Third Sunday of Easter, Year B, Second Reading (1 John 2:1-5)

You can find a commentary on this Sunday’s gospel at https://biblestudystjosephsparis.wordpress.com/2021/04/17/third-sunday-of-lent-year-b-luke-24-35-48/

My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. ² He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world. ³ We know that we have come to know him if we keep his commands. ⁴ Whoever says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in that person. ⁵ But if anyone obeys his word, love for God is truly made complete in them.

In the second reading, the reflection on Christ’s sacrifice is once again proclaimed. This passage begins by closely echoing the gospel of John which writes of the Paraclete or Advocate, as it is also translated. This word is only found in the fourth gospel and in this letter. It literally means advocate, a person who defends in court someone who has been accused of a crime. The Paraclete thus defends the faithful from sin and is generally associated with the Holy Spirit who operates in the world between Pentecost and the Second Coming. However, here John associates him with Jesus. The author sees Jesus as pleading for all those who sin (which, of course, means everyone).

Although in John’s gospel there are only two times when the death of Jesus is linked to the forgiveness of sins, the early Church associated it with the atonement. In some way we cannot comprehend, Jesus atoned for all of our sins, the sins of the whole world, through his death. But this is not the main focus John puts on the crucifixion in his gospel. There he stresses that the cross is the place where God’s love becomes known (15:13). It is also where Jesus establishes his community, the Church (19:25-27) and where he bestows the Spirit on the world (19:30).

What does the atonement mean? Traditionally, Christian scholars have understood the atonement to mean that Jesus’ sacrifice appeased God’s righteous anger at sin. But here, John stresses that, as Francis Maloney puts it: “Jesus’ self-gift in unconditional obedience and love to death lays bare the reality of our sin, selfishness and disobedience”. We must be very careful not to focus on the idea of the atonement as something decreed by a cold distant judge demanding punishment. Richard Rohr has written that we must see “a revelation of the infinite love of the Trinity, not some bloody transaction ‘required’ by God’s offended justice in order to rectify the problem of human sin.” The atonement is ultimately about God’s great love for us.

The world is also a significant term in John’s writings where it is seen as under the power of the Evil One and its values presented as immoral. For this reason it hates the Son and all children of God but in spite of this, the Father sent the Son to save all the world (and John is very clear: it is all the world). We overcome the world by following Christ and living in love. The presence of a loving Christian community gives hope that the Evil One can be overcome and that the world will come to believe. And we must never forget that while Death still reigns here, Christ has ultimately defeated it.

In verse three, John tells us that the only way to know God is to obey his commandments. To gain eternal life we must know God, and this can only be done through Jesus. But then, as now, some Christians have misunderstood what this means. In John’s gospel, two specific commandments are given: believe in God and love one another as Jesus has loved us. Jesus’ earthly life revealed to us that God is love.

We face many questions today that are often difficult to judge (euthanasia, divorce and remarriage, homosexuality, abortion, etc). The author’s response is an old command and yet an eternally new one: we must love each other. Therefore, to obey God’s command means we must love each other as Jesus did. We must not spread anger or division or generate hatred. If we behave this way we are walking in darkness.