He Who Has the Son Has Life

“He who has the Son has life; He who does not have the Son of God does not have life.” 1 John 5: 12

It all comes down to this. This is the line in the sand that God’s truth draws. What do you think about the Son of God? Do you have Jesus?
To the faithful, these words of John the Apostle make perfect sense. To have the Son is to have life lived to the full. And the converse is also true: those who do not have the Son do not have life. Oh, they may be alive. But they do not possess the kind of life that John is talking about. They may be breathing, walking, talking, sleeping, consuming, and so on, but that’s not the kind of life John is talking about. John is talking about life that springs from a connection with Jesus; a life of service that is deeply meaningful; a life that unafraid of death. Life joined to Jesus, the Son. He who does not have the Son doesn’t have any of these.
It all comes down to this: “He Who Has the Son Has Life; He who does not have the Son does not have life.” This is Christian truth at its most straightforward, and it either makes a person rejoice or curse. Take for instance, one of our culture’s preeminent daytime talk show hostesses. Just this week I watched a portion of an episode in which she used her microphone to declare, with utter conviction, that Jesus cannot be the only way to God. When a Christian woman in the audience refers to Jesus as the way, the truth, and the life, she vehemently disagrees and ultimately shuts the dialogue down. “He who has the Son has life; He who does not have the Son of God does not have life” is not allowed on this program. If the apostle John were her guest, he would have a battle on his hands. Something tells me the footage wouldn’t even air.
The media’s influence is deep and wide; but one wonders if it is setting the tone or is merely running with the current. Certainly, it speaks for many who will not hear of Jesus being the only way to heaven. It gives voice to the dark and self-centered hope that it really doesn’t matter what you believe.
We are under pressure to conform to a “choose-your-own-truth” spirituality. We don’t want to be perceived as unloving or judgmental, but when we speak the “foolish” message of the cross, we will be. So we have choices to make. We can simply not say anything, never bringing our private faith to light, and therefore never offend anyone. We can say that we’ll speak of Jesus when “the time is right,” banking on the fact that it never will be. We can even begin to buy it. We can be seduced by the opinions of those who seem so reasonable, so thoughtful, so successful, that they must be on to something. The sin that lurks within us is more than willing to listen to the question, “Did God really say...?” In a sense, isn’t that the oldest sin on record…to doubt that what God says is true?
Well, it all comes down to this. This is the line in the sand that God’s truth draws. The uniform, consistent message of God’s truth is: “He Who Has the Son Has Life; He who does not have the Son does not have life.” And here’s what it means to “have the Son.” It means that you have been drawn to Him. It means that you have heard Him say, “Repent and believe the good news.” It means that you have been challenged to repent, to admit your sinful actions and sinful nature, to come before the Lord with empty hands, empty pockets, just plain empty. It means to agree that God’s judgments are just and right—that we do deserve punishment and banishment because of our sin. To have the Son means that He sees you and He knows your condition and still offers you forgiveness that He earned. Your sins have sickened you, and He has the antidote. To have the Son means that He has given Himself to you; tying himself to you in Holy Baptism; covering you with His cloak of righteousness. To have the Son means you share in His resurrection and that all the questions that matter about “life after death” are answered in Him. To have the Son means to turn away from sin and to go in God’s direction, believing that you are claimed and forgiven by Jesus’ incarnation, suffering, death, and resurrection. Or one could say that to have the Son is to believe that the Son has you. You are His by his gracious, merciful, loving choice.
Do you see that it is not unloving to preach this message? Do you see that it is not hateful to believe it? Having the Son is the only lifesaving remedy there is! How could we think that withholding it from someone is at all helpful to them?
Here’s a part of my biography that you probably didn’t know. I was a jaundiced baby. Jaundice is a liver disorder that can cause skin and the whites of your eyes to turn yellow. The doctor probably told my parents that this is a potentially devastating disease but it’s easily treated. All they had to do was put me under a special light for a while and this would stimulate my liver properly and I’d be all right. Now, my parents could have said, “That sounds too easy. How about instead if we scrubbed him with soap and dipped him in bleach? If we worked hard enough, I’m sure we could get his normal coloring back.”
But the doctor would have said, “No, there’s only one way to handle this.”They could have replied, “Well, how about if we just sort of ignore this and pretend everything’s OK? You know — the jaundice is your truth, Doc, not our truth. And if we sincerely believe that, things will work out for the best.”
The doctor would have said, “You’d jeopardize your baby if you did that. Look, there’s only one way to cure him. You’re hesitant because it sounds too easy, but look at the credentials hanging on my wall. I’ve studied at medical school and I’ve used what I’ve learned to cure countless babies like yours. Trust me!”
Would anybody accuse my parents of being narrow-minded for trusting the doctor and pursuing the only course of treatment that was going to cure their son?
To have the Son is to be healed of the terminal illness of sin. To have the Son is to live each day with a clear conscience as we repent and return to Jesus, drawing on our baptismal connection with Him. To have the Son is to have confidence in the face of death, when all other supports are washed away, because we stand on the Rock of Christ, who rose and who lives. He has opened the gate of everlasting life to you. If you have the Son, you have this life. Be thankful that the Son has given all to have you.