Eucharistic meditation, Sixth Sunday After Epiphany

1 John 5:21: Little children, guard yourselves from idols.

John tells us that those who are begotten of God are not dominated by sin, and that the one begotten of God keeps him from the evil one. It’s not clear here who is doing the guarding. Is the “Begotten One” who guards us from Satan Jesus? Or are we supposed to guard ourselves?

Verse 21 makes that clearer. Obviously, Jesus is the One who ultimately guards us from Satan, who has delivered us from the world that lies under his dominion, and who has given us eternal life. But in verse 21, John says that we should guard ourselves from idols. God guards us, and we are called to guard ourselves. God guards us as we guard ourselves. We guard ourselves as He guards us.

How does the Lord guard us from Satan and from idols? How does He keep us close to Him?

Adam was called to guard his garden and his bride. He failed, but the Last Adam is true, the faithful guardian of His people, His bride. The Lord is a faithful husband who keeps His bride close in all the ways a good husband does. Our Lord speaks to us, words of comfort and love, but also words of command and warning. He guards us by the Word. He guard us by His Spirit, who lives in us and has sealed us.

But He keeps us and guards us too by bringing us each week to this table. At this table, our Lord and Husband communes with us and feeds us. At this table, we are drawn into deeper union with Him. At this table, we are assured that we are in Him who is true, and that through Him we have eternal life.

Come to this table in faith, so that our Lord may guard us from Satan and from idols. Come to this table in faith, and guard yourselves from idols.