1 John 1:1-2:2
Al just read the familiar passage of doubting Thomas, a human and relatable resurrection scene. When I looked at this passage I was more focused on what happened before we get to Thomas.
The risen Jesus twice offers “Peace” to the disciples, he grants them the Holy Spirit which is John’s version of Pentecost, and he declares the power of forgiveness. Hold on to this powerful resurrection account as we hear these words from 1 John. You need to know that the phrase “word of life” refers to Jesus Christ.
This week I found myself starting my emails with, “Christ is Risen. He is Risen Indeed! I pray this finds you celebrating the joy of Easter!” Pastors would respond in kind, but it might have taken others by surprise. For many, Easter is a one-day family event, maybe even a spiritual holiday, but with April 2 the world is back to normal. For Christians, Easter is just getting started! The joy of the resurrection cannot be contained to one day- it is an entire season!!
Longer than Lent, it spans 50 days celebrating Jesus’ resurrection! The white Paraments reflects Jesus’ light as our risen Lord. It is why I wear white whenever we come to table to remind us that Jesus is present with us, shining in light.
Speaking of light, have you ever sat in a lighted room at night, reading or talking, and suddenly the lights go out? What’s the first thing you say? Usually everyone says, “Who turned out the light?” This happen last week after church when I left to go home turned out the light and Janet chimed right in. The light switch turns off both side offices.
In this age of electricity, light is something we take for granted. Few of us ever experience total darkness. In the city, we have street lights which come on automatically as soon as it begins to get dark. In the country, most farms have a mercury vapor light that stays on all night for security reasons. In Jesus’ time light was very hard to come by, lamp light was the best you had.
Darkness, true darkness, was a way of life. People would walk in darkness, if moonlight or torch, or lamp was not around. So proclaiming, “God is light and in God there is not darkness at all” is an amazingly powerful declaration. It was not a theological idea, God is light answered a real problem the people faced!!! God’s light was made real, made manifest, in Jesus Christ! Christ’s light was with God from the beginning and seen through the light of the resurrection and continues today in the hearts of fellow believers. It reminds me of light traveling from stars, hundreds or thousands of light years away. We can look up to the stars and see the light from hundreds of years ago. We continue to see the light of Christ centuries later. Even that is no match for God’s light.
God is light. Christ’s light was with God in the beginning and is with us now through the resurrection.
The Light of God helps us to do three things:
See Jesus Christ,
See Ourselves more fully,
and share God’s light with the world.
SEE JESUS- God’s light helps us to see Jesus. And Jesus made it possible for us to see God’s light. That is why 1 John is filled with verbs, seen, heard, looked upon, touched. The light of God is made real for us through Jesus. The Christological significance of 1 John is “Christ is made present to a generation of Christians who no longer can see or hear him, except by the eyes and ears of faith.” (Clifton Black, New Interpreter’s Bible, p. 384). We can only see Jesus with the eyes and ears of faith. The light of God gives us the eyes and ears of faith. Now through faith we experience God’s light in Christ as forgiveness, as grace, as mercy. The resurrected light of Christ comes to us when we pray and know peace. The peace Jesus offered the disciples. When we read scripture and feel Jesus with us, like Jesus with the disciples in that locked room. When we gather and know God is in our midst. God’s light empowers us to sense the resurrected Jesus.
SEE OURSELVES – God’s light also helps us to see ourselves as we really are. As you know I just had a birthday. One of my friends gifted me with a lighted magnifying mirror. I kid you not. It helps me to better see my face, to pluck my eyebrows and see all my blemishes. God’s light helps us to see our shortcomings, our moral and relational blemishes. Sometimes we like to think we don’t have any blemishes, we don’t sin. We see only the good parts and keep the not so good parts of ourselves hidden in the dark. We like to hide from the truth of our sinfulness. When we do, we make Jesus a liar. Think about that for a moment.
Gossiping, cheating on taxes, holding a grudge each one makes Jesus into a liar. Denying your sinfulness, is denying Christ’s grace. When we deceive ourselves about who we are, we rob ourselves of God’s grace and forgiveness. Because if yours sins never see the light of day, never see God’s light, you will never be washed in Christ’s mercy. Just like we need light to see ourselves in the mirror we need God’s light to see ourselves in truth.
If you’ve ever seen the Phantom of the Opera, you know what a tragic story it is. It’s all about a man being held in bondage by shame and fear. After being badly disfigured, the phantom looks hideous and is forced to live his life hiding in the shadows with a mask over his face. He longs to be accepted despite this, to be seen in the light, to remove his mask, and have someone look him in the face and love him. If we’re honest, that’s something that we all want.
Jesus, our living Lord, looks you in the face, with all your sins and loves you. Jesus takes you by the hand and leads you out of darkness and gives you peace. That is the power of light of the resurrection!
SHARE GOD’S LIGHT WITH THE WORLD-
God’s light helps us to see the resurrected Christ, to see ourselves more honestly, and to share God’s light with the world. Fellowship with believers basking in Jesus’ light is the first way we do that. Scripture declares, “If we say we have fellowship with (Jesus) while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not live according to the truth.” Our faith in Christ beckons us to the light. We strengthen and share the light by our life and example.
Alexander Papaderos, a Doctor of Philosophy, worked for many years trying to bring peace between the bitterly divided countries of Europe after WWII. His motivation for doing so stems from his childhood living in German occupied Crete. “When I was a small child,” he said, “during the war we were poor and lived in a remote village. One day, on the road, I found the broken pieces of a mirror. A German motorcycle had been wrecked in that place…. I kept one, the largest piece…. By scratching it on a stone, I made it round. I began to play with it as a toy and became fascinated by the fact that I could reflect light into dark places where the sun would never shine – in deep holes and crevices and dark closets. It became a game for me to get light into the most inaccessible places I could find. I kept the little mirror, and as I went about my growing up, I would take it out in idle moments and continue the challenge of the game. As I became [mature], I grew to understand that this was a metaphor for what I might do with my life. I came to understand that I am not the light or the source of light. The light is there, and it will shine in many dark places only if I reflect it.”
He concluded: “I am a fragment of a mirror whose whole design and shape I do not know. Nevertheless, with what I have, I can reflect light into the dark places of the world…and change some things in some people. Perhaps others may see and do likewise.” (Robert Fulghum, “It Was on Fire When I Lay Down on It,” New York: Villard Books, 1989)
Your faith can be a mirror for the light of Christ, the light of the resurrection. Shine Christ’s light into the dark places of this world; share God’s bright and abundant love with all you meet. Amen.
