Love and Light ~ Meditation

1 John 2:7-11

7Dear friends, I am not writing you a new command but an old one, which you have had since the beginning. This old command is the message you have heard. ⁸ Yet I am writing you a new command; its truth is seen in him and in you, because the darkness is passing and the true light is already shining.

⁹ Those who claim to be in the light but hate a fellow believer are still in the darkness. ¹⁰ Those who love their fellow believers live in the light, and there is nothing in them to make them stumble. ¹¹ But those who hate a fellow believer are in the darkness and walk around in the darkness; they do not know where they are going, because the darkness has blinded them.

Meditation:

The old command had been given through Moses: to love God with all your heart, soul, and strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself. Unfortunately loving your neighbor as yourself translated into a metered love. For example a Jewish commentator quotes Rabbi Akiva as saying “you should love your neighbor as yourself, not more than yourself.” So John reminds us of the new spin on the old command with a new twist. In other words, Moses said it, then Jesus said it, then Jesus died and resurrected, and now John in light of all that is renewing the command in light of Jesus ministry.

“its truth is seen in him and in you, because the darkness is passing and the true light is already shining.”

Vision seems to be the key in these verses. John points to the truth of love seen in Christ as the ultimate example. He must be referring to the way He laid down His life for His friends and did not have an ounce of anger or hate. Jesus was and is the ultimate example of love. He speaks of how this revolutionary love is breaking forth into this world of darkness.

By the projection of his words, John makes us aware that this world is so dark that we can be deceived into hating one another. He then explains that as we are lured into any amount of hate, all that we see and do will be effected by it. I’m reminded of how Jesus said, a little leaven works through the whole batch of dough. These are the stark terms John is speaking in; either we walk in light or in darkness.

When we take on this idea of our actions effecting our vision I am reminded of what Jesus said in Matt 7:1-5.

¹“Do not judge, or you too will be judged. ²For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. ³“Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? ⁴How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? ⁵You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.

But this idea of love seems intangible. It seems like love is a fuzzy feeling, not something we can manage ourselves. I would be willing to challenge that, it seems to me that it’s our chosen actions that enforce or hinder love. We can choose to give someone a glass of water, an encouraging word, or a helping hand that can put flesh on the bones of love. Inversely we can gossip, disrespect, or withhold kind words to foster hate.

In light of the strong “either or” language it seems that Love is the only choice we have. To choose not to love is to hate. To choose not to love is to choose to walk in pitch black darkness.

God is Love, God is the Light, God is the Judge. Love others and let God sort em out.

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