Reflection -- Love Beyond Mere Words

First John is one of three letters, probably written about 100 CE, by the leader of an early Christian community.  Their seemingly simple words are, on closer examination, some of the most complex and hardest to grasp in the Bible.

The gospel of John was the life blood of the early community out of which these letters came.  John 13:34-35 tells us that Jesus gave a new commandant at the end of his ministry:  “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another.  Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.  By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”  A central message of the letters of John is their emphasis on Jesus’ commandment that Christians love one another.

This is hardly a simple matter.  In today’s passage, we are reminded that this love of which Jesus spoke involves a lot more than mere “lip service” and more than mere warm feelings in our hearts.  The genuine love that Jesus urged upon Christians is a matter of truth and action.  The primary example of what love is truly all about is Jesus himself, who laid down his life for us.

This letter of John teaches that God comes to live (“abide”) in us, and we in God, enabling us to fully love, through both faith and obedience.  It is not possible to separate faith from obedience in our Christian walk, for each depends upon the other.  The commands to which we are to be obedient are to believe in Jesus, and to love one another in obedience to Jesus' command.  Our assurance that this process is actually taking place in our lives is the presence of “the Spirit that [God] has given us.”  In other words, the gauge for our progress is the evidence ("fruits" in traditional terms) of the Holy Spirit in our lives. 

The letters of John remind us again and again that there is no higher call than love.  Popular culture would like to suggest that real love is easy to come by.  But no matter how lovely the thought, the notion that genuine, lasting love is an easy matter is pure fiction.  The reminders of our failure to achieve it are everywhere¾the hasty harsh word, pushing and shoving our way ahead in waiting lines or traffic, the preoccupation with our daily tasks that keeps us from offering that word or touch that might make all the difference, our need to always be "one up" on others, etc. 

But there is hope of advancing in our struggle to love.  The process involve a paring down and simplification of life driven by a constant hunger to be nearer to the heart of God.  That awful word “discipline” comes into play.  It is a lifetime’s work of refining away until all that is left is the gold of love.  The ultimate key to understanding all of this comes later in this letter of John, “God is love.”  (1 John 4:8 and 16.)  The Christian journey is simply about clearing away obstructions until God shines through our lives.  The more God dwells in us the more love for one another will become at the core of who we are.

revclay

_______________________________

I John 3:16-24

We know love by this, that [Jesus] laid down his life for us - and we ought to lay down our lives for one another.  How does God's love abide in anyone who has the world's goods and sees a brother or sister in need and yet refuses help?

Little children, let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action.  And by this we will know that we are from the truth and will reassure our hearts before God whenever our hearts condemn us; for God is greater than our hearts, and knows everything.  Beloved, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have boldness before God; and we receive from God whatever we ask, because we obey God’s commandments and do what pleases God.

And this is God’s commandment, that we should believe in the name of God’s Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us.  All who obey his commandments abide in him, and he abides in them.  And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit that he has given us.

 [NRSV]