Walking in the Light

A very old man is carried into a room full of people. They lean in, hoping for a long sermon. He looks around at them with great love, and says only this. Little children, love one another.

John had been one of the twelve, a young fisherman who left his nets to follow Jesus. He was there at the Last Supper, at the cross, and at the empty tomb. Now he is an old man, perhaps the last of the apostles still alive, caring for churches in and around the city of Ephesus. Some people had begun to teach confusing things, and some believers were unsure whether they truly belonged to God. So John writes a letter, as tender as a grandfather's. He begins by reminding them that he heard Jesus, saw him with his own eyes, and touched him with his own hands.

Then John gives them the message he heard from Jesus. God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. Not a little shadow. Not one dark corner. And that has a meaning for how we live. If we say we have fellowship with him, John writes, but we keep walking in the darkness, we are lying, and not living by the truth. 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. Walking in the light does not mean being perfect. It means living in the open, honest before God and each other, with nothing hidden.

John knows how easy it is to pretend. If we say that we have no sin, he writes, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. We fool no one but ourselves. But then come the words that have comforted so many people for so many centuries. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Confess simply means to say the truth about it. To tell God, yes, I did that, and it was wrong. And God does not shrug. He forgives, and makes clean. He is faithful, because he keeps his promise. He is just, because Jesus has dealt with our sin.

Then John speaks like a grandfather leaning close. My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you will not sin. That is the goal: to walk in the light. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. An advocate is someone who stands beside you, and speaks up for you. And Jesus, John says, is the sacrifice that takes away our sins, and not only ours, but the sins of the whole world. No one is too far away. The light is for everyone.

The scene at the start of this story comes from Jerome, a Christian scholar who lived around the year four hundred. In his commentary on Galatians, he passes on a story that John, in extreme old age at Ephesus, was carried to the gatherings of the church, and would say only, little children, love one another. When asked why he always said the same thing, John answered that it was the Lord's command, and if this alone was done, it was enough.

Walking in the light. You'll find John's words in First John chapter one, verse five, to chapter two, verse two. God is light, and when we bring our wrongs into his light, he is faithful to forgive. So here is a question to carry with you. Is there something you have been hiding that you could bring into the light and tell God about today?