Once I was in a restaurant and saw a big man walk in who was wearing a Dallas Cowboy football jersey with a familiar name written on the back. Assuming that he was a Dallas Cowboy, I walked over and said hello. When I asked him if he were a member of the team, he chuckled and said, “No, I bought this at a sporting goods store.” Since it became legal to reproduce team jerseys, anyone with a little money can suddenly become a “Dallas Cowboy” and wear the name of a famous athlete on his back. Enough money can buy us a uniform, but all the money in the world cannot make us an authentic member of the Dallas Cowboy football team.
The early Church ran into a similar problem. There were people walking around wearing “Jesus jerseys,” but who were not really members of his “team.” Was it enough to say “I know Jesus” to be an authentic Christian?
Let’s listen to what St. John had to say about this (1 John 2:3-11).
“The way we may be sure that we know Jesus is to keep his commandments. Whoever says, ‘I know him,’ but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps his word, the love of God is truly perfected in him.”
Knowing Jesus is in the “doing” more than in the “saying.” Just as it is difficult to be a member of a ball team in that rules and disciplines have to be followed, so it is difficult at times to keep the commandments that Jesus sets before us. St. John is straight forward about this. If someone says “I know Jesus” and does not do as Jesus expects of him, he is a “liar.” His insides do not match his outsides. Someone might go out for Jesus’ “team,” and even wear the team’s jersey for a while, but just getting started is not the same as having God’s love “perfected” in him.
“This is the way we may know that we are in union with him: whoever claims to abide in him ought to walk just as he walked.”
Someone once coined the term, “cafeteria Catholics.” These were people who wore Catholic “jerseys” then picked out those items about the Church that they liked, and ignored the ones they didn’t. When we decide which rules to keep, are we not pretending to be in charge of the team? We are “Lord” of our lives, instead of Jesus.
Our goal is to know Jesus and to be in union with him. With this in mind we, as dedicated team members, dedicate ourselves to walking just as Jesus walked. We try to be like him in all we do. And when we fall short, we repent, ask forgiveness, and try again.
Then John focused on “team rule” number one.
“Whoever loves his brother remains in the light, and there is nothing in him to cause a fall. Whoever hates his brother is in the darkness; he walks in darkness and does not know where he is going.”
If Jesus truly lives inside us, he gives us the power to love those he puts into our lives—even the ones who rub us the wrong way. What our natural selves cannot do, the power of the Holy Spirit within us can. When God’s love within us is able to reach out in love to someone we dislike, we have proof that we “know Jesus.”
“Announce his salvation day after day” (Ps 96:2).
