks of the ruler of this world, satan, and St. John says very clearly, and I think it is a very strong passage, “The whole world is in the power of the evil one.”  This whole world that we are living in.  That, in a sense, is a very terrifying, but very eye opening, revelation.  This whole world is under the power of the evil one and of course, he often hides his power.  So, we do not realize he hides it.  As I was saying, yesterday, and they are often appearances which seem benevolent, and which are deceptive. But it is that this whole world is dominated by him. And by those who are cooperating with him.  So much of the powerful positions in our world, are occupied by those who are with the spirit of the evil one and the whole world is in the power of the evil one.  So, this whole world that we’re living in, we are in a very difficult situation.  Sometimes it is more hidden and sometimes it’s more obvious.   For instance, during the hidden life of Jesus, most of the time, the opposition was not so apparent, but when he begins to manifest Himself, at His Baptism, the opposition right away, begins. So, this is the situation that we’re in.  St. John also says, in the very same letter, “The reason the Son of God appeared, was to destroy the works of the devil.” So, this is a real war and Jesus says very clearly, the world hates Me. The world hates Me, because I testify of it that its words are evil, because he says the truth, the world hates Him.  The same letter of St. John which so clearly speaks of the Antichrist, the spirit of the Antichrist.  John says though there will be one antichrist, there’s many.   What does John say?  “Every spirit, which does not confess Jesus, is not of God.” Hear what he says,” every spirit, that does not confess Jesus.” There are humans who do not confess Jesus out of ignorance, but the spirits don’t have that ignorance.  The spirits know who Jesus is, so every spirit which does not confess Jesus does not have God.  That’s this battle going on between Jesus Christ, and all those who are of the spirit, of the Antichrist.  That’s all over our world, the opposition to Jesus Christ.  At the same time, it’s striking that where John says this, he also shows that there’s another sense of the world; because he says, “For God, so loved the world,” so the same world, but with a different meaning. “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son.” And so there’s the sense of the world, in the sense of the creation of God, and especially the souls that God created. Then there’s the world in the sense of what is dominated by the evil one.  So, there’s this battle for saving souls.  Jesus is living this battle, and since we at baptism, are consecrated to belong to Jesus, we are also in this battle.  St. James says, “Unfaithful creatures, do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God?  Therefore, whoever wishes to be a friend of the world, makes himself an enemy of God.”  We can’t belong to both sides. We can’t be a friend of God, and at the same time, a friend of the world.  Remember, John in his Gospel says, God so loved the world, in that one sense, but then John says, “Do not love the world, or the things of the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life is not of the Father but is of the world.”  He’s showing us what is of the world, and what is of God.  He says, this world would seem so impressive to us; the world passes away, it’s not going to last, it’s doomed to be defeated.  It says, the world passes away and the lust of it, but he who does the will of God abides forever.  Even though we don’t always see that yet. The apparent victory of the world is only temporary.  But it’s he who does the will of God, who will be the victor abiding forever.  John says, what Jesus actually says, that we are not of the world.   He says, if you were of the world, the world would love its own.  Because you are not of the world, I chose you out of the world. And baptism is the moment in which that is manifested, when Jesus consecrates us to belong to Him and not to the world.  “I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.”  Not just hates Jesus but hates us because we belong to Him.  “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me, before it hated you.”   That’s very important for us to realize; that we are in this war. Because if we realized that, for instance, we realize that we’re not going to experience the fullness of happiness in this current situation, here, in this current state of the earth, if we think that we’re going to be frustrated and sad.  If we realize that this is the time of war, then we have a much more realistic expectation.  It helps us to understand the reason for our struggles and suffering, and their value, because we’re in a war. And those very sufferings and struggles when we offer them, become powerful for the victory in this war.  Who are we fighting against? Well, there’s a famous passage of St. Paul, where he says, “For we are not contending against flesh and blood that is just against humans, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers of this present darkness.”  Against the world rulers of this present darkness, against the heavenly host of wickedness. So that behind the human enemies, is the spirits of evil who are leading them.  It is very important that we are fighting against this world, its global elite is of the spirit of the Antichrist; the anti-Jesus spirit.  That’s the real battle going on, the real battle at the root of the struggles in our country.  It is not ultimately a battle of Republicans and Democrats or left and right. It’s not a race war. It is a battle of good against evil; of those who belong to Jesus, and those who belong to the world.  This is very different from a purely human battle. In a human battle, many accidental factors can be very important; like in a certain battle, the weather can make a big difference. But in a spiritual battle all that matters is the Spirit, the Spirit of those involved.   It’s a very different type of battle, which needs to be fought in a very different way.  Human weapons cannot win the battle against the spirits of evil.  We can’t win the battle against evil by adopting its own tactics, its vicious, deceitful tactics, This battle has to be fought in a very different way if we’re going to win it.  So how can we win it? Where can we discover how to win it.  It’s in Jesus.  Jesus is that the great Victor and He shows the path to victory.  He defeated the ruler of this world in a very surprising way, because it called for Him to accept that He seemed to be defeated, for a moment, on the cross. At that very moment, when the enemy thought he was winning, Jesus had actually won the victory, which will be manifest in His resurrection, and in His ascension into glory.  Jesus is showing us the path. He said In this world, you have tribulation, and we experienced a lot of tribulation, but be of good cheer, “I have overcome the world, I, Jesus Christ.”   He is the only one who has overcome the world, and it’s only those who are united to Jesus, who can overcome the world.  That doesn’t mean that we won’t experience any struggles we were in.  Jesus doesn’t promise that we’ll win every battle, that His forces will win every battle. But He has already won the war. The wars already won, even though there are consequences that are not yet all evident. The battles continue, but the outcome of the war is already determined. And that’s why John says in the passage we read today, “who is it that overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God, for whatever is born of God overcomes the world.” And this is the victory that overcomes the world.  What does he say?  This is the victory that overcomes the world, our faith, because faith unites us to Jesus and permits Jesus to act to us, faith so that God can act.  John says, “little children, you are of God, and have overcome them. For He who is in you, is greater than He was in the world.”  Faith is what opens our life to Jesus so that he can be fighting in us.  What does that look like? What does it look like when that happens in the life of a disciple?  This year is we’re celebrating St. Joseph, we have, as I was reflecting with y’all last week, in St. Joseph, a great example.  The people who knew him in Nazareth, I don’t think would have thought of him as a warrior at all.  He was just an ordinary carpenter with his own family. That seemed like a very ordinary life the way our lives seem very ordinary.  He didn’t seem like an important person at all, probably the people at Nazareth. Even when he died, it would have thought, well, he was a good man, a good person, but nothing that extraordinary about him.  They probably wouldn’t have thought of him as a great person. But St. Joseph was one of the greatest warriors. One of the most effective in this great battle, fully accomplishing the mission, the great mission, the key mission that God had entrusted to him; much more than King David. And so St. Joseph shows us the very surprising way in which we can be effective in this war. By being faithful, by faith and fidelity to Jesus Christ, which is open to all of us. We don’t have all the means that the worldly powers have, we don’t need those means. What we need is faith in Jesus Christ. And so this day, as we celebrate the Baptism of Jesus, we by faith and baptism, are united to Jesus.  In confirmation, we receive a special anointing for this battle, so that the presence of Jesus can be in us and begin to grow, as we grow in union with Him.  Another passage from St. John’s, letter that we’re reflecting on shows you how present the spirit of battle is in him. He says, “I write to you young men, because you are strong, and the Word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one.”  By letting the Word of God abide, we can overcome the evil, which opens us to that word.   In conclusion, on this feast of the baptism of the Lord, we are in a war. And that’s very important for us, especially today, right now, as Americans, what is going on in our country. We are in a war, a war against the spirits, the spirits of the world, against the world, and the spirits behind the world, the spirits of evil of darkness.  It’s by faith and trust in Jesus, that we are assured of victory.  The Mission of Divine Mercy is all about faith, so that God can act, having faith so that God can try it, and we can try it with Him, we can be part of His victory.  That’s why we’ve insisted so much that the Lord has asked us to be so aware of the Spirit of Prophecy, because prophecy is a very powerful way in which the Word of God can act, if it encounters faith. I’m just going to end by rereading those few passages from St. John.  And if you want to close your eyes, you can do so. “Little children, you are of God and have overcome them, for He who is in you is greater than He was in the world. Who is it that overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God, just by believing that Jesus is the Son of God, we open ourselves up to his power, for whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that overcomes the world, our faith.”      Amen.