V. 11 the Same Love for One Another: the More We Can Love Those We Don T Like - Who Have

B. 7th Sunday of Easter #2 1Jn 4: 11-16

Background

This reading continues last week’s selection. Vv. 11-12 continue the appeal to love one another. Vv. 13-16 summarize the grounds on which a person may be sure he or she is a Christian: 1) the indwelling of the Spirit; and 2) the belief that Jesus is the Son of God. The author develops the test of love as a sign we know God and live in union with him.

Text

v. 11 the same love for one another: The more we can love those we don’t like - who have characteristics which repel us - the more we can appreciate God loving us who have these same things in ourselves. He has loved us in such a way (as Paul would say, “while we were still sinners”) as to arouse wonder and adoration in us as we become more and more aware of the inexhaustible magnitude of his sacrificial giving (as Paul would say in Phil2: 7, “emptying himself”), we cannot but show this love to one another. The experience of this love generates more love, not for God, but for others whom God loves just as much and just as undeservedly as he loves us. This contemplative look at God reveals a triangle, a trinity, of relationships with God as the source and each person at the other angle and every other person at the third one.

v. 12 no one has ever seen God: OT theophanies were revelations either of God’s glory or “God-in-disguise”, e.g. an angel appearing as a man; they were not visions of God as he is in himself. God could be heard but not seen. Now, however, the unseen God reveals himself 1) in his Son, and 2) in his people loving his people. How? Through the Holy Spirit, the life force/energy/love of God circulating through his creation, stopped (or more correctly, temporarily stymied) only by sin or refusal to love.

if we love one another God dwells in us: Our love for one another is evidence of God’s indwelling presence. If we do not love others as God loves us, God does not remain in us. We disconnect the flow of God’s love, like pulling the plug on an extension cord.

his love is brought to perfection in us: God’s love for us is perfected, i.e., accomplishes its purpose, only when it is reproduced in us or “among us” in Christian fellowship and passed on through us to others.

vv. 13 -16: The ability to believe and the ability to love are alike attributable to the Holy Spirit. Thus belief and love are related both to the mission of the Son and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. In our fallen, unredeemed state we are both blind (unable to believe) and selfish (unable to love). So the tests of whether one is really Christian are multiple. One cannot say that simply because a person believes, or loves his or her fellows, or has charismatic experiences that he or she is a true Christian. It is the combination of these features in a harmonious unity that makes up true Christianity. The Christian reflects the Trinitarian nature of God in his fullness.

The metaphor, model, or image of the triangle or the circle for this reciprocity of relating to God, self and others should not be carried so far as to think that the reality actually is triangular or circular, i.e. mathematical. Like all metaphors they are put into service to help our human, earthbound minds better grasp the more-than-human, heavenly realities. It is really Trinitarian, a reflection of and expression of God, the ultimate in reality. We know that we live in God and God in us “because he has given us of his Spirit”(v.13), and we know that he has given us of his Spirit because we have come to “acknowledge that Jesus is the Son of God,” (v.15) and have come to live “in love” (v.16).

v. 13 he has given us of his Spirit: Here various experiences may be in mind, though none are spelled out. The author may be referring to confidence in prayer or the inward conviction that we are God’s children or various charismatic gifts or all of these. Any reference to the Spirit conjures up in the human mind the trinitarian reality of unity expressed in diversity. Thus, the external form of the presence of the one and only God will vary and vary greatly, but the internal essence of all of those diverse ways of being present is still one and the same God.

v. 14:the Father sent his Son: Note the Trinitarian reference. The test for the reality of the spiritual gifts is the same as Paul’s in 1Cor 12: 3: acknowledging that Jesus is the Son of God. Thus God has provided a twofold witness to Christ: that of the apostles, who witnessed to the historical Jesus whom they had seen and heard, and that of the Holy Spirit, who confirms their witness in the hearts of believers throughout history.

v. 15: The possibility of spiritual fellowship with God depends on the historical fact of the incarnation. The historical mission of Jesus is evidence as much of the Father’s love as of the Son’s deity.

v. 16:abides in love...in God in him: The love that is eternally in God and was historically manifested in Christ did not die when Jesus died and did not ascend into heaven when he did. It remained by virtue of the bestowal of his Spirit, who is simultaneously the Spirit of God. The only way to love and to believe is by living in God. It is the divine indwelling, however one expresses it, which makes both believing and loving possible. The author, in these verses, expresses it as the Holy Spirit. Without the Holy Spirit our minds are blind and our hearts selfish. The Spirit enlightens our minds to believe in Jesus Christ and melts our hearts to love God and each other. So believing and loving are evidence that the Holy Spirit is at work in us. Thus, it is not by loving that we come into fellowship with God. It is as a result of our fellowship with God that we love and live in love.

Reflection

Contemplation begins with the look, the stare, the staying and mentally standing in the Presence, the Mystery of Being, the Divine, the All. It is not only a look; it is also a loving look. While we detach, if only temporarily, from this world, we become involved in the eternal dimension. There is nothing to do or accomplish in the eternal mode of being, yet it is not merely staring at it. It is entrance into a realm not ordinarily or even easily experienced as we live in time. It does not so much take effort, though a determined will is necessary, as it takes love. Paying attention to love, staring at and into love transports us into its realm. So, it is a grace, not an effort, but a grace that requires we be aware of. God graces us whether we are aware or not, but when we are aware of grace, in all its diverse forms, our enjoyment of life is significantly enhanced increasing our personal knowledge of grace itself. Our inspired author has been contemplating the love of God and for several verses has shared his insights with us. That helps us to enter into the same realm. Like him, we bask in the love, in the sheer being and presence of God.

But now the author takes that heightened awareness and uses it as a light to look at another dimension of reality, earth. If what he sees in his heavenly stare and stance is true, then what he sees on earth, in his this-worldly life, needs to change, if it is it conform to and reflect the really real, reality as God determines it to be. He, like all Christians, takes up the challenge, the mission of Christ himself, the challenge to bring out in this world the hidden presence of God, to consecrate or re-consecrate all things and people to God. He seeks to move from things as they are in the heavenly vision to things as they are on the earthly plane. He sees the difference and then uses that light to figure out how to move from things as they are on earth to things as they ought to be, given the heavenly reality. Christians call this kind of prayer “meditation.” It is ruminating before the moments, the monuments, the mysteries of magnificence no longer to enjoy them but to apply them to earth and to change earth and make it consistent with heaven (“Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”).

Thus, the author speaks of love, the infusion (thanks to the Holy Spirit) of God’s very essence back into the consciousness of humans and from there into their behavior towards other humans. God, of course, is always there. So, love is always there. It just does humans no good until it is recognized for who and what it is. God’s grace, his love, is always offered, but it cannot be accepted willingly by humans until they realize the offer is being made and divine it within the otherwise hidden ways it is made. God does not shove himself down our throats, even though he made both our throats and us. Love is not like that. It does not force. It entices. It persuades. When accepted, it embraces and merges, but it does not force.

So, the author has moved from contemplation to meditation, to a game plan for how we all might serve God and his purposes. It’s both simple and profound. It amounts to imitating God’s behavior and the attitude his behavior reveals. It amounts to love. Because God behaves in a variety (a trinity) of ways, our plan is not a rigid or lockstep one. It is as flexible and spontaneous as God is. Yet, it is not directionless. It is a plan. Mistakes need to be corrected. Enthusiasm to remain faithful to the plan needs to be generated and regenerated. And now comes the really, really good news. Humans do not have to execute the plan on their own power. God’s Spirit, dwelling within us, will do that. But here is the hitch: only spiritual behavior activates the Spirit’s power. God’s Spirit is, of course, self-generating, but if humans want to experience God’s love/energy/life, they do have to turn on the switch, to say yes and mean it.

To move from things as they really are in God’s eyes (and will be in our own eyes some day in the Parousia) to things as they ought to be here on earth requires that we all love as God loves and love because God has first loved us. Put that way, it sounds and seems simple and it is. However, add sin and free will to the mix and we all know what the result has been. Without the contemplative look into God’s love we can easily get discouraged. Contemplation is no luxury. It is a necessity and open to all.

Key Notions

The love God commands that we have for one another is not just a warm feeling.
We can only love as God commands because he has given us his love to do it with.
It is active awareness of the love of God that taps his power enabling us to love one another.

Food For Thought

Repetition: The author of 1Jn may seem by now to have become repetitious. He is repeating the same idea over and again regarding the love of God and our love for one another. However, contemplation is like that. The heightened awareness that is produced by the long, loving stare does not want to leave the experience. So, to an outsider the words seem merely repetitive. But what is really happening is similar to the mantra of eastern meditation. It deepens the experience and imprints it on the consciousness so that it is not so easily dislodged when the first this-worldly distraction comes along. And when distraction wins out, it is more easily retrieved as a result of concentrated repetition.
Practical results: Even though contemplation has no express purpose other than the mere experiencing and enjoyment of otherwise inaccessible reality, it does have practical consequences. Just like a steady, constant healthy diet contributes to energy level and productive output, so too contemplation contributes to loving others. The very awareness, lively and constant awareness (and awareness is really “practical” and instantaneous contemplation) that we are loved by God changes our being. We become energized, not necessarily by the fact of God’s love, for God loves us whether we are aware of it or not. It is the awareness, the realization that energizes us. We simply want to express it in praise and thanks and share it in favoring and forgiving others. It flows into and out of us gracefully. Without that empowering awareness the command to love others seems either impossible or simply drudgery, too much for one person to do. With that awareness it seems unthinkable that we would or could be otherwise. Our resolutions to change do not change us (though they play a role). Our realization that we are loved by God changes us. Contemplation, unlike eastern meditation, is no escape from reality, but a deeper entrance into it, an embrace of it, a drink from it and the energy source to effect positive changes in one’s self, others and the world. From a commercial point of view contemplation may well seem to be a waste of time. From a Christian point of view it is not only time well spent, but, paradoxically, also an investment (to use a commercial term) in eternity.
Seeing God: Like the mystic, the contemplator cannot tell others what he or she sees, for there is nothing to visibly or physically see. That’s why in v. 12 the author seems to digress when he remarks that “no one has ever seen God.” He does not wish to mislead. Rather than “see,” the better term is “acknowledge” (v. 15). Contemplative “vision” is the recognition or acknowledgment of what is. It is not new or additional knowledge reserved only for the contemplator or chosen few. It is simply expanded or heightened awareness, sometimes sustained over a period of time, sometimes intermittent, rarely immediate or unmediated, usually mediated through some specific reality.