Friday, February 24, 2017

The Liar

Today is the Feast of St. Matthias. At Morning Prayer, the second reading was 1 John 2:18-25. First John has some of the greatest verses on love in the whole Bible. Many Christians load up on them as their starting place for understanding God and the Christian life. However, the author is also big on sin and truth. He tends to see things as either/or and divide people into groups. Whatever else he means by love is, it isn't nice or sweet. It is difficult reading, but worth the effort.

Maybe you have noticed lately the raging debates about truth telling. We are bombarded day and night: Trump is a Liar. The Democrats are liars. Republicans are liars. The media is liars. The global warming group is liars. The deniers are liars. In fact, about the only thing Americans seem to agree on is that there is endless truth twisting and lying. Who is the liar, however, gets folks talking real ugly.

Today, 1 John 2:22 answers the question. John has made an interesting claim just before this, "As you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come." This is interesting on many levels. First, the plural indicates that there will not be just one "Anti-Christ." Second, the fact that before the end of the first Century an inspired Christian author declared that "it is the last hour" and "many antichrists have come" means that we might need to rethink our theology on "the end" as well. The antichrists may very well populate every age, and it may be that is what 1 John is trying to help us see.

1 John says, "Who is the liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son. No one who denies the Son has the Father; everyone who confesses the Son has the Father also." There you have it--that is the Liar. It is the liar that many Christians do not worry about, especially as they preach "love, love, love." It is the liar which matters most, even more than politics and global warming. Sadly, I think words are considered hate speech by many in our church and even more in our society. I believe that those who accept these words (always in the larger context of the message of Scripture) as true will be viewed as dangerous. Jesus is the human face of God and His presence requires a choice. That should unite us as Christians even as we argue politics.

Who is the liar? Antichrist.
Who is antichrist? The one who denies Jesus.
Lord I/we do believe, save us from unbelief.
Lord Jesus, Son of God have mercy on me/us, for we are sinners.

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