(I am sorry I have not posted in a bit, here are parts of this weeks sermon, it needs some smoothing out, but I thought I would post it for those who have missed it.)
In John 13:31-35(click for verses) Jesus is clear that
he has come to glorify God, to show us what God's intention is for
us, to love us like no other to the point of sacrificing his life.
He patiently explains that where he is going the others are not to
follow him. He was making sure that hey didn't kill themselves, or martyr themselves when the time came for the soldiers to take him. He
must go through the next three days in order for his gift of ever
lasting life to be left with us. We could not do that. We can not
reconcile ourselves to God without his divine help. Jesus wants to
help us to understand that it is not our place to do this.
He then leaves us a new commandment
“that you love one another. Just as
I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone
will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one
another.”
Let's divide this up because there is a
lot here. First of all it is learning to love like Jesus, then it is
telling us that by our love to others people will know we are his
disciples.
Let's look at what Jesus' love looked
like.
How does Jesus Love?
Jesus loved the woman a the well. He
went to her and shared life everlasting with her. She faced
rejection, pain, and hostility when she ran back to share the news
with the village, yet she did share the news.
Jesus loved the lepers when he healed
ten of them and they ran home to regain their lives, to see their
families and were literally born again because they could come back
to society. Only one came back to be healed...just one. Did Jesus
take away the gifts of healing from the others? Did he change his
mind or grumble in distaste that they were selfish. He comments on
it, but only to then bless the man who came back to say thank you.
Jesus loved the adultor. In a society
where the man was punished, but the woman killed, Jesus stood between
her and the men holding the stones. He did not use violence, he did
not use heroics. He simple wrote in the dirt and told them that he
who has no sin cast the first stone. He then sends the woman home to
sin no more – to be separated from God no more, to try and live
closely with God.
Jesus loved Lazarus when he raised him
from the dead. He healed him and broke the bonds of death, so that
we would understand when he was raised from the dead that his rising
was a breaking of all death not just a moments death. He cried with
Mary and Martha, he knew the pain of separation from family and
friends and yet the separation from God is that much worse.
Jesus healed the sick woman with the
bleeding disease. This is a woman who was not allowed to interact
with others and who was isolated. What did this change mean to her?
She could have a life. She could collect water with the other women.
She could interact with her husband and family. She had a new life.
Jesus loved through his actions. Jesus
went to those that society said were bad and had no place in society.
Jesus showed love by breaking bread with them, having a
conversation, hearing their stories and listening to them. He showed
love by working towards justice of the oppressed like the woman
accused of adultery. He loved by feeding them physically and
spiritually. Jesus loved the unlovable. He listed to the tax
collector as he ate with him and in simple conversation brought him
to God. Jesus loves us like this. He loves us all the time. He
loves us in our quiet moments, in our difficulties. Jesus loves us
when we travel the prideful path of sin and separation from God.
Jesus loves us.
The without missing a beat Jesus calls
us to live this love out to others, to do as he has done, and that I
how we are known as Christians.
This is a tall order. Thankful we are
not left to it on our own. Often we try to show our love by not
talking – it is easier to show our love if we don't know where we
disagree. We try to keep it to our selves. I challenge though that
it was in those very conversations that Jesus changed hearts and
minds, by listening, sharing and getting to know individuals.
We have difficulty with this part of
the command for another reason, we don' t like to see the weaknesses
in other Christians. What if we know they don't do what we think
Jesus taught us? What happens when things happen and they blow their
top in the grocery store and tell someone off? What if they get a
divorce for no good reason we can think of? What if they interact
with people who we think are a bad influence in the place that those
bad influences are?
This is so incredibly uncomfortable for
us. Our expectations aren't met. What we think love is does not
look like that...What do we do?
I don't know, but I think that we are
human. We are fallible. We mess up. Some days I lose it and yell
at someone just because I am having a bad day and feel like misery.
Some days I do check facebook instead of taking the full time I
should on my devotionals. I am human. I am working on asking God to
help make his will mine. Sometimes he does it in surprising ways.
Sometimes I hang out with people other Christians may raise their
eyebrows at – yet I can walk away from that encounter know God was
at work. I listened to their story, engaged in the conversation.
Nothing changed in their lives outwardly, yet they will never be the
same.
I am still trying to figure out how to
live out this Christian love. I think that is what Wesley might as
he talked about living on into Christian Perfection. He was trying
to explain that Christian maturity or perfection does not happen
overnight. It happens slowly over a long period of time. It happens
in moments and sometimes we fail. Sometimes we don't look like
Christians, and sometimes we judge each other so harshly we don't
know when we do look like Christians. I wonder what the world would
like if we truly lived out this command. If we lived out love in
such a way that from the witness of our lives and our willingness to
act for and with the oppressed, the poor, the ones living on the
edges of life that the world would know we are Christ's disciples.
