Imitating the Incarnation

 

I John 4:7-21, the Second Reading appointed for the 5th Sunday of Easter in the Year of Mark, continues our reading through John's First Epistle in this Easter season.  As has been present in previous sections, the call to love one another, is once again, front and center.  There are, however, in this text, several important differences from what has been said previously.  Knowing God, it turns out, is all wrapped up in loving God and neighbor.  This text challenges any view of faith which claims that we can know God apart from loving God and neighbor. This message will be the challenge for the preacher.

(The following questions have been developed to explore the function of the Word, a central concern of Law and Gospel preachers.  These questions are best used in conjunction with other fine sets of questions available to exegetes.  For more on this method and on Law and Gospel preaching in general, see my brief guide, Afflicting the Comfortable, Comforting the Afflicted, available from wipfandstock.com or amazon.)

1.  How does the Word function in the text?  There are certainly explicit statements of Gospel in this text: "God's love was revealed among us in this way:  God sent his only Son into the world..." (vs.9)  Yet the tone of this text does not seem to be proclamation of God's love, but rather a reminder "that those who love God must love their brothers and sisters also." (vs.21).  Also there is an explicit word of Law here: "Those who say, 'I love God,' and hate their brothers and sisters, are liars..." (vs. 20).  This is the Word functioning as Law, for it casts light on our tendency to claim a cerebral 'faith', while ignoring "the weightier matters of the Law." The tone is accusatory.

2.  How is the Word not functioning in the text?  As noted above, though statements of Gospel are present, the tone is not comforting.  Rather, these descriptions of God's love are used as launching pads for reminding us of our responsibilities, and casting light on our hypocrisy.  In this way, this text lacks a Gospel function, even though the Gospel claims are made.

3.  With whom are you identifying in the text?  We readers are the ones brought up short, shown our sins and failings, by these words.  We are those who, though knowing of God's love, do not love others.  We are those whom have known God's love, yet cannot seem to extend that to others.  We are those who lack the perfect love that casts out fear, for we see fear ever-present in our lives.  In short, we are the ones called to repentance by this text.

4.  What, if any, call to obedience is there in this text?  In some ways this whole passage is a classic call to obedience.  Indeed verse 11 is a classic model of a call to obedience:  "Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another." Yet, because the statements explaining God's love seem to function as a call to repentance, they do not lead us in the usual manner, inviting us to joyfully respond to God's work by living in a certain way.  It is almost as if the writer is saying, "After all that God has done for you, the least you can do is to love one another."

5.  What Law/Gospel couplet is suggested by this text?  There are a number of couplets right in the text that could serve us well:  hate/love; fear/boldness; sins/atonement for sins.

6.  Exegetical work:  It is noteworthy that the conditional phrase in vs. 12 is a condition of uncertainty:  "No one has ever seen God; if we love one another [and we might or might not], God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us."  Because of this condition of uncertainty, another way to translate this verse might be:  "No one has ever seen God; whenever we love one another, God lives in us and his love is perfected in us."  This way of understanding this phrase seems to be faithful to the tone of this text, and yet more hopeful.  Commenting on this verse and the verse that precedes it, George Parsenios writes this:  "Since verses 9-10 define God's love in the incarnation and crucifixion, events wherein Jesus embodied God's love on earth, so also the followers of Christ continue to embody this love if they are bound to one another by love.  If in their lives in the flesh the believers also embody God's love on earth, then their union and love represent an imitation of the incarnation..." (Paideia Commentaries on the NT, First, Second, and Third John, p. 115).  I like this phrase - an imitation of the incarnation.

7.  How does the Crossings Community model work with this text?  Steven Kuhl sees in this text the complete story of salvation:  Christ's atoning act (vs. 10), our willful hatred of the neighbor which shows our hearts for what they are (vs. 20), and God's call to love (vs. 21).  This analysis is a fine way of getting a handle on this whole text.  See all of it archived under its reference at crossings.org/text-study.

Blessings on your proclamation!

The Call to Love

 

I John 3:16-24, the Second Reading appointed for the 4th Sunday in Easter in the Year of Mark, is well matched with the gospel lesson from John 10 for in both passages we hear the phrase, "to lay down one's life."  In John's gospel, the message is about the Good Shepherd laying down his life for the sheep.  In the epistle, the message is about the followers of the Good Shepherd laying down their lives for one another.  It is a classic call to obedience, a call that it will be the preacher's task to proclaim.

(The following questions are not meant to be exhaustive, but seek to explore a central concern of Law and Gospel preachers, the function of the Word in the text.  These questions are best used in conjunction with other methods and fine sets of questions available to exegetes.  For more on this method and on Law and Gospel preaching in general, see my brief guide, Afflicting the Comfortable, Comforting the Afflicted, available from wipfandstock.com or amazon.)

1.  How does the Word function in the text?  There can be little doubt that the primary function of the Word here is to call us to lay down our life for others, in response to Christ's laying down his life for  us.  This is precisely what a call to obedience does: it invites us to live in a certain way in response to the Gospel.  This particular text goes on to spell out what this means in some detail:  help a brother or sister in need, love in truth and action, obeying his commandments.

2.  How is the Word not functioning in the text?  The Word functioning as either Law or Gospel is barely present here.  In the opening verse we hear the good news that Christ lay down his life for us, but this is simply a  reminder of what motivates our own behavior.  Also there are several verses that hint at our potential hard heartedness (vs. 17), and our self-condemnation (vs. 20), but again, they are not central to the message.

3.  With whom are you identifying in the text?  We are those to whom this text is addressed.  We need reminding that our call is to emulate Christ.  We need reminding that loving only in word and speech is not enough, but we need to love in deed and truth.  We are also those who experience self-condemnation and we need God's assurance.

4.  What Law/Gospel couplet is suggested by this text?  Since the Word does not function in this text primarily as Law or Gospel, we shall have to use our imaginations to come up with couplets to illuminate this text. Using some of the language in the text, here are some suggestions: condemned/forgiven; doubting/assured.

5.  Exegetical work:  I like what the 7th century monk, Bede the Venerable, says in his commentary on this text.  Stating things most succinctly he says, "Love is the great divide between the children of God and the children of the devil.  Those who have love are children of God, and those who do not are children of the devil.  Have anything else you like, but if you lack this one thing, then all the rest is of no use to you whatsoever. On the other hand, you may lack almost anything else, but if you have this one thing, you have fulfilled the law."  (Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture, NT, Vol XI, p. 201).  In speaking of the relationship between faith and love, Clement of Alexandria says, "Christ lives in a believing mind." (Ibid., p. 202).   Raymond Brown also comments on the connection between our relationship with God and with the neighbor:  "[Abide]...communicates two important points: that the Christian's relationship with God is not just a series of encounters but a stable way of life; second, that the stability does not imply inertia but a vitality visible in the way one walks."  (George Paresenios, Paideia series, First, Second, and Third John, p. 107).  

6.  How does the Crossings Community model work with this text?  Lori Cornell does a fine job of picking up on the few pieces of Law and Gospel in this text, and developing a nice analysis of what is at stake. Using the words from the Lenten hymn, "My Song Is Love Unknown," she shows how these verses illustrate a "love to the loveless shown."  We are those who have the world's goods and yet fail to share them.  Miraculously, we loveless ones are the ones Christ loves.  See this fine analysis archived under its reference at crossings.org/text-study.

Blessings on your proclamation!

What is Heard and Seen and Touched

 

The Second Reading for the Second Sunday of Easter in the Year of Mark is I John 1:1-2:2.  This text matches well with the classic "Doubting Thomas" text of John 20 because of its emphasis on what is "seen and heard and touched."  It is also a wonderful text that includes both Law and Gospel.  It will be the preacher's task to proclaim both.

(The following questions attempt to bring to light a fundamental concern of Law and Gospel preachers:  How does the Word function in the text?  This is crucial since how the Word functions will inform, to a large degree, how the sermon will function.  For more on this method and on Law and Gospel preaching in general, see my brief guide, Afflicting the Comfortable, Comforting the Afflicted, available from wipfandstock.com or amazon.)

1.  How does the Word function in the text?  The opening verses and the closing verses of this text function purely as Gospel.  They announce the presence of "the eternal life that was with the Father and was revealed" to the world in Christ, who is "the atoning sacrifice for our sins."  The middle verses (5-10) are a different story.  With their repeated use of the conditional phrase, they reveal to us our need of a Savior:  "walking in darkness" (vs. 6), "we deceive ourselves" (vs. 8), "his word is not in us" (vs. 10).  These are all sure signs of our need for repentance.

2.  With whom are you identifying in the text?  We can certainly see ourselves among those whom are addressed by this text.  We receive this good news of the Word of life that can be seen, touched and heard.  We are also those who are tempted to deceive ourselves and walk in ignorance and falsehood.

3.  What, if any, call to obedience is there in this text?  The call to "walk in the light" certainly could be understood to be a call to obedience, although in this text, this seems to function more as a call to faith.  Later in this letter, the writer will exhort readers to live in love, for God is love. This is much more the classic call to obedience.

4.  What Law/Gospel couplet is suggested by this text?  There are a host of couplets right in this text, and we could imagine any number of others. The obvious ones are: darkness/light; lies/truth; walking in the darkness/walking in the light; sinful/forgiven.

5.  Exegetical work:  The consensus amongst scholars is that the writer of I John has one primary concern:  koinonia (fellowship).  John Kysar believes that even the opening phrase contributes to this: "Only in clinging to 'that which was from the beginning' can the community survive the crisis brought on by the recent schism." (Augsburg Commentary on the NT, I, II, III John, p. 34).  The schism that later verses witness to (2:18-19) has been written much about, but George Parsenios believes that speculation regarding this schism is an error.  He advises us to stick closely to the textual evidence, which seems wise. He agrees that "communal coherence is a major concern", and he concurs with many scholars who understand that, in contrast to John's gospel, the concern here is not that is Jesus is the Son of God, but that Jesus is the Son of God. (Brown) (Paideia Commentaries on the NT, First, Second, and Third John, p. 21-22).  Parsenios goes on to argue that understanding the incarnation rightly is the key to fellowship with God and other believers:  "The point is clear: fellowship with God is possible through the incarnation and only through the incarnation." (Ibid., p. 46).  He sees this emphasis on 'flesh and blood' even in the discussion about sin:  "The use of the  plural [of sins in 1:8] shows that what is in view is not some abstract concept of sinfulness, but concrete actions that require actions in return.  The commission of sins in real acts is corrected by the confession of sins in a real act." (Ibid., p. 61).  He seems to argue that without acknowledging the flesh and blood reality of the Christ, we cannot fully experience koinoia with either God or our fellow believers.  Incarnation matters!

6.  How does the Crossings Community model work with this text?  The analysis by Norbert Kabelitz is a classic example of a Law/Gospel analysis of this text.  In the Diagnosis, Kabelitz centers on our willful denial - our bondage to dishonesty.  In the Prognosis, he centers on "divine advocacy" (vs. 2:1), showing how Christ is the solution to our bondage.  To see the whole analysis, go to crossing.org/text-study and search under the reference.

Blessings on your proclamation!