Blessed Assurance Pt 1 – Witnesses
Readings: 1 John 1. 1-2. 2 & John 20. 19-31
I want to start if I may with a quote. ‘Our current time is an epoch of fundamental insecurity. Everything is changing; nothing is stable. New nations are constantly coming to birth. New social and political patterns and continually evolving. The very survival of civilization is in doubt before the threat of a nuclear war. These external insecurities are reflected in the world of the mind and of the spirit. Even the Christian Church, which has received ‘a kingdom which cannot be moved’, and is charged to proclaim Him who is ‘the same yesterday, and today, and for ever’ now speaks its message softly, shyly and without conviction’.
You may imagine that this quote was written in the last few years, it feels very current in many ways. And yet it was written by John Stott in the 1960’s, perhaps the reference to nuclear war gave it away. But we live in a society which is in a state of flux, nothing is stable, core beliefs and foundations are being questioned, war has returned to Europe, a situation we thought, naively, would be forever a distant memory.
And in the face of all of this, when our communities, our nation needs hope, needs words of life and true comfort and peace, we all too often as a church are too occupied speaking into every political debate, every trending topic that comes around and in doing so offering nothing which the wider world hasn’t already got when what we have is the solution and the answer to the worlds ills, its fears and worries. The answer to our neighbours’ anxieties, their frustrations and their confusion. It’s found in the Gospel of Jesus Christ, God made man, dying for us upon the cross and rising again to give us everlasting life.
And John’s first letter is a timely reminder to us of this because he doesn’t waver in his conviction. In complete contrast to how our society often feels at the moment this letter is marked by assurance, by knowledge, by confidence and by boldness. And how much do we need those things as a church for this age. Confidence and boldness, and not empty bluster but rooted in knowledge and the assurance that what we have received, what we have come to believe is true. And so for the rest of Eastertide we’re going to dig into this letter, to explore what it has to say to us, to use it to reflect on the central doctrines of our faith namely Jesus’ death and resurrection.
Whilst the letter has no name attached even from these opening verses you cans spot the same style and themes as the Gospel which bears John’s name and so it has traditionally been attributed to him.
And John starts as he means to go on in this opening chapter. Namely with assurance. In this letter he wants to assure those he is writing to that the Gospel they have received is true in both senses, that it’s objectively true; rooted in real historical events and facts, and that it’s subjectively true; that they have been born again of God and possess eternal life. Those themes will continue to circulate around us as we delve into the next 5 chapters but in this first chapter I want to focus on the objective aspect with which he starts.
John is keen to impress upon his listeners and upon us that he isn’t writing with some new ideas he and some others have come up with. He isn’t writing about the latest theories or philosophies. He isn’t even writing to them about something that’s happened that he’s heard about second hand. John is writing to them, and us, about what he and his fellow apostles have heard with their own ears, seen with their own eyes, touched with their own hands. This isn’t theory, it’s testimony. And what is he talking about? God become flesh. He has spoken with this man, heard him speak, he has seen him walking and teaching and healing, dying and rising, he has reached out and touched this incarnate God.
And with this in mind we really couldn’t have a better Gospel reading with which to pair this with this morning. As the apostles meet the risen Jesus, as they speak with him and as he shows them his scars, his hands and feet and side still bearing the marks of his crucifixion. Even to those who doubt, and who can blame them, these are rational people afterall, Jesus comes and reveals himself to be truly alive, invites him to reach out and touch. And this experience changes all of their experiences with him up until this point. Everything he has said and done is transformed in an instant as the true and full reality of who he is comes into sharp focus at last. Jesus says at the last supper that they call him teacher and Lord, and that they’re right to do so. But now as he stands amongst them risen from the dead Thomas proclaims something more ‘My Lord and my God’.
And John who refers to himself in his Gospel as the beloved disciple, the disciple Jesus loved, Jesus’ closest friend, he now writes to the church to assure them that what they have come to believe is true. ‘I’ve seen all of this with my own eyes, I was there, handling these things, it really happened. Jesus was fully dead, I watched him be crucified. He is truly alive, I saw the empty tomb with my own eyes, I walked and talked with him after he was risen, before he ascended. Don’t let anyone undermine your confidence, your trust, your belief. I saw all of these things, I heard him speak, I touched him. I am a witness, and I testify that it’s all true’.
Can you imagine being in John’s shoes. Your best friend in the world turns out to be God himself come to rescue and ransom and redeem. To save a people for himself, to place this world back on the right path, back up into light and life and love. It must have been mind-blowing. His testimony is of what he has seen and heard and touched. He is sharing what has happened to him and the other apostles. He writes in verse 4 that because of all of this they share fellowship with the Father and with his Son Jesus. And yet he isn’t keeping this for himself is he.
The temptation when we have a unique experience, particularly with someone important, is to want to safeguard it, to keep it unique, a story only we can have. And yet he says in the third verse that he’s writing these things so that we can share fellowship with them. In other words he wants us to have what he has, as he and the other witnesses enjoy their fellowship with the Father and with Jesus he wants us to have that same experience with them. For us to have fellowship with the Father and with Jesus. He wants these people, us, and indeed the whole world to experience what he has, to know the world changed as he has. Right as he starts he wants to put his listeners, and us, on a firm foundation, it’s true, all of it. The Gospel of Christ crucified and risen to cleanse and heal us from our sins, to bring us fellowship with him and the Father. It’s all true.
You know sometimes we’re perhaps a little sceptical of the Apostle’s witness. And yet John, likely the youngest of the group, is writing aware that his fellow apostles are dying for this faith, he wants to pass it on to the next generation, to finish the work Jesus has given him to do.
Perhaps sometimes rather than being sceptical of the apostles we’re jealous of them. Well if we could have been there, that would be different. There’s a saying in our day ‘pics or it didn’t happen’, we want to experience it firsthand. And yet whilst we may be a little jealous of their experience Jesus himself says that whilst they have seen him “blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
And John is writing this so that, whilst we have not seen with our own eyes, we can look through his eyes, someone who has seen, that we might believe for ourselves. John cannot get us stood where he was, but he can tell us about it. He cannot save us, and yet he can point us to the one who can, that we might know him for ourselves and experience him for ourselves firsthand, so that our joy, with him might be complete.
My brothers and sisters, in our faith we are united with John, indeed with all of the Apostles, we share their joy. We may not have been there, but John’s writings passed down generation to generation with the rest of Scripture have been passed down so that we can believe, so that we can share in their joy as we ourselves come to believe and declare that Christ has died, that he is risen, and that he is coming again. And that this same Christ Jesus is our Lord and our God.
Amen.