Anyone who loves their brother and sister lives in the light, and there is nothing in them to make them stumble. – 1 John 2:10

Today's Scripture Reading (May 23, 2021): 1 John 2

It is a car commercial, but the commercial never mentions the car, at least not verbally. You see pictures of the car about halfway through the advertisement, the name of the vehicle appears at the very end, but the words have nothing to with the automobile in question. Instead, the car manufacturer chose to run the words of Emmanuel Acho.

Because everything great is birthed through discovery, it's time to get uncomfortable … Once we get past our differences, that's when we find empathy because real empathy knows no age, no color, no gender. Real empathy says, "Hey. I see you, I feel you, I hear you, I understand you. I may not be you, but I love you. And that's what truly matters."

I love those last words. "Hey. I see you, I feel you, I hear you, I understand you. I may not be you, but I love you. And that's what truly matters."

John returns to his theme of walking and being in the light. And this time, he defines the idea of "light" a little further. Living in the light means loving our brothers and our sisters. And when we love, we are in the light, and then there is nothing hidden in the darkness that can make us stumble. But when we don't love, there is nothing to drive away the darkness.

Maybe the next question is, "who is our brother and sister?" And I think the answer, for Jesus, might be the same one that he gave to the expert in the law who asked, "who is my neighbor?" In his response, Jesus told the parable of the Good Samaritan. I think we sometimes miss the importance of this story because it is about a historical conflict. Samaritans mean nothing to us, but to Jesus's audience, they were both hated and feared. It would be like a modern Jew was rescued by a radicalized Muslim soldier or an LGBTQ activist being saved by a fundamental Christian believer. The Good Samaritan story is about opposites, whoever it is with whom you just can't imagine ever being on the same side. That person is your neighbor. And they are also your brothers and sisters.

Living in the light means loving them. It means getting to the point where we can sincerely say, "Hey. I see you, I feel you, I hear you, I understand you. I may not be you, but I love you." And our news broadcasts reveal how far we are away from that moment. This is about race, but at the same time, it is not just about race. It is about wherever we find division. Whenever we feel the need to exclude, we should hear the words of John, encouraging us that "anyone who loves their brother and sister lives in the light, and there is nothing in them to make them stumble."

Doesn't sin matter? Of course, it does, but the Christian way of confronting sin is always by loving those in darkness. There is nothing in the parable of the Good Samaritan that tells us that both of the people were good, other than the behavior of the Samaritan. But I don't think either the injured Jew or the helpful Samaritan were ever the same again. Now they were connected by a sacrificial act, and that act bridged the difference in belief.

We need to go out in the light and build those bridges, confronting sin by including those who believe differently in our world. And if we do that, we will change our world, and the light will spread.  

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: 1 John 3