by Pastor Laura Gentry
Today’s gospel lesson is a portion of Jesus’ conversation with his disciples as he is preparing them for his physical departure. Though it is a brief passage, it is filled with deep meaning. The points Jesus makes have to do with love, joy and friendship. Let's take a look at each one.
LOVE
To begin with, this is a lesson about love. Jesus tell them: “As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you.” Just what does that love look like? What is this glimpse of God’s love that Jesus demonstrated for us? It was an all-inclusive love that was offered to all people. He loved the difficult-to-love people just as much as the easy-to-love ones. He did this with such conviction that he was often criticized for it. They didn’t think it was proper for Jesus to hang out with such “low-lifes.” And not only was Jesus’ love inclusive, it was self-sacrificial. He left the comfort of heaven to come and demonstrate his love and he accepted the life of an itinerant preacher with no home to call his own. Ultimately, he walked right into the trap that was laid for him and accepted death on the cross.
Now all this sounds quite good in that Jesus did it for us. How perfectly lovely to be loved by God in this way. But herein lies the problem: Jesus expects us to offer this same kind of love to others. He didn’t suggested it casually either. He actually commands it. We are to love one another.
You know what Mark Twain said about love? He said: "The holy act of love is of so sweet and steady and loyal and enduring a nature that it will last through a whole lifetime if not asked to lend money!" Ah, we humans have our limitations, don’t we? Our love comes in small bits and usually has strings attached. Yet this is not at all the way that Jesus loved. Instead, he revealed through his actions how universal and unselfish and lavish God’s love is.
In the Acts lesson for today, Peter has trouble dishing out this kind of lavish love. Peter has been called to visit Cornelius, an officer of the Roman army stationed in Caesarea. He’s had a dream about it but he’s still hesitant to do this. After all, Rome was the occupying force at the time—these are the same folks who mocked, beat and killed their Lord Jesus. No doubt Peter has fear of them. But the Spirit of God will not relent and does not want Peter to withhold God’s love from anyone, regardless of their religious, ethnic or political divisions. God’s love is radical in that it is for all people and the Spirit is sent to everyone. To be Easter people, we are called to live in this resurrected reality and share God’s love eagerly with all.
When Peter obeys this command, many are baptized and the Spirit is poured out upon even the Gentiles. Peter even eats with these non-Jews and is criticized for it later back in Jerusalem. He has to defend his actions by explaining that Jesus told them they would receive the Holy Spirit. He said that God gave the Gentiles the same gift that he gave the Jews and added: who was I to stand in God’s way?
Who, indeed, are we to stand in God’s way because our minds are limited and can’t always perceive the inclusive nature of God’s love. Yet this is precisely what Jesus is conveying to the disciples as part of his final message to them: You MUST love.
JOY
The other important thing that Jesus feels the need to get across is to them is joy. He says: “I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete.” Is God’s joy in us? Jesus wants us to know the abundance of life in the Spirit and joy is central to that life. If we, as Christians, hang our heads in sadness, bent over from the worries of this life and try to talk about the joy of the Lord, we are not going to convince anyone. To embrace Jesus is to embrace the good news that God is for us, not against us; that we are loved and forgiven; that we are promised eternal life as a gift through faith. If we believe these amazing promises, how dare we live dour, joyless lives? It doesn’t make any sense. If we believe Jesus, we are called to be happy even in the midst of difficult times.
We can sing and dance and laugh in all things because Jesus is with us. He gives us abundance of life. Living joyfully because of God's lavish love, said the mystic Juliana of Norwich (14th century), is the greatest honor that we can give Almighty God. As the psalmist declares in today’s Psalm (98), we are to sing a new song because God has done marvelous things. In fact, we are to “Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth; break forth into joyous song and sing praises.” A joyful noise. Some day this is the verse for bad singers. You could also argue that the psalmist is talking about laughter. That’s a joyful noise too. In any case, Jesus’ joy in us makes us complete and so it is our Christian duty to strive for this kind of joyful living.
FRIENDSHIP
But now these are big things to live up to: love and joy. Sometimes we don’t feel loving. Sometimes we don’t feel joyful. How can we possibly live with love and joy as Jesus has commanded us? We can do it because Jesus has declared us friends.
“I do not call you servants any longer,” he says, “because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father. You did not choose me but I chose you.”
What amazing words! We are drawn into Jesus’ inner circle and deemed his friends. Even before we chose Jesus, he chose us. Despite our unworthiness, Jesus claimed us and holds us tightly as his friends. This tight relationship is explained by the metaphor of a vine and branches. Just as branches could not live without the nourishment of the vine, we need Jesus in order to bear fruit in our lives. He gives us the spiritual strength to obey God and bear the fruits of the Spirit in our lives.
This fruitful living is possible because God abides in us as friends. The Danish philosopher Soren Kierkegaard observed, “Christianity is not a doctrine to be taught, but a life to be lived.” Helen Keller explained it in even more vivid terms. She said: “I believe that life is given us so we may grow in love, and I believe that God is in me as the sun is in the color and fragrance of a flower.”
Is God in you as the sun is in the color and fragrance of a flower? As God’s beloved children, we are to embody the presence of God. People should be able to look at us and our selfless actions and say: yes, without a doubt, God is in him. God is in her. Our love and our joy should be so obvious, that others can see God in us. That’s Jesus’ exciting vision for what our lives should be and that’s why he offers his friendship to us so that this life is truly possible for us.
I’d like to close with the song “One in the Spirit.” Please sing it with me.
We are one in the spirit, we are one in the Lord,
we are one in the spirit, we are one in the Lord,
and we pray that all unity may one day be restored
And they’ll know we are Christians by our love, by our love
yes they’ll know we are Christians by our love.
John 15:9-17
Today’s gospel lesson is a portion of Jesus’ conversation with his disciples as he is preparing them for his physical departure. Though it is a brief passage, it is filled with deep meaning. The points Jesus makes have to do with love, joy and friendship. Let's take a look at each one.
LOVE
To begin with, this is a lesson about love. Jesus tell them: “As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you.” Just what does that love look like? What is this glimpse of God’s love that Jesus demonstrated for us? It was an all-inclusive love that was offered to all people. He loved the difficult-to-love people just as much as the easy-to-love ones. He did this with such conviction that he was often criticized for it. They didn’t think it was proper for Jesus to hang out with such “low-lifes.” And not only was Jesus’ love inclusive, it was self-sacrificial. He left the comfort of heaven to come and demonstrate his love and he accepted the life of an itinerant preacher with no home to call his own. Ultimately, he walked right into the trap that was laid for him and accepted death on the cross.
Now all this sounds quite good in that Jesus did it for us. How perfectly lovely to be loved by God in this way. But herein lies the problem: Jesus expects us to offer this same kind of love to others. He didn’t suggested it casually either. He actually commands it. We are to love one another.
You know what Mark Twain said about love? He said: "The holy act of love is of so sweet and steady and loyal and enduring a nature that it will last through a whole lifetime if not asked to lend money!" Ah, we humans have our limitations, don’t we? Our love comes in small bits and usually has strings attached. Yet this is not at all the way that Jesus loved. Instead, he revealed through his actions how universal and unselfish and lavish God’s love is.
In the Acts lesson for today, Peter has trouble dishing out this kind of lavish love. Peter has been called to visit Cornelius, an officer of the Roman army stationed in Caesarea. He’s had a dream about it but he’s still hesitant to do this. After all, Rome was the occupying force at the time—these are the same folks who mocked, beat and killed their Lord Jesus. No doubt Peter has fear of them. But the Spirit of God will not relent and does not want Peter to withhold God’s love from anyone, regardless of their religious, ethnic or political divisions. God’s love is radical in that it is for all people and the Spirit is sent to everyone. To be Easter people, we are called to live in this resurrected reality and share God’s love eagerly with all.
When Peter obeys this command, many are baptized and the Spirit is poured out upon even the Gentiles. Peter even eats with these non-Jews and is criticized for it later back in Jerusalem. He has to defend his actions by explaining that Jesus told them they would receive the Holy Spirit. He said that God gave the Gentiles the same gift that he gave the Jews and added: who was I to stand in God’s way?
Who, indeed, are we to stand in God’s way because our minds are limited and can’t always perceive the inclusive nature of God’s love. Yet this is precisely what Jesus is conveying to the disciples as part of his final message to them: You MUST love.
JOY
The other important thing that Jesus feels the need to get across is to them is joy. He says: “I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete.” Is God’s joy in us? Jesus wants us to know the abundance of life in the Spirit and joy is central to that life. If we, as Christians, hang our heads in sadness, bent over from the worries of this life and try to talk about the joy of the Lord, we are not going to convince anyone. To embrace Jesus is to embrace the good news that God is for us, not against us; that we are loved and forgiven; that we are promised eternal life as a gift through faith. If we believe these amazing promises, how dare we live dour, joyless lives? It doesn’t make any sense. If we believe Jesus, we are called to be happy even in the midst of difficult times.
We can sing and dance and laugh in all things because Jesus is with us. He gives us abundance of life. Living joyfully because of God's lavish love, said the mystic Juliana of Norwich (14th century), is the greatest honor that we can give Almighty God. As the psalmist declares in today’s Psalm (98), we are to sing a new song because God has done marvelous things. In fact, we are to “Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth; break forth into joyous song and sing praises.” A joyful noise. Some day this is the verse for bad singers. You could also argue that the psalmist is talking about laughter. That’s a joyful noise too. In any case, Jesus’ joy in us makes us complete and so it is our Christian duty to strive for this kind of joyful living.
FRIENDSHIP
But now these are big things to live up to: love and joy. Sometimes we don’t feel loving. Sometimes we don’t feel joyful. How can we possibly live with love and joy as Jesus has commanded us? We can do it because Jesus has declared us friends.
“I do not call you servants any longer,” he says, “because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father. You did not choose me but I chose you.”
What amazing words! We are drawn into Jesus’ inner circle and deemed his friends. Even before we chose Jesus, he chose us. Despite our unworthiness, Jesus claimed us and holds us tightly as his friends. This tight relationship is explained by the metaphor of a vine and branches. Just as branches could not live without the nourishment of the vine, we need Jesus in order to bear fruit in our lives. He gives us the spiritual strength to obey God and bear the fruits of the Spirit in our lives.
This fruitful living is possible because God abides in us as friends. The Danish philosopher Soren Kierkegaard observed, “Christianity is not a doctrine to be taught, but a life to be lived.” Helen Keller explained it in even more vivid terms. She said: “I believe that life is given us so we may grow in love, and I believe that God is in me as the sun is in the color and fragrance of a flower.”
Is God in you as the sun is in the color and fragrance of a flower? As God’s beloved children, we are to embody the presence of God. People should be able to look at us and our selfless actions and say: yes, without a doubt, God is in him. God is in her. Our love and our joy should be so obvious, that others can see God in us. That’s Jesus’ exciting vision for what our lives should be and that’s why he offers his friendship to us so that this life is truly possible for us.
I’d like to close with the song “One in the Spirit.” Please sing it with me.
We are one in the spirit, we are one in the Lord,
we are one in the spirit, we are one in the Lord,
and we pray that all unity may one day be restored
And they’ll know we are Christians by our love, by our love
yes they’ll know we are Christians by our love.
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