4/26 I John 3:1-7, Like 24:36-48

The line that jumped out at me for today was early in this chapter:” we shall be like Christ.” The fifty-cent word for this is theosis, that we will be made into the image of Christ, the image of the invisible God. We shall again be made in the image and likeness of god. (sanctification-participating in Christ-union in Christ, being godly) Calvin spoke of us being in christ, where we enjoy the benefits of Jesus Christ. Just as Christ is fully joined to humanity, we can be joined to the grace of God. Heim sees it as communion, as linkage of persons, a sharing of life, coming to an understanding of oneself and others. It has often troubled me that our notion of salvation is so negative, as in freedom from the punishment of sin. We do well to also emphasize the other side of the coin that salvation bends us toward communion with God through Jesus Christ. Our humanity will be energized through the transformed, resurrected life with the Risen One. Mick Saunders noticed the little word now in our discussion of the passage. We are children of God, now.We do not have to wait for heaven to claim that title.

To be like Jesus is to be first fully human. Luke goes to great lengths to show the humanity of Jesus remains after the resurrection, something Calvin emphasized more than most. He can still show them the wounds of a fully human death. He eats, something that ghosts do not do according to the beliefs of the time. Being human is physical and it is connected, as the disciples share food with him. He speaks and uses that precious human commodity, language. Do we speak in an Easter way? How do we employ the precious gift of speech? Part of our continuing to resemble Christ more fully will be our resemblance to his resurrected from, a form that will maintain our own memories and life as experienced. As it has been said, “we have a common vocation toward glory.” As children of god, we see a family resemblance in Jesus Christ.

Of course, to be human is to sin. Let’s interpret John’s words here as failing to be like Jesus. Jesus is fully aware of that in his last words in Luke. He urges repentance and forgiveness. Heim puts it well :”every wound to the social fabric of human relations is a rupture in the raw material of salvation.” (2004 TT:330). God is determined to bring the whole world together, fighting through all the obstacles of our stubborn insistence to not live as Christ. Still, sinning does not define us. We do not have to remain on Death Road but take the exit ramp back to Salvation Highway.

A good quick summary of Christian aspiration would be: we would like to be more like Jesus. Another summary is in the old catechism: “to know god and enjoy god forever.” The fundamental truth is to know god, to be truly human is the capacity to love. Our capacity to receive divine love can increase in this world. We can become god’s own gift of grace. We are meant for god; God has always wanted to be for us. God will elevate us to a closer life with God, here and in heaven. While we are here we have time-honored practices to notice the work of God in our lives. We all know them, prayer, Bible devotions, Communion. Those internal changes result in external changes. John knows well that we all talk a better game than we perform. They do not exist for us alone, but they move us out into life as it is lived. Reading of the Good Samaritan may result in acts of compassion. From the first works of growing into Christ, we start to live like Christ a bit more. It’s time to see ourselves as God’s own, and to treat others as a child of God.