1 John 5:1-6

Easter 6 - Year B

1 John 5:1-6

All manner of a priori statements here. The biggest of them is that our faith is the source of victory. Somehow belief in Jesus as the preeminent one born of G*D trumps everything and is the answer to everything. Some preexistent truth that has been labeled Spirit, validates this. This puts the Spirit in the same position as a concierge who validates a parking token.

Can those who believe Jesus is related to G*D, believe also that everyone else is also so related? If they can, they are larger than belief, they are compassionate. If they can’t, they are smaller than the experience available to them, they are dogmatic.

Compare verses 6-8 from the NRSV with The Message:

“This is the one who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ, not with the water only but with the water and the blood. And the Spirit is the one that testifies, for the Spirit is the truth. There are three that testify: the Spirit and the water and the blood, and these three agree.” [NRSV}

“Jesus—the Divine Christ! He experienced a life-giving birth and a death-killing death. Not only birth from the womb, but baptismal birth of his ministry and sacrificial death. And all the while the Spirit is confirming the truth, the reality of God's presence at Jesus' baptism and crucifixion, bringing those occasions alive for us. A triple testimony: the Spirit, the Baptism, the Crucifixion. And the three in perfect agreement.” [Message]

Now, you try to put into words what these constructs do that a simple, “The Universe, G*D, if you will, engages life - respond”, does not do.

Might this quote attributed to Albert Einstein help us connect with a larger circle of Jesus’ birth and death as well as our own and others we relate with or are at odds with? - “We are part of the whole which we call the universe, but it is an optical delusion of our mind that we think we are separate. This separateness is like a prison for us. Our job is to widen the circle of our compassion so we feel connected with all people and situations.”