Year B
Second Sunday of Easter
April 12, 2015
Cross~Wind
Title: Sin on a Post-it Note/Confession/Walking in the Light
Going deeper
The theme of I John 1:1-4 is to
provide a prologue for the letter. Some consider it a traditional Johannine
hymn from Asia Minor. Brown notes that the prologue is one long sentence. There
are not theological subtleties. Its basis is the prologue in the Gospel, which
secessionists within the Johannine community used against the author. The
author used the occasion of the letter to correct their misinterpretation. Here
is how the two prologues compare, with the epistle the first part of the
comparison. 1:1a = 1:1a, 1:1d - 1:14c, 1:1f = 1:4a, 1:2a = 1:14a, 1:2d = 1:1b,
1:2e = 1:14b, 1:3d = 1:16ab, 1:3e = 1:17a, 1:3f = 1:18b.
1 We [Christian tradition viewed the “we” as a sign of
apostolic authorship, and therefore his word carried authority. Brown does not
share that view, suggesting that the elder writes on behalf of the Johannine
tradition as it preserved a witness of a verbal, visual, and physical contact
with Jesus, probably from the Beloved Disciple. In any case, authority lies
behind these words. He makes two affirmations about Jesus. One is that he is a
unity with the Father, while at the same time he became man in the full sense
of the word. The Word “was with the Father,” reminiscent of John 1:1-2. This
same Word was “heard,” “seen,” and “touched.” The author emphasizes the human
quality that the Word possessed. This was no dream or phantom. The Word became
a human being. This author expands upon John 1:14, “the Word became flesh.”
Thus, the author writes this letter to keep the readers within the basic
affirmations of the apostolic faith.] declare to you what [“What” is a
focus on the ministry of Jesus on this earth. The author is an authentic
witness of Jesus. It is polemical and arises out of exasperation with the
opposition. It refers to the person of Jesus.]was from
the beginning, [The phrase has six possible meanings. Brown believes
it refers to the public ministry of Jesus. The verse also refers to “word of
Life” which refers to the message and not to the pre-existent Word of the
prologue of the Gospel. The rationale of the prologue is that the secessionists
of the Johannine community agreed with the prologue of the Gospel about the
divine origin of the Word being “in the beginning” with God, while saying
nothing about the earthly career of Jesus. The awkwardness of the prologue
stems from an attempt to take the prologue’s familiar pieces and give an
accurate interpretation of it.] what we have
heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with
our hands, [(John 1:14 writes that “we have seen his glory”, looked
at, and touched, was the word of life (John 1:4a says that in the Word was
life). He then expands on the notion of life. God revealed the word of life
(John 1:14a says the Word became flesh), “we” have seen it and testify to it,
as well as declare to the recipients the eternal life that was with the Father
(John 1:1b says the Word was with God) and revealed “to us” (John 1:14b says
the Word lived “among us”). John then says that “we” declare to the recipients
what “we” have seen and heard, so that they may have fellowship with “us.” John
1:16ab says “we” have received from the fullness of the Word grace upon grace.]concerning the word of life-- 2 this life was revealed, and we have
seen it and testify to it, and declare to you the eternal life that was with
the Father and was revealed to us-- 3 we declare to you what we have seen and
heard so that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is
with the Father[(John 1:17a says Moses gave the law)] and with his Son Jesus Christ. [(John 1:18b says the only
Son has made God known)]4 We are writing these things so
that our joy may be complete.
Barth
has a good discussion of the distinction between himself and Bultmann. He
agrees that the resurrection of Jesus has nothing to say directly about human
existence, but that does not disqualify it as truth. He rejects the notion that
modern historical scholarship is the proper judge of such an event. He thinks
it is not open to historical verification, but that does not make it the result
of merely bold acceptance. He rejects the notion that modern science determines
the modern view of life, suggesting that it does not allow for other possible
experiences of life. The fact that the resurrection was compatible with a
mythical worldview does not mean that one cannot believe it today as a modern
person. His question regarding the resurrection is what it says to us
concerning the being of Jesus in time that He was in time in this way as well,
as the resurrected one. What is the
implication of the fact that after he had completed the span from birth to
death, he had time after that? The answer is that the particular content of
the particular recollection of this particular time of the apostolic community
consisted in the fact that in this time the man Jesus was manifested among them
in the mode of God. It is essential to a true understanding that both his
humanity and his deity should be kept in view. Barth says that this verse
repudiates any docetic interpretation of the resurrection. He stresses that the
disciples actually beheld the glory of the Lord. They make a decision between
belief and unbelief. God was present as the man Jesus. That this really took
place is the specific content of the apostolic recollection of these days. God
is present, not simply as an intellectual notion of perception, but as a
remembered as a real fact that has taken place before them and impels them to
confession and commission. They can even add the human title Lord to the human
name of Jesus. When we ask how, all we can say is that the same Jesus who died
and whom the disciples buried was among them again as a living man. He was the
demonstration of the gracious God, who has authority over life and death. God has a different time from that of
humanity, but God wills to give humanity a share in this divine time, this
eternity. The man Jesus was apprehensible as the triumphant justification
of God and humanity, as the revelation of the divine sovereignty over life and
death that delivers humanity, and finally as the One who exist in the higher,
eternal time of God.[1] The
Easter event is quite plainly one of an encounter with God, and act of God to
the disciples in which, God confronted them and spoke with them in the person
of Jesus Christ. As stated here, they heard and handled it. In this seeing,
hearing, and handling, they were brought to faith. We are not required to try
to know and to be able to say more of this encounter than the accounts tells
us, especially as to the how.[2]
5 This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim
to you, [stating the theme of 1:5-2:2 and the gospel message the author wishes to
defend.] that God is light and in him
there is no darkness at all. [He gets this from John 1:4b, 5ab, in
which we learn that the life was the light of all people, the light was shines
in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it. John views the message
as coming from Christ as interpreted by the Paraclete, which is what the
Johannine tradition says who Jesus is. For this author, the light has come into
the world through the whole career of Jesus, while the secessionists would be
content with the Incarnation alone. One must understand the statement in terms
of function, not an abstraction. “Light” is a function of self-revelation. That
light removed the darkness, which is sin. The mentality is one of covenant that
the people of God must reflect in their lives the God they worship. The
covenant has its root in the being begotten of God. Barth refers to this verse
as supporting his notion that the knowledge of God is a complete knowledge in the
sense of a penetrating knowledge. Such knowledge is total. Everything is open
before God. Such divine knowledge is clear, plain, definite, and intensive.[3]]
[In the rest of
the section, 1:6-2:2, we find an ethical implication of the theme. The author
fears that a certain group will contaminate those in fellowship with him. ]
6 [First disapproved condition] If we say that we have fellowship [koinonia] with him while we are walking in darkness, we lie and do not do what is
true; 7 but [first approved condition] 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.[We
find a misuse of John 3:19-21, where John says that judgment consists in the
fact that the light has come into the world, but the world loved darkness more
than light because their deeds were evil. Those who do evil hate the light, for
the light would expose their evil. Those who do what is true come to the light,
verifying that their deeds have been done in God. The point is not that they
are libertines, but that they gave no salvific implications to ethics. Darkness
was no longer an issue. The verse references several important concepts. The
first is that it is important that the Christian actually do something! The
Greek word the author uses for “walk” (peripatew)
was used for centuries by Greek philosophers to convey the sense of “walking
through life,” of living. By introducing the verb with an “if,” the author
emphasizes that it is the choice of Christians to walk in the light, and only
if they do will they have fellowship with others.]
8 [Second disapproved condition] If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is
not in us. 9 [Second approved condition] If we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive us our
sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.[We find a misuse of
John 8:31-34, 8:24, 15:22, and 16:8-9. Jesus tells the Jews who believed that
if they continue in his word, they will be his disciples, know the truth and
the truth will set them free. Yet, they answer that as children of Abraham,
they have been slaves to no one. Jesus responds that everyone who commits sin
is a slave to sin. Jesus also gives the warning that that if they do not
believe they will die in their sins. The arrival of Jesus actually exposes sin.
The Paraclete will come after the departure of Jesus and will prove the world
wrong concerning sin, which consists in not believing in Jesus. The author
discloses a second disapproved condition here. In the Gospel, “guilty of sin”
and “slaves of sin” are part of the polemic against non-believers. These verses
imply the believer is no longer guilty of sin. The secessionists would then
imply that this was true, no matter what one did.]
10 [Third disapproved condition] If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is
not in us. [Pannenberg notes in verses 8-10 offenses were already
common among church members.[4]]2:1 [Third approved condition] 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 [paraclete, who in John 14:16 is
also Jesus as the first advocate and the Spirit is also an advocate. The
letter does not refer to the Spirit as Paraclete. The secessionists probably
gave no salvific importance to the death of Christ. Pannenberg says the term
“Paraclete” can have the sense of our advocate or representative before God. It
is used in this way of the Risen Christ here. However, it can also denote advocacy
for God and the cause of God among us, or for the cause of Jesus after his
departure.[5]]with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; 2 and he is the atoning
sacrifice [Note the emphasis on the bloody death of Christ.
Believers no longer need to offer animal sacrifices. The way is clear to a
relationship with God. There are two issues here, first, the claim that Jesus’
death led to the cleansing of sins and the claim that Jesus bled. The second
reason the author may have wanted to emphasize “the blood of Jesus” is
deliberately to evoke from the reader/listener a visceral sense of the human
suffering that Jesus endured. From here and elsewhere, scholars
surmise that the opponents claimed that Jesus only seemed to be human, a
position (docetism) often associated with the gnostics and condemned by
Ignatius of Antioch about the time the Johannine texts were being produced. The
author, it seems, wants to quash that notion quickly: Jesus was flesh and
blood.] for our sins, and not for ours only but also for
the sins of the whole world. The divine intent toward the world is
salvation; the world chooses darkness. We find a misuse of John 8:46, 20:22-23,
3:18, 5:24, and 13:10. Jesus asks which of them convicts him of sin. He asks
them that if he is telling them the truth, why do they not believe him. Jesus
also breathed on the disciples for them to receive the Holy Spirit. If they
forgive sin, God will forgive, and if they retain the sin of anyone, God will
retain it. Those who do not believe experience condemnation already. Anyone who
hears the word of Jesus and believes has eternal life and has already passed
from death to life. Finally, Jesus says that since he has washed their feet,
they are clean, but not all are clean. John deals with the notion of perfection.
Here is the third disapproved condition. It most likely it refers to sin after
baptism, not in their lives from birth. One might derive the sinlessness of the
believer from 8:46, 20:22-23, 3:18, 5:24, 13:10, and see the author’s own
perfectionism in I John 3:5-6, 9. One must balance this by the author’s
admission in 2:1-2 that Christians do sin. Both have exalted views of
perfection, but secessionists deduce indifference and the author deduces the
importance of what one does.
While the disapproved conditions
reflect lying and not accepting the truth about oneself, the approved
conditions reflect accepting the truth about one’s sinfulness. Synonymous with
walking in the light are obeying the commands of God and love. On the other
hand, he identifies darkness, disobedience, and hate as in opposition to the
life of the believer. When the believer walks in the light, he or she makes the
darkness pass away and brings in the reality of light. In the midst of all this
contrast between light and darkness, John discusses the reality of sin in the
life of the believer. No one can claim he or she is not presently a sinner.
However, when believers sin, they are sensitive to the importance of confessing
that sin to God and receiving forgiveness from God.
Introduction
What is the one thing you have done
that nobody else can ever know about?
Gulp. The mere thought
inspires a hard swallow and a pounding heart. Rest at ease. There are now quick
and convenient, anonymous and even aesthetic ways to deal with those nagging
sins of yours: cyberspace confessions. Think of an online confessional booth as
an electronic Post-it-Note. Those ever-present Post-its have brought a sticky,
yellow-pad revolution to the absent-minded office worker. What might Post-a-Sin
do for the busy and guilt-laden pilgrim in need of conscience cleansing? Have
some slip-ups to shake loose and cannot make it down to the parish priest? No
problem. Just have them absolved by posting them online at an e-confessional.
You are just a few keystrokes away from a clean slate.
What if you
are more of the artsy type who needs to get something off your chest? Again,
cyber-reality has a perfect solution for you. There is a Web site where you can
submit a postcard-sized artistic rendering of your transgressions. Just include
a statement of the issue that you need to reveal — and by all means — you must
keep it anonymous. Then these ownerless mail-in confessions are posted on the
site so others can read your acknowledgment and admire the way you
aesthetically captured it. A comment from a regular of the site reads: “I love
this Web site … makes me feel everything I’ve done is closer to human. I wish
they would expand and update more often then once a week. I look forward to the
new postings as they open up my eyes each time.”
What a
voyeuristic bonus! Would you like to hear some confessions?
• I removed the book jackets from trashy novels so that I look more
sophisticated.
• If something is hard, I give up and have a snack.
• I wish my daughter loved me.
• I was once so lonely that I mailed a letter to myself telling me I was
great and signed it from Johnny Depp.
The rest of the world can get online and
appreciate the splendor of your sinful actions. And consider the therapeutic
benefits here. Others can go look at the hideousness of what you confessed and
instantly feel better about their own minor mishaps and peccadilloes. Who needs a priest or a time
of prayer anymore? And why bother with an expensive therapist to improve
self-esteem? No need to visit the local art gallery. We can get all of those
needs met in one place. Anonymous, artistic, confessional and voyeuristic.
Confession
of sin is important, of course, and we must not make light of it. Steve Rogers
tells the story of buying a home. They had the home properly inspected, and the
inspector found no evidence at the time. They discovered the unwanted guests
later. He says that areas of our lives can be much like the termites in the
house. Sin can hide in us and gnaw away at us. When the effects burst through to the surface,
in our words and deeds, we need to pay attention.
Application
First, we need to put aside our pride.
Since the sinking of the Titanic on
April 15, 2012, it became a powerful image of the pride human beings can take
in what they accomplish. True, we can accomplish much. Yet, we must be careful.
The Titanic's Captain, Edward
Smith, had commented a few years earlier that the nature of "modern
shipbuilding" in the early 20th century rendered sinking a near
impossibility. "I cannot imagine any condition which would cause a ship to
founder," he said. "I cannot conceive of any vital disaster happening
to this vessel. Modern shipbuilding has gone beyond that."
Witnesses last saw Captain Smith on
the bridge of the Titanic, having just given the order to abandon ship. We will
never know, but in his last few moments before going down with the ship, did he
remember his fateful words?
We need to slow down. They should
have slowed down before the ship slammed into that iceberg. The Titanic had
received several transmissions from other ships that there were ice flows in
the vicinity, yet she continued to speed ahead at full throttle. If we are
going to avoid the sinking effects of sin, it is important for us to slow down,
too, and get real about what is wrong. We do that through confession.
The name "Titanic" comes
from the Titans, a race of gods who preceded the more-familiar Olympian gods
and who battled with them for dominance. At the conclusion of their war with
the Titans, Zeus and the other victorious Olympians fashioned unique
punishments for their vanquished opponents. Atlas, for example, was forced to
hold up the sky. Prometheus, who gave to human beings the gift of fire, was
tied to a rock and attacked each day by a bird of prey, who tore out and ate
his liver, only to have it grow back again the next day.
In Greek mythology, the Titans are
characterized by hubris, or pride. Ironically, the same charge can and was
leveled against the builders of the Titanic, who boldly imagined they could
construct an ocean liner so large that not even the ordinary limitations of the
maritime environment would apply to it.
Those who are in recovery programs have little confusion about what it
means to “walk in the light.” To help them walk in the light, several of the
“Twelve Steps” are particularly applicable here:
We honestly admit our weaknesses,
that we are powerless over our darker habits and that our lives have become
unmanageable ...
We trust God to restore us to sanity
...
We turn our will and our lives over
to God ...
We make a searching and fearless
moral inventory of ourselves, and we are entirely ready to have God remove all
these defects of character ...
We seek through prayer and
meditation to improve our conscious contact with God, as we understand him,
praying only for knowledge of his will for us and the power to carry that out.
Christian
confession is relational. It is merely owning up to the reality of the ways in
which we have not perfectly followed Christ . God is
already aware of these things, so confession is not an information transfer;
it is a relational healing.
Second,
confession restores right relationship with God.
When we say
something dumb to a spouse or a friend, things are a little stilted between us
until we go and seek forgiveness. Relationship is awkward when there is an
offense between people. Relationship between God and his followers is no
different when wrongs between them remain unrecognized and unreconciled.
Third,
confession also restores our relationship with other Christians.
Coming
out of the darkness and into the light grants us “fellowship with one another” (v. 7).
Confession
places us back on the common ground of our identity in Christ
— as his co-followers, not as his co-offenders. And relationship with other
believers can not only be the end of confession, it can be the means
as well.
James 5:16 “confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, so that you
may be healed.”
Nevertheless,
how much do we balk at such a radical concept? People like to have their stuff
all together. People do not like to be wrong. For sure, people do like to admit
they are wrong even when they know they are. We are consumed with being right
and not getting right.
Fans of the old sitcom Happy Days may remember the
two words that the Fonz could never make pass over his lips: “I’m sorry.” He
would stutter and stammer, but never get beyond “I’m s-s-s-so-so-so ...”
What is the
value of confession? Why bring another person into the picture? James and John
see something in confessing to one another. What is the value?
I am the
oldest of five children. It was a good day when I got my own room. Yet, I remember
also that at night, it seemed like a long way from the wall with the light
switch to the bed. I would turn out the light and run quickly to the bed. I am
not sure what I thought was in the shadows or under the bed, but it seemed like
somehow staying in the bed under the cover was enough protection. I do not
recall ever calling for mom or dad, but had I done so, I am sure they would
have come into the room, turned on the light, and everything would have been
all right. Confession to God, who is light, will bring light into your life and
reduce the monstrous effects of sin in your life. Confessing to another is
another way to face the monster together. Sin is the same kind of monster. It
holds power and influence over us. It comes after us in dark places when nobody
else is there. However, when we tell other people about the sins we wrestle
with, somebody else comes into the room, the lights get turned on, and the
monster loses its teeth.
Conclusion
By the way,
that is why Post-a-Sin is such a tawdry rip-off of the true spiritual rhythm of
confession.
Cyber-confession
is anonymous. Christian confession is personal.
Cyber-confession
results in entertainment for others. Christian confession results in connection
with others.
Listen to
the rich words of the confessional liturgy:
Most merciful God, we confess that
we have sinned against you in thought, word and deed, by what we have done, and
by what we have left undone. We have not loved you with our whole heart; we
have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. We are truly sorry and we humbly
repent. For the sake of your Son Jesus Christ, have mercy on us and forgive us;
that we may delight in your will, and walk in your ways, to the glory of your
name. Amen.
This is no dot-com entertainment. This is real Christian
intimacy.
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