1 John is a book of the Bible that I keep coming back to - it continues to draw me in and challenge me. It represents the faith-based ethic and moral compass that I ascribe to. It reminds me, over and over again, that all things with God and all things with this world are grounded in love. It speaks to the power of love to create and renew life. This is an epistle that summarizes the end goal of a life of faith, and serves as a challenge to any counter-narratives that claim faith as something individualistic of self-serving. Since I return to this letter so often, I thought it might be nice to journey through it in an intentional way, and to let myself be overheard as I do it.
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1 John 1:5--2:2
This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light and in him there is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with him while we are walking in darkness, we lie and do not do what is true; but if we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and he is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.
Let's start by acknowledging the challenges with the imagery in today's passage. It's almost Advent, and for those of us in the Northern Hemisphere, we're barrelling toward the shortest day of the year. It's a time when light/dark imagery feels pretty cozy and expectant. Candles, stars, twinkle lights, all the hygge you can want and more.
The problem is that we've let light and dark be shorthand for good and bad, and over time, the trope of light=good and dark=bad has empowered or perpetuated the same--truly condemnable-- attitudes toward people of color.
So while the Bible includes plenty of dark/light imagery, it's important that we talk about the way that these symbols are used, and not to perpetuate harm through careless interaction with these symbols.
Which, in a way, leads into the rest of what is notable in today's verses.
You may have heard said something along the lines of, "it's not about intent, it's about impact," meaning that no matter how noble, innocent, or naive our intentions, if the impact of our words or deeds causes harm, then we take seriously the impact and assume all the responsibilities for amends, reparations, and reconciliation that are appropriate.
Holding fast to the attitude that good intentions should render us immune from critique or responsibility is an attitude of self-deception, which is the heart of our reading today.
The writer of 1 John lays it out in simple terms: God's perfect, we're not, even though we hope that God continues to work in us and through us so that we can live as lovingly, compassionately, and grace-fully as possible.
The problem comes when we say we are doing God's work and God's will when we are most definitely not. When we refuse to recognize our selfishness or greed or arrogance. The problem is self-awareness.
1 John is going to unpack this throughout the rest of the letter, drawing a straight line between love of God and love of neighbor, and drawing a straight line between the faith that we say we have and the deeds that we do in the world.
Because here's the thing: forgiveness and grace abound. There will be plenty of times that we don't love our neighbor or our world perfectly. Plenty of times that we will shirk our responsibility to care for others, or times that we're less than generous, or even times where we (hopefully unintentionally) cause harm, especially when we're trapped inside systems that prove unjust for some of our neighbors.
But we can't say that we're part of God's beloved community if we can't own up to the brokenness around us. It just doesn't work to pretend that we are of God but without any responsibility to tend our world or even to our own selves.
I mean, 1 John actually lays it on pretty thick in the first verses of chapter 2, recounting in super-churchy-theological language the foundational belief that in Christ, we are forgiven, and the "we" here is totally expansive: "not for our [sins] only, but for the sins of the whole world."
Y'all, we are COVERED. This is the point from which 1 John begins. We are forgiven. There is grace. Don't be a dope and pretend like you don't need grace. Don't deceive yourself and pretend that you're without flaw or need. Let's be honest. And then receive grace. And then go on to offer grace as well.
These verses today are about level-setting. Getting the record straight. Starting with self-awareness and with extravagant forgiveness. Remembering how we have been loved, so that we can now figure out what it means to love others.