Please read this passage before reading this homily.
John’s community seems to have been one well established. There were some old-timers, some recent converts, and some young adults. He called them fathers, children, and young men. In todays’s reading it seems that deep divisions have arisen to the point that there was a love-hate.
Deep divisions are not new. They go back to the time of Cain and Abel. They exist even in our own day. They exist in the Church and in our general society. We have great division in how we celebrate the Liturgy. We have Democrats and Republicans, extremists on the right and on the left. People seem to hate each other.
John’s command is that we love one another. Whoever hates his brother is a liar and a murderer, such as was Cain to Abel. Only those who love their brothers have passed death to life. The example is Jesus who laid down his life for us.
How do we show God’s life in us. We do this when we see a brother or sister in need and open our hearts in compassion toward the one in need. We must love in word and deed, or we do not love.
John seems very disappointed in many of his community, but he does see people living the example of love he has been talking about. He belongs to the truth, and he sees many walking in the truth. He ends this passage on a more positive note, expressing confidence in God. He challenges us to follow the example of Christ that he had handed on to his community from the first.