'That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched - this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you may also have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. We write this to make our joy complete.' (1 Jn 1.1-4; NIV)
This morning this passage spoke to me as never before. Both John the Gospel and John the epistles have been accused by liberal scholars of presenting the unhistorical Jesus. My reading on the passage leads to a different direction. John wrote about someone he knew well. He (and people around him; 'we' is used here) has seen him, heard his teaching and touched him. The language of this passage is very vivid. Jesus, the Son of God was a real human in his appearance two thousand years ago. The focus of the humanness of Jesus points to his real presence with John and other believers. For John, Jesus was not simply an abstract spiritual ideology. The fellowship between the believers and Jesus was something that is perceivable by the human senses. John's motivation in sharing this encounter with Jesus is singled out in verse three. John invited people to join the real fellowship with Jesus and his Father.
Two sets of simple reflective questions came to me this morning: First, do we now as Christians still experience the real perceivable fellowship with Jesus? Is our faith in Jesus genuine or theoretical based on 'secondary resources'? The word 'faith' is not the same with the word 'experience.' Faith without genuine 'experience' however is abstract, meaningless, and fruitless. The next question would be whether our life experiences will still attract people to trust their lives in God? I am indeed afraid that many Christians are even no longer impressed with and interested in their own lives. The presence of Jesus is no longer felt in the lives of so many believers. If this is the case, how can we expect people to trust their lives in Jesus?
Second, how deep is our desire to share our encounter with Jesus with other people? Does sharing Jesus with others occupy prominent place in our lives? What is our highest or deepest life's motivation? The first epistle of John was written with a single motivation: it is to share Jesus, the divine Son of God whose presence is real historically and perceivable to human beings.
As I finished reading and reflecting the passage above, I said to God in my prayer, 'Amen! I thank you Lord, for being real in my life.' Imitating John, allow me to invite us all not only to know God theologically, but also to experience him genuinely and personally in our lives.
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