St. John
1
Jn 1:1-2:2
12/27/15
“Suffered under Pontius
Pilate.” We speak this phrase of the
Apostles’ Creed again and again. In
doing so we speak the name of the Roman prefect in Judea during the years 26 to
36 A.D. We are so used to saying his
name, that the surprise he is even mentioned two thousand years later never
occurs to us.
You see, in the setting of the
leaders of the Roman empire Pontius Pilate was nothing. He was just one of
thousands of governors who ruled over provinces during the history of the
empire. He wasn’t even of the senator
class. Instead, he was of the lower
equestrian class – wealthy but no big deal.
He didn’t rule an important province.
Judea was a second rate province – a point revealed by the fact that its
governor was chosen from the equestrian class and not from the senators. Pontius Pilate didn’t have any Roman legions
under his command. The three closest ones were in Syria under the command of
that governor – now there was an important province. Pilate only had the command of some Roman
auxiliary forces.
When considered on his own merits,
there is absolutely no reason that anybody would remember Pontius Pilate today.
But there he is in the Creed, and he is there for a very specific reason. The name Pontius Pilate anchors the
confession about Jesus Christ in history.
This is not like Star Wars – a fictional story that took place “A long
time ago, in a galaxy far, far away.”
Instead the birth, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ took place at
a real time and place in this world. It
occurred at the beginning of the first century A.D. in Palestine.
Today is the Feast of St. John,
Apostle and Evangelist. Just as the
reference to Pontius Pilate anchors the confession of Jesus Christ in a
specific place and time, so also the term “apostle” anchors John in that same
place and time. When it came time to
replace Judas in Acts chapter one, Peter said the candidate for this position
must be “one of the men who have accompanied us during all the time that the
Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning from the baptism of John until
the day when he was taken up from us—one of these men must become with us a
witness to his resurrection.”
John as an apostle was an authorized
representative for Christ. But he was
also someone who had heard Jesus’ words and seen his miracles. He is someone who had seen Jesus die on the
cross, and then had encountered the risen Lord on multiple occasions during the
period of forty days, before he then also saw Jesus ascend into heaven.
We hear John emphasize this fact at
the beginning of his first epistle: “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we
looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of
life—the life was made manifest, and we
have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which
was with the Father and was made manifest to us—that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that
you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the
Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.”
John speaks with authority about
Jesus Christ because he heard these things; he saw these things; he touched
these things. And so in his writings
John emphasizes the truth of the incarnation.
It is John who has given us the classic statement that we heard in the
Christmas Gospel reading. After saying that the Word is God who created all
things he writes, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have
seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and
truth.” Heresy is nothing new. Already
there were in the first century teachers who denied the incarnation. And so John says in this letter: “By this you
know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come
in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not
from God.”
In this letter, John confesses the
incarnation of the Son of God. And along
with this he has a strong emphasis on how Christians live – words that pick up
what Jesus says at the Last Supper in John’s Gospel.
John begins our text by saying, “This
is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light,
and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while
we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.” At first glance this seems daunting. God is light. There is not darkness – no sin
– in him. But to say we have fellowship
with God while walking in darkness means that we are lying. Of course, the problem is that we do sin. We
know we do.
But then John goes on to say, “But
if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one
another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.” The apostle says that if we walk in the
light, the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin. So fellowship with God, his Son, and the apostles
is not about a perfect life. The life of
walking in the light is one that is lived in relation to Jesus. It is life lived by faith in Jesus Christ.
John leaves no doubt that sin is a
continuing struggle for the Christian.
In words that we know so well from Setting One of the liturgy in the
hymnal, John says, “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the
truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive
us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
Sin is a reality for us. It’s there. We can’t deny it. To do so is it
deceive ourselves. Often this occurs by
explaining sin away. We justify our
actions – yes I got angry, but that person caused it. Or we follow the way of the world, which
defines away sin. Yes, lust breaks the
Sixth Commandment, but it’s not like the things I am watching and looking at
are hard core porn.
John is also clear that sin is something
that we are to avoid. We are to live in
ways that seek to follow God’s will.
This means that we need to be intentional about avoiding things that are
temptations. To fall to a temptation that
we placed in front of ourselves is just plain dumb. John says, “My little children, I am writing
these things to you so that you may not sin.”
But we do. And so in our text John
also adds these comforting words: “But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate
with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He
is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins
of the whole world.”
John declares that the good news in
the face of sin is Jesus Christ. He is
our advocate. He speaks on our behalf
with the Father because of who he is and what he has done. He is the only begotten Son – begotten
eternally of the Father. He is
righteous. He has no sin, not simply
because he is true God, but also because he lived as the incarnate One in our
world and did not sin.
And he is the propitiation for our
sins. Propitiation is an interesting
word. To “propitiate” is to make favorably inclined; to appease; to conciliate.
It describes the act of gaining a favorable disposition from another, usually
when something a person has done threatens this disposition. This is how the word was used in the ancient
pagan world. The gods needed to be propitiated so that they would be favorable
towards people.
But the Old Testament background for
the use of the term is very different.
Here it describes the sacrifices and the cover of the Ark of the Covenant
itself, that were given by God to remove
sin. True, the wrath of God is in the picture. That is why the sacrifices
are needed. But it is God who graciously
gives them to Israel with the assurance that through them fellowship with
God is maintained.
In our text, John applies the
language of propitiation to Jesus. Jesus
himself is the One who has received God’s wrath against our sin as the one
great sacrifice. Because of Jesus, we are now reconciled to God. But this is
not our doing. Instead, it is the means that God himself has provided. Because
of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, God does forgive us.
But for the apostle John, things
don’t stop there. They can’t. He writes
later in this letter: “In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that
God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In
this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son
to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought
to love one another.”
It is the same thing that Jesus said
at the Last Supper. After washing the
disciples feet our Lord said to them, “If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have
washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given
you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you.”
And then later he
added, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I
have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know
that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” The loving service of our Lord’s death for us
now leads us to act in loving service towards others.
The apostle John carried out his
ministry as an apostle – a member of a unique one time only group who had been
with Jesus. He writes about what he had heard, seen and touched – the death and
resurrection of Jesus Christ, the incarnate Son of God.
He writes about the truth. And the
truth is this. God the Father sent his
Son Jesus Christ into this world in order to be the sacrifice for our sin. He sent him as the propitiation by which
God’s judgment is averted from us and we are reconciled to God. Through faith in Jesus Christ we have
forgiveness and fellowship with God. This love now leads us to love one another
with acts of service. We love, because
God loved us in Christ.
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