Meditation 269
1 John 3: 1-7
This passage opens with comforting words, “See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God.” What better thing is there than to be a child of God? To be sure that God’s everlasting arms are holding you, to be confident that God will lead you each day. This promise has been in place for those who are loved by God for all time, including our time.
1 John was written to a community of faith that had been torn apart by false teaching. It may have been that those who left the community of faith had suggested that those who remained were not true believers, that somehow they were not protected by God’s love. It would be heart breaking enough to have a rent in the fabric of the church community, and then to have one’s faith questioned would be a further heart break. Into this sadness the writer of 1 John lovingly reminds the people that they are called children of God. The world, those outside the faith community, will not recognize children of God as such, because they cannot. Those who do not know God are not able to recognize the characteristics of the children of God.
This passage goes on to say that when God is revealed that we will be like God and that no one who abides in God sins. There is a transformation of the one who trusts in God. God’s love makes us into more than we are able to be on our own. The reality of life shows us that while we may always count on God’s love for us and God’s presence in our lives, we are not able to perfectly live that out. In spite of that we are able to show God’s righteousness when we do good things. When we are in the midst of human need we are enabled by God to do good things.
One way of thinking of how God’s love transforms us is to think of God as our friend, as Dana L. Robert reminds us in her book, Faithful Friendships: Embracing Diversity in Christian Community. She tells of how friendship with God is shown in both our personal lives and our lives in community. A stirring example she gives of one whose friendship with Jesus was displayed was the Reverend Dr. Margaret Moshoeshoe Montjane was an Anglican chaplain at the huge Baragwanath Hospital in the South African township of Soweto. Margaret was at the hospital when Chris Hani, leader of the South African Communist Party was assassinated in 1993. Riots sprung up throughout South Africa, and Nelson Mandela was barely able to keep a lid on the country. Angry young men surged into the Baragwanath Hospital with their wounded friends. “Margaret used all her authority to avert rioting in the hospital, ordering the rioters to sit down and treat the hospital with respect. When [she was asked how she was coping] She answered, “Without Jesus, I couldn’t get through the day.”. . . [Her friendship with Jesus helped her support the community through crisis.]” (Richard Rohr Meditation: A Friendship With Jesus. Center for Action and Contemplation)