Adult Sunday School at Prescott
Tom Walsh
“That our joy may be complete”
November 19, 2009
Dear friends of the Adult Living New Testament Class at Prescott Church:
The above quotation is taken from the first chapter of the first of John’s three epistles, which we’re now studying. It’s the reason the Elder (as the aged author calls himself) was writing, according to I John 1:4. I hope as we go through these three little letters, our discussions — including the way we start each class by freely sharing the joys and concerns of our daily lives — will make more complete the joy of each of our lives. For surely God’s great gift of life, even with all its pitfalls and sorrows, is meant to be celebrated.
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We’ve had a number of wonderful visitors to our class recently – Marvin Crowell from our immediate neighborhood; his friend Jennifer Shannon; and Shirley Jefferson and Christopher Daniels, who are, respectively, the grandmother and father of Chris Daniels (12), one of our latest baptismal candidates.
If you haven’t been attending class lately, please consider rejoining us.
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By way of background, I, II and III John are called “catholic” (small “c”) epistles in the sense that “catholic” means “universal” or “general.” This refers to the fact that while they’re in the form of letters, they aren’t like Paul’s letters, for example. Neither their author nor their recipients are specifically identified. Their intended audience seems to be Christians in general rather than individual persons or congregations.
These three little epistles probably were aimed at Christians in a particular time and region, perhaps in the area that is now Turkey around the end of the first century AD. But their general nature makes it a little easier for us to envision that they are intended for us, Christians in Memphis nearly 2000 years later.
Other New Testament books in this “general” category are James, I and II Peter, and Jude.
Tradition has it that the “John” who wrote the Gospel of John (which we just finished) is the same person who wrote these three epistles, and that this “John” was the mysterious “disciple whom Jesus loved” referred to in John’s Gospel. If so, that would make him extremely old by the time he wrote these letters, which probably appeared around 100 AD. No one knows for sure. But because there are stylistic and thematic similarities between the Gospel of John and the letters of John, most scholars feel there is at least some connection. They could have all arisen out of the same Christian community, for example, one that had some original connection to the disciple John. Throughout these writings there are numerous references to direct eyewitness experience with the earthly Jesus, so this explanation makes sense.
We can look for clues and make educated guesses, but in any case “John” apparently didn’t feel it was important for us to know exactly who he was, because he didn’t bother to identify himself. For him, the message was the important thing, not the messenger. This notion would be consistent with the persona of a wise old man who feels comfortable calling his readers, affectionately, “my little children.”
Whoever he was, his purposes are clear. He wants to deepen the spiritual life of his readers. He also wants to correct the views of certain heretics who were around in his day. There were people at the time who taught that Jesus wasn’t a real flesh-and-blood human being but was just a divine spirit. “John” makes clear that Jesus was both divine and human (“the Word made Flesh,” as the Gospel puts it). He lived among us, John, says. We heard him. We saw him. We touched him. He experienced joy and pain, as we do. In fact he was the very essence of life. He came and showed us — didn’t just tell us, he showed us — how to live. It’s all about love.
Whew! Don’t get me started! Anyway, I hope you can be with us in the Sundays leading up to Thanksgiving and Christmas. This is a very special time of year, when we all need to remember what’s important.
See you soon!
Grace and Peace,
Tom Walsh
    
 www.fordharrison.com Thomas J. Walsh, Jr.
795 Ridge Lake Boulevard, Suite 300 Memphis, Tennessee 38120  |