Friday 29 February 2008

Background

Today's reading is the whole of a short letter. The writer seemsto be warning the recipient(s) that there are people whoseChristian doctrine is suspect and to steer clear of them. Inparticular, such people, the letter says, "do not confess thatJesus Christ has come in the flesh".

Why does that matter so much? Is it just a bit of Christiannit-picking?

But it is much more than a minor point of doctrine. What is atstake is whether Jesus was fully human, knew friendship andloneliness, knew our joy and sorrow, and experienced our pleasureand agony.

This matters because of what Christians believe abut God. TheChristian doctrine of the Incarnation (the belief that God was madeflesh in Jesus Christ) implies that God is not remote, but is mixedup in the wonderful, awful, messy business of human life.

It matters too because if, as some teachings at the time of thisletter of John suggested, Jesus was not fully human, then there isthe danger of Christian life and faith becoming unworldly insteadof being worked out in the real, day to day, messy, amazing,painful context of human life.

To Ponder

If you are a follower of Jesus Christ, what wayscould you work out that commitment more fully in the harshrealities of the flesh and blood world?

Do you think that sometimes Christian peopleretreat from the harsh realities of the world in a way that Goddoes not? What does that say about people and about God?