John 1:9-13 (NIV) 9The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world. 10He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. 11He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 12Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— 13children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God.
I John 3:1-3a (RSV) See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God's children now; it does not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.
John tells us what we can be sure of, and what we need to be uncertain about. And he invites us to try out this truth in our daily life. Beloved, we are God's children now. See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God. That is what we know. In Jesus, God calls us into a relationship where we know we have become children of God, and we know we are the beloved on whom God’s favor rests. We live with a sense of belonging to God and receive parental care and parental direction from God.
God comes among us in the Cross of Jesus Christ, watches the cruel crucifixion and allows it that we might see what love the Father has for us. There is a difference between the bland statement that we are all God’s children and the awesome awareness of, literally, see what love the Father has given us.
John wants us to have a deep certainty that we are God’s children now, because it helps us live with the uncertainty that it does not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. We know who we are. What we do not know is the kind of person God is going to mold us into, except that it will be something like Jesus.
This confronts arrogant assumptions like “she will never change,” “there is a loser,” “he is not going to do well,” and even the self-inflicted “I will never change so leave me alone.”
Ever since we stood in front of the empty tomb we do not know how God will invade our tomorrows. We do not know what God’s interventions will be. Amid all the voices of assumed certainty comes the clear uncertainty of not knowing what we shall be, except we are moving toward becoming like Jesus.
From a sermon preached by Henry Dobbs Pope April 13, 1997
© Rhonda Hinkle Mitchell Broyles
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