Weekly Sermon

"Written in Red" : June 1, 2003

The Reverend Anne Benefield

I John 5:6-13

This is the one who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ, not with the water only but with the water and the blood. And the Spirit is the one that testifies, for the Spirit is the truth. There are three that testify: the Spirit and the water and the blood, and these three agree. If we receive human testimony, the testimony of God is greater; for this is the testimony of God that he has testified to his Son. Those who believe in the Son of God have the testimony in their hearts. Those who do not believe in the Son of God have made him a liar by not believing in the testimony that God has given concerning his Son.

And this is the testimony: God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.

Prayer: May the flame of your Spirit illuminate your eternal love given to us in our Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

Do you remember watching the nightly news with Walter Cronkite, John Chancellor and others before dinnertime? This evening ritual kept busy parents "current" with current events. But for young children and teenagers, the ritual practice of turning on "the news" was not very interesting. For us kids, watching white-haired talking heads give the news was kind of boring. Television and radio news has changed since then. To keep us tuned in, newscasters have adopted the motto: "If it bleeds, it leads." Television newscasts focus on the violence that scars our lives. At the same time, we are glued to television shows and movies about violent crime. I did a lot of running around this weekend. I noticed that everywhere I went there were TV sets turned to CNN for the waiting customers to watch. Friday night the coverage was all about Laci Peterson's family gathering some of her belongings from her home with her husband. I couldn't hear the newscast, but it went on and on. Then there was the news about the Atlanta bomber being caught. All day and all night you can find violence on TV.

I think it was last fall that I discovered CSI, a crime drama that runs on Friday nights. It is a top-rated show. I happened upon it and found myself drawn in. I watched it all the way through. I've always liked mysteries and this show presents a sophisticated mystery. It is well acted. I decided I would try to watch it again. I watched it two more times. Then a strange thing happened. I began having nightmares that resembled the scenes of violence on the show. What an eye opener that was! I realized that I was feeding my soul with violent images - a dangerous thing to do. I had another awakening about violence just the other day.

When Johnny was born we stopped watching the news whenever he was around, but I've never really worried about the radio. A few days ago, Johnny was sitting in our bedroom waiting for me to finish putting up the laundry. I had put on the radio while I was folding the clothes and didn't think anything of it when Johnny came into the room. I left him in the room while I put the clothes away. Suddenly, I heard him crying out, and I mean crying out, "Mommy, Mommy, turn it off! It's too scary. Turn it off." I came rushing back in the room and heard the end of some awful story about children dying at the hands of their father or mother. Indeed, I turned off the radio, but Johnny was already upset by it.

We are a culture soaked in blood. Life is terribly messy. Luckily for us, in his first letter, John refuses to clean up the messier moments that make up the whole of God's redeeming work through the Son. John declares that there are three witnesses to the truth about Jesus Christ's mission and identity - the water, the blood, and the Spirit. It takes the water of baptism, the blood of the Cross, and the wind of the Spirit to make clear God's intention for all believers - the gift of eternal life.

It took water, blood and wind to make the promise of eternal life a reality. God's testimony of love is written in red. The church must not sanitize the realness of sacrifice for the sake of being "politically correct." I have to admit, that I'd like to clean up the story a little. I'm not very comfortable talking about the blood of Christ, but in our blood-soaked culture, the blood and guts of Christ's loving sacrifice have never been so powerful and so pertinent. People are spiritually starved and frantically searching for any crumbs of hope and compassion. To those caught in the midst of this world's deepest troubles, the church has an answer as gritty and real as the nightly news. Christ knows about blood. Christ knows about death. Christ knows about violence. But Christ knows no defeat. Jesus Christ experienced pain, but through the cleansing, healing, transforming power of divine love, Jesus broke the hold of pain over humanity forever. Jesus' love for you and for me and for the world is "written in red."

In his letter, John says there are three witnesses to God's love in Jesus Christ: water, blood, and the Spirit. Water marked the beginning of Jesus' public ministry, the moment of his baptism. Blood, Jesus' own blood spilled on the cross, marked the completion of the historic incarnation with Jesus' death. The third witness, the Spirit is the witness bearer - the one who translates for us the meaning behind the water of baptism and the blood of crucifixion.

Let's talk about each witness. The witness of water is the cleansing, renewing, and growing power of God in Jesus Christ. Baptism often reminds us of the innocence of infants. At the same time baptism calls us to be the best people we can be - not just for ourselves and not just for God, but also for the infants. Being our best is a blessing and an inspiration to the children. A pig and a lamb were walking down a wet, muddy, slippery road. Both slipped and fell into a muddy ditch. The pig stayed there. The lamb got up, washed herself off, and went on her way. When Christians fall, we try to get back up - we don't just lay there! That's what it means to walk in the light as Christ is the light. The witness of the water is its cleansing power. The second witness is the blood. What is most frightening to me about the portrayal of violence in our culture is that the blood is spilled gratuitously. There is no redemption, but in the blood Christ shed for us there is redemption, there is eternal life. We need constant reminding of the love that is costly and sacrificial.

This spring, an article about a man named John Perry was published in Cornerstone, the magazine for the donors and friends of the Presbyterian Foundation. John Perry was a New York Police Officer who had a law degree and spoke several languages. He died on September 11, 2001, when the World Trade Center Buildings fell even though he wasn't supposed to be there. In August, 2001, he was offered a job using his law degree. He decided to retire from the police force. September 11th was the day he resigned. He completed his retirement papers and turned in his badge just as the first plane crashed into Tower One. When he heard what had happened, he asked for the return of his badge and bought an NYPD shirt, and headed out. He died helping people out of the North Tower, but his parents knew their son well enough to know he wouldn't want his life to end without reaching out. They set up a fund in his name to support ministry to children and youth. Few of us will have a story as dramatic or heroic as John Perry's, but there is much we can do to redeem the sacrifice of our Savior. Simple kindness, listening well, and paying attention are all ways of redeeming the love of Christ.

Fred Craddock tells a deceivingly simple story from his youth. He writes: "When I was a kid, I went to church with my mother, and the minister would speak to my mother, 'How're you, Miz Craddock?' and the five of us kids would go along like little ducks along after our mother. 'How're you, sonny? How're you, honey? How're you, sonny? How're you, honey?' "But I remember when another minister came to our church, and about his fifth or sixth Sunday when I went along there, he said, 'Fred, how're you doing?' He was the best minister that ever was at that church, because there's a big difference between 'sonny' and 'Fred.'" [Fred Craddock, Craddock Stories, (St. Louise: Chalice Press, 2001), 147.]

The third witness to Christ is the Spirit. The Spirit keeps our faith alive and vibrant. The Spirit opens us to the light of Christ. The Spirit reminds us that God's testimony is greater than ours, it is an eternal testimony. One of the provision in the will of Caruso, the great tenor, was that a huge candle should be constructed that would burn night and day for a hundred and fifty years. The Romans also had a practice of lighting up their tombs. There are several recorded instances of gigantic candles or lamps that were constructed in the tomb with a fuel reserve that would last for centuries. The tomb of Tullia, Cicero's daughter, was opened after fifteen hundred years and a tiny lamp was found still burning. We have always sought some form of immortality. However, John's letter tells us that such extremes are silly. It is God who gives us eternal life through his Son, Jesus Christ. He is the light that shines through the darkness, and that light will never be put out. The water of baptism, the blood of Christ, and the Spirit of the Lord are all witnesses to eternal life in our Savior.

Let us be renewed for life eternal at the Lord's Table. Amen.