The letter we heard tonight has a severely somber tone, and yet it’s written in a hopeful, encouraging manner. I had mentioned on Ash Wednesday that some suggest that the three letters of John were sent together to a congregation, with Second John being a cover letter, First John a sermon to the congregation, and Third John a private letter to someone in the congregation. So, perhaps Second John should be First John and First John should be Second John.

Of course, this is a theory but it does make a lot of sense to me. Unlike First John, which dives right into the theme, Second John contains opening and closing greetings. It also very quickly seems to introduce the problem that is corrected in First John. So, in terms of preaching prep, I’ve more or less considered it from that angle.

John opens this letter by referring to himself as “the elder.” The meaning of this word can get confusing, so let’s walk through it. Most broadly speaking, an elder is considered an older, wiser person. In our congregation and in many congregations of the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, an elder is an elected position that assists the pastor in spiritual matters. What the Bible calls deacons, we call elders. I’m not really sure about the reason. In the Bible, elder is one of the words used for the position of pastor. Even though John is an apostle, he refers to himself as an elder. He doesn’t pull rank, because he wants the congregation to know this is a pastoral letter.

John writes to the elect lady and her children. This is such a beautiful way of writing about the Church. The whole Christian Church is first and foremost the elect lady, also known as the chosen lady. The lady Church is chosen by the Lord Jesus Christ to be His bride.

You’re probably familiar with phrases you’ve heard either from European royalty or medieval history such as lords and ladies. In the very familiar song, there are nine ladies dancing and ten lords a-leaping. The point being, the title of lord and lady are synonymous. A lady is a female lord. Lord in Greek is “kyrios.” Lady in Greek is “kyria.” It’s the same word. One is masculine and one is feminine. So, for John to say that the Church is the elect lady means that Christ has chosen her and established a one flesh union with her as husband and wife.

Another manner of speech Scripture uses for us as believers is children of God. The heavenly Father is our Father, Jesus is our Brother, and in this sense the Church is the mother. We are the children of God, kept safe and secure in the bosom of our mother, the Church, where the Word is rightly preached and the Sacraments of Baptism and Holy Communion rightly administered. Think about it this way, collectively we are the bride of Christ, the elect lady. Individually we’re children of God, members of God’s household, and children of the elect lady.

As part of the family of God, John loves the lady and her children. He loves his fellow Christians. John can’t be alone, because all who have been brought to believe the truth that Jesus is the Redeemer also will love their fellow believers. It’s a key component to knowing and being in the truth who is Christ the eternal Lord, who promises never to leave or forsake us.

John’s greeting is more than a greeting, but it evokes a blessing that the heavenly Father’s and Jesus’ grace, mercy, and peace are with us in truth and in love, because Christ Jesus died for our sins and overcame death and the grave.

St. John says he rejoiced greatly when he learned that some of the elect lady’s children are “walking in the truth, just as we were commanded by the Father.” I hear that, and maybe it’s the pessimistic side of me, but that doesn’t sound too good. John essentially says only some are still believers, but he rejoices for two reasons. First, the entire congregation didn’t walk away from the truth of Christ Jesus. Secondly, a characteristic of God is to rejoice even when one sinner walks in the truth, and so John follows that example by rejoicing that there is a congregation of God’s children.

 In the midst of that rejoicing, the elect lady’s children of that congregation—and all congregations including ours—is exhorted and encouraged to “love one another.” Christian brotherly and sisterly love is one of the defining characteristics that distinguishes us from the world. One of the early Church fathers, named Tertullian remarked that even Roman pagans were impressed by Christian behavior as they declared, “See how they love one another.” Does this still hold true? Can pagan Americans look at the Christian church, can pagans in and around Backus look at Emmanuel Lutheran Church and say, “See how they love one another”?

Love is not just a command for the Christian to follow, but it is a way of life. It’s a way of cherishing the Lord’s expectations as revealed in the Law and Gospel of His Word that we cherish so dearly. Do we walk in the Lord’s desires, loving one another?

Again, the temptation is to hear all of that as purely dos and don’ts. The Law is there. God commands us to love each other in our various roles and responsibilities. Love requires sacrifice, and as the song puts it, “love hurts.”  But the ability, willingness, and desire to love one another—to lay down our lives for each other—comes the Gospel, the Good News of Jesus. Christ Jesus first loved us to the point that “He laid down His life for us” in sacrifice upon the cross.

John stresses in Second John, as He does in First John, that everything pertaining to the faith must begin with the confession of Jesus—that He is God’s Son having come in the flesh, having died for our sins, and having been raised from the dead, that to know the Father means knowing Jesus in truth. One cannot do as the false teacher Cerinthus did, and harass the elect lady and her children and deny the humanity of God’s Son Jesus. You can’t deny that God’s Son Jesus was born of Mary. You can’t deny that God’s Son Jesus died upon the cross and was raised. You can’t deny either of these and still be a Christian. Yet, Cerinthus and his followers spread these false teachings, and drew many Christians away to believe the anti-Christian lies and deceptions.

St. John laments these deceivers and antichrists who denied “the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh,” because they didn’t try to infiltrate the congregation from the world. Instead, they spread false teachings in the congregation first and then they brought their lies to the world.

I can sense the earnest plea going through John’s mind, possibly from John’s lips, as he writes the words: “Watch yourselves, so that you may not lose what we have worked for, but may win a full reward.” In so many ways, what John has heard is happening in the congregation is one of a pastor’s biggest fears: to have God’s people you’ve been called to feed and care for spiritually as a shepherd walk away from it all, chase a religious lie, chase the world, or chase the evil desires of the sinful heart. These things do happen, and when they happen the reward of eternal life gets tossed aside. So, the admonition is for you and me to be watchful lest it happen to us as it’s happened to others. The watchfulness is keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus, His forgiveness and salvation, and what He desires from us as His people.

Toward the last part of this letter, John seems perhaps overly harsh to our perhaps less than watchful ears, and so we ought to remember that this is the disciple of Jesus who stresses repeatedly the expectation of Jesus, that we “love one another.”

John urges that someone who once believed the truth of Christ, holding to His Word, confessing the faith in Christ Jesus, but now doesn’t and denies the true teaching, that person doesn’t have the true and only God in any way, shape, or form. He or she shouldn’t be allowed into worship (which during John’s lifetime was often held in houses), and he or she shouldn’t be greeted as a brother or sister in Christ, because it would be a lie. To greet him or her as if believing would be to participate in their unbelief. It tells the world that there’s no difference between true belief in the true Jesus Christ and false belief in a false christ. These are things that we should carefully think about today as the children of God.

The apostle John has much more to say than he has written. And so, he looks forward to a face-to-face meeting with the faithful of this congregation. John wants to spend time in personal interaction with his brothers and sisters in Christ, so that they can clear the air, discussing any issues. Doing so face-to-face helps eliminate misunderstanding. Also, John would genuinely enjoy visiting his brothers and sisters in Christ. There are multiple reasons we gather together in social settings. In our “social media” era that honestly should really be named “antisocial media,” it’s important to know that things like gathering together with our God as a congregation, husband and wife date nights, hanging with friends, etc., these face-to-face interactions can be very healthy and even affect the chemicals in our bodies in positive ways. It’s part of how the Lord wired us. And so, John looks forward to the mutual joy of spending time with these fellow believers. Amen.