Luke 7:34 says, “The Son of Man came eating and drinking.” Indeed, a major feature of Luke’s Gospel is that Jesus is usually going to a meal, at a meal, or coming from a meal. If you love to eat, Luke is your Gospel. But wait a minute. The meals of Jesus represent something bigger. They represent a new world, a new kingdom, a new outlook. But they also give that new reality substance. Jesus’s meals are not just symbols; they’re application. They’re not just pictures; they’re the real thing in miniature. They’re social occasions. They represent friendship, community, and welcome. In them Jesus shows us how to live, how to teach, and how to respond.
As we remember God’s promises fulfilled at Christmas, we are reminded of just how intensely the incarnation of Christ shook the world. The meaning of Christmas goes miles deeper than family traditions, pretty lights, and a chance to refresh your depleted stockpile of socks. Christmas means revolution. Christmas means miracle. Christmas means that God has come for us.
In this letter, John combats false teaching with absolutes: truth and lies, light and darkness, love and hate, sin and righteousness, Christ and antichrist. He shows the church how to tell if they are children of God and how to tell if a teacher is trying to deceive them.
This is a letter written from a wise and loving father to a troubled church. John writes to older men (“fathers”), young men, and children, but he addresses all of them as his “little children”—a term of endearment that a loving father would use for his child.
