There is Nothing Like Experiencing Something for Yourself

 

Ephesus, 2012

Listen to your life. All moments are key moments. - Frederick Buechner

Imagine that you are worshipping with a small community of Christians in Ephesus in about 90AD.  A few newcomers have joined you recently,  and you happily welcome them. 

But these newcomers begin to say that Jesus was not fully human and fully divine.  So maybe you begin to wonder about this too…

And then you receive a letter from John the Apostle:

From the very first day, we were there, taking it all in—we heard it with our own ears, saw it with our own eyes, verified it with our own hands. The Word of Life appeared right before our eyes; we saw it happen! And now we’re telling you in most sober prose that what we witnessed was, incredibly, this: The infinite Life of God himself took shape before us. We saw it, we heard it, and now we’re telling you so you can experience it along with us, this experience of communion with the Father and his Son, Jesus Christ. Our motive for writing is simply this: We want you to enjoy this, too. Your joy will double our joy! (MSG)

John has no doubt, does he?  He was there. He saw it with his own eyes.  There is nothing like experiencing something for yourself, is there?

1 John 1:1-4  NIVUK

That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched – this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us.  We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.  We write this to make our joy complete.