Whoever has the Son has life

"If we receive human testimony, the testimony of God is greater; for this is the testimony of God that He has testified to His Son... And this is the testimony: God gave us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life." (1 John 5:9-13)

I sometimes try to imagine the man who wrote these words. What was his life like? When did he come across the Jesus story? How did his mind and emotion respond to the incredible idea? What of his family and friends? Wouldn't it be interesting to read his biography and get a taste of daily life for him and the early church?

There is much scholarly debate about the authorship of the three letters of John, the Gospel of John and Revelation. They analyze the writing, do word counts, study the grammar, look at theological themes; all in an effort to assess and create theories. Anyone who stumbles across this work will quickly learn that there is a wide expanse of opinions. What does seem clear is the words reflect a shared vision of Jesus. Raymond Brown's short little book, "The Community of the Beloved Disciple," though written some thirty years ago, is probably still a wonderful introduction to some of that scholarly opinion.

Whatever the circumstances of the composition, one thing is clear: the letter was written by someone and read by others. Today's snippet, from last Sunday's lectionary, is toward the end of the letter (chapter 5). While it has been snatched out of its context the message is one which resonates throughout the letter: Jesus is life. Jesus is the Son of God. We know this because God has said it is so. Therein lies the explosive power of this writing. It is from a man who clearly believes and attests to the divine origin of his belief.

The idea that Jesus is central to eternal life is something which is very controversial today. Some Jesus-scoffers say that He never existed. Others deny that He made any claims beyond some ethical recommendations along traditional Jewish lines. Others claim his teaching was perverted and twisted by later followers who did not like women (or other assorted groups). Each special interest has its own theories. But the NT seems to portray some uniformity in its diversity. While the language and imagery is different, they all point in this same direction. The Son of God, Jesus, is life.

Our problem is we are too busy to let the words soak in. We "have miles to go before we sleep, and miles to go before we sleep." There is precious little time or energy to pause and look and ponder. Yet the words convey such a message that it seems foolish to allow anything else to take precedence. "Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life." How would our lives be ordered, how would our schedule be filled, how would our money be spent, with whom would we associate and for what reasons IF we took these words to heart? If we believed it true, how would we engage those around us? If there is no life outside of Jesus does that not mean this is a matter of life or death? And if a matter of life or death, eternal life or eternal death, ought it not occupy our minds and hearts and actions more energetically?