The Seventh Sunday of Easter
1 John 5:9-13
In the 2006 comedy Talladega Nights, Will Ferrell plays a NASCAR driver named Ricky Bobby.
Ricky is the all-American man, complete with fast food sponsorships and children named Walker and Texas Ranger. And like any good American, he says grace before meals to thank the good Lord for his many blessings except that his prayer is not quite what you’d expect.
Instead of saying something like “bless this food to our use, and us to thy service,” Ricky begins to wax eloquent – giving his own reflection on Jesus and decides that he wants to pray to baby Jesus this time:
“Dear Baby Jesus…we thank you so much for this bountiful harvest of Domino’s, KFC, and the always delicious Taco Bell…”
After allowing this to go on for several minutes, his wife finally chimes in and says, “Um…you know sweetie, Jesus did grow up. You don’t always have to call him a baby. It’s a bit odd to pray to a baby.”
“Well look,” Ricky replies, “I like Christmas Jesus best when I’m saying grace.”
“When you say grace, you can say it to grown-up Jesus, or teenage Jesus, or bearded Jesus, or whoever you want.”
Now the conversation in the film only goes downhill from there, but the point is incredibly relevant. It’s very tempting to create a Jesus of our own imagination. Much of what passes as Christianity in the United States is what I like to call Ricky Bobby Theology:
It gives us a certain vision of Jesus. A tame, domesticated Jesus. One who pats us on the back. Maybe a life-coach who helps us reach our goals, or a gentle Jesus, meek and mild who is sweet to think about when we need him, but who will leave us alone the rest of the time.
Like Ricky Bobby, the temptation is for us to believe in a Jesus we have made up.
In the Epistle lesson for this morning, St John makes a claim about who Jesus is. Rather than depending on our own nice thoughts about Jesus, St. John points to the testimony concerning Jesus. Now a testimony is something we usually associate with a court of law. A spoken or written statement given by a witness. A testimony claims that something is true, or is not true, and the witness swears under oath, to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Witnesses in court cases, while imperfect, are usually trustworthy. Eye witnesses are even more so, since they saw something happen first hand.
St. Peter says something similar when making his case for the identity of Jesus: “For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty.”
So, St. John begins by arguing from the lesser to the greater. If we can believe a human testimony, he says, how much more, can we trust the testimony of God concerning Jesus? Of course, the answer is: a lot more. John’s whole letter has been making a case for the identity of Jesus. He first began with human testimony, and in today’s reading he is discussing God’s testimony, the most trustworthy witness to the identity of Jesus
So, what is the testimony of God concerning his Son? St. John tells us: 11 And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.
This eternal life is not some vague spiritual idea but based on the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Eternal life is sometimes used to mean going to heaven when you die. And while that’s not necessarily wrong it means something much more. Eternal life is about abundant, full life. Literally, eternal life means to share in the life of God who is the source of life. God has freely shared his life through his Son Jesus.
St. John tells us: He who has the Son has life; he who has not the Son of God has not life.
That’s the whole reason St. John is writing his letter: in order to bear witness to the eternal life available through Jesus Christ. He goes on: I write this to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life.
St. John wants to bring consolation and comfort to Christians who may doubt God’s love for them.
Belief can be shaky, it’s easy to get tossed by the winds and waves of life but St. John writes that you may know. He wants us to be assured of God’s love for us, to believe the testimony of God and not to follow some cleverly devised myth. Not our own personal Jesus because the Jesus of one’s own imagination cannot save you but rather the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, of one Being with the Father. Only that Jesus has eternal life.
Like Ricky Bobby, the temptation is for us to believe in a Jesus we have made up. Whether it’s the Jesus of our political party, Jesus as life coach, or even baby Jesus there’s something freeing about trusting in the real Jesus, who is better than anything we could have imagined. One of the best illustrations for this comes from C.S. Lewis’ the Chronicles of Narnia in a conversation between Susan and Mr. Beaver:
“‘Aslan is a lion- the Lion, the great Lion,’ said Mr. Beaver.
‘Ooh’ said Susan. ‘I’d thought he was a man. Is he quite safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion…’
‘Safe?’ … ’Who said anything about safe? ‘Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King, I tell you.’”
Like the great Lion Aslan, Jesus cannot be domesticated or tamed but he is the only source of Eternal Life. The real Jesus isn’t safe, but he’s good.
Sermon preached by Deacon David M. Svihel
Church of the Redeemer
Sarasota, Florida
7th Sunday of Easter
May 16, 2021