Horse Backwash

Greeting cards have sentimentalized the idea that God is light. But in John's telling, God's light is uncompromising holiness. The Greek gods were easier to understand: Zeus cheated on Hera, Dionysus drank too much, and Athena was vain. John slept next to Jesus for three years and still claims he never saw him fail. There were no convenient lies, hidden greed, or private indulgences. My initial response to this is fear: how can I have anything to do with a perfect God? If my sins were broadcast online, I would be mortified. John was writing to a church that was grieving the loss of dear friends. These former church members had claimed to have superior knowledge of God and a holier lifestyle, and so they'd walked out on the struggling Christians who remained. But what was the secret to their moral purity? John gives us the dirty secret: they'd stopped admitting they had any sin. They'd made themselves the light. And once you pretend to be a special kind of Christian, you can't afford to be honest. Confessing your sin would threaten your identity and status, so you lie. This makes it hard to have friends because when you stop admitting your struggles, everyone around you does too. In the absence of vulnerability, all we're left with are pretend relationships. So, John tells those who stayed what it means to walk in the light. It isn't pretending to be righteous, but no longer hiding. It's impossible to get clean and then impress God. The only truth we can tell is the gritty details. We're expecting to be judged, but John promises that "The blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin." John says this is how you can tell the difference between true Christians and pretenders. The fake ones are lying about their sin to themselves, God, and everyone else. So when they are invited into fellowship, they inevitably run away. The truth would replace their pride with humility, and that's an unbearably low position. But when you know that Jesus is not only perfect but also forgiving, you run to him and his people. As his blood cleanses us from sin, we want to share our story with everyone else who is being made new. His grace is what helps us stop hiding in the darkness and start standing together in confession and worship.