Embracing Jesus’ Humanity
- davidwperk
- May 1
- 7 min read
Devotional Reflection, Thursday, May 1, 2025
The week of the second Sunday of Easter
The Rev. David W. Perkins, Th.D.
Key phrases for reflection from today’s epistle reading:
18 Children, it is the last hour! As you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come. From this we know that it is the last hour. 19 They went out from us, but they did not belong to us; for if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us. But by going out they made it plain that none of them belongs to us.
. . . .
22 Who is the liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son. 23 No one who denies the Son has the Father; everyone who confesses the Son has the Father also.
(You will find the full text of today’s Epistle reading at the end of this reflection.)
Daily Office Lectionary Readings (BCP, 958)
AM Psalm 18:1-20; PM Psalm 18:21-50
Daniel 2:31-49; 1 John 2:18-29; Luke 3:1-14
Today we celebrate the Feast of Philip and James. (See below.)
David's Reflections
The author of this little epistle coined the loaded word "antichrist," and in today's reading we encounter his understanding of that concept, something modern sensationalist preaching misses in their speculations based on The Book of Revelation. For some modern readers the word has conjured up the image of that final dictator of evil whose appearance signals the end. Some labeled Hitler and Stalin as Antichrist and began crying that the end was near.
This writer alone in the New Testament uses the word, twice in today's reading, in 4:3 and in 2 John 7 (assuming common authorship). Our writer does say in today's opening verse that "it is the last hour." He also refers to the teaching of the coming of antichrist at the last hour, seeming to refer to an individual. But, then he makes the unusual move of saying that there are indeed many antichrists already abroad. In spite of the efforts of some commentators to save him from a miscalculation, he obviously believed that the end of all things was near.
The appearance of these antichrists may have triggered our writer’s sense of an ending. Just who were they? From this reading we learn that these antichrists are Christians, they are inside the church (contrary to the viewpoint mentioned above). He says here only that they deny that Jesus is the Christ. It is from 1 John 4:3 and 2 John 7 that we learn what that means more exactly. In 2 John 7, we read: "For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not confess Jesus Christ having come in the flesh. There is the Deceiver! There is the Antichrist!"
To deny that Jesus has come in flesh is to deny that he was a real human being. Here we find the earliest form of false teaching about the person of Jesus. In our day, one is more likely to encounter the opposite, the denial of the Trinity, that is a rejection of Jesus’ deity (another ancient theological misstep). For these earliest Christians, the struggle was quite different. There were those in the church who subscribed to a philosophy that saw the material world as evil, making the belief that God had become flesh in a person impossible. For them Jesus only seemed to be human (the technical term for this error is docetism).
This reading challenges us to keep Jesus' feet on the ground in our perception of him, not to put him on a pedestal. Because we worship Jesus as part of the divine triunity and pray in his name, and because we may not know the Gospel accounts very well, his genuine humanness gets lost. Reading Mark's Gospel and the Epistle to the Hebrews (esp. chapters 2, 4, and 5) can keep us more fully in touch with his humanity. Jesus got angry he got tired, he got frightened, he cried, he had to learn obedience to the Father.
Taking Jesus’ humanity seriously becomes a boundary for the faith community. We must be on our guard against the subtle ways we might pedestalize Jesus and lose touch with his humanity. Keeping in touch with his real humanity makes being spiritually lonely and feeling that no one understands more difficult. Jesus is my brother and has lived the human experience. He knows. Those passages in Hebrews cited above also remind me that Jesus remains human, that our humanity has been taken up into the divine Triunity and dwells there in him, the human/divine Son of God.
Mary Karr put it so poignantly in the closing lines of her poem “The Grand Miracle.”
That some creator might strap on
an animal mask to travel our path between birth
and ignominious death – now that
makes me less lonely. And the rising up
at the end into glory – the white circle of bread
on the meat of each tongue that God
might enter us. For 2000-near years
my tribe has lined up at various altars,
so dumbly I open this mouth for bread and song.+
+Mary Karr, From "The Grand Miracle," from Viper Rum. (New York: Penguin, 1998), p. 19,
Collect of the Day, Second Sunday of Easter
Almighty and everlasting God, who in the Paschal mystery established the new covenant of reconciliation: Grant that all who have been reborn into the fellowship of Christ's Body may show forth in their lives what they profess by their faith; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen (BCP, 224)
Today we celebrate the Feast of Philip and James, Apostles.
Collect of the Feast of Philip and James
Almighty God, who gave to your apostles Philip and James grace and strength to bear witness to the truth: Grant that we, being mindful of their victory of faith, may glorify in life and death the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
A Collect for the Weekdays of Easter
Grant, O Lord, that we may so live in the Paschal mystery that the joy of these fifty days may continually strengthen us, and assure us of our salvation; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (Weekday Eucharistic Propers, p. 60)
A Collect for Guidance
Heavenly Father, in you we live and move and have our being: We humbly pray you so to guide and govern us by your Holy Spirit, that in all the cares and occupations of our life we may not forget you, but may remember that we are ever walking in your sight; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (BCP, 100)
For Peace
Almighty God, kindle, we pray, in every heart the true love of peace, and guide with your wisdom those who take counsel for the nations of the earth, that in tranquility your dominion may increase until the earth is filled with the knowledge of your love; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (BCP, 258)
In the Evening
O Lord, support us all the day long, until the shadows lengthen, and the evening comes, and the busy world is hushed, and the fever of life is over, and our work is done. Then in thy mercy, grant us a safe lodging, and a holy rest, and peace at the last. Amen. (BCP, 833)
A Collect for Mission
O God and Father of all, whom the whole heavens adore: Let the whole earth also worship you, all nations obey you, all tongues confess and bless you, and men and women everywhere love you and serve you in peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (BCP 124)
Daily Office Epistle, 1 John 2:18-29
18 Children, it is the last hour! As you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come. From this we know that it is the last hour. 19 They went out from us, but they did not belong to us; for if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us. But by going out they made it plain that none of them belongs to us. 20 But you have been anointed by the Holy One, and all of you have knowledge. 21 I write to you, not because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and you know that no lie comes from the truth. 22 Who is the liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son. 23 No one who denies the Son has the Father; everyone who confesses the Son has the Father also. 24 Let what you heard from the beginning abide in you. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, then you will abide in the Son and in the Father. 25 And this is what he has promised us, eternal life.
26 I write these things to you concerning those who would deceive you. 27 As for you, the anointing that you received from him abides in you, and so you do not need anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about all things, and is true and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, abide in him.
28 And now, little children, abide in him, so that when he is revealed we may have confidence and not be put to shame before him at his coming. 29 If you know that he is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who does right has been born of him.
Daily Prayer Offices in The Book of Common Prayer
Morning Prayer, Rite 2, page 75, Book of Common Prayer
Noonday Prayer, p. 103, Book of Common Prayer
Order of Worship for Evening (Vespers), p. 109, Book of Common Prayer
Evening Prayer, Rite 2, page 115, Book of Common Prayer
Compline (Night Prayer), Page 127, Book of Common Prayer
Daily Devotionals, page 136, Book of Common Prayer
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