the love command

5/5/10 from my sermon on 5/2 from John 13:31-35

Jesus says, A new commandment I give you, that you love one another. My first response is, Jesus, you have got to be kidding. Christians, your followers....commanded to love one another? Do you know that we fight over the color of the carpet in the parlor? If someone sits in "our" pew, we snarl at them. And take away our favorite staff member (pastor, youth director, music leader) and we will start a civil war. Don't get me started on how we treat other denominations. At the church of the holy speluchre in Jerusalem, some 7 denominations fight over the same space, where Jesus was supposed to have been buried and raised again. The conflict is so intense that the keys to the complex are held in the hands of a Muslim family!

And new....what is so new about this commandment. Don't we have it from Lev. 19:18, that we are to love our neighbors. Thankfully, I read some commentaries that helped me out of this corner. New can mean something that previously existed but now is fully understood. What is new here is how Jesus reveals love...not just in words, but as the Word made flesh.

This passage is part of Jesus' farewell speech, his last will and testament. Additionally, Judas has just gone out into the night in order to betray Jesus. Right after this, Peter will deny Jesus. Yet Jesus has washed their feet, served them, loved them. He loves them to the very end.

So when Jesus says that we are commanded to love, as He has loved us, we have a very clear picture of what love means. The only way that we can love one another is because we have been loved by Him. We can't give what we ain't got.

"By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another." Notice it does not say to love the vulnerable, the poor, or enemies, but one another. Why is that? We cannot go into the world without the support of a loving community, where we are loved as Chirst loves. Last week we participated in Rethink Church where we engaged in local missions instead of coming here for worship. It went pretty well, didn't it? But before we could that kind of outreach, we need to practice inreach here. We needed to experience the love that we were going to share with others.

The early church was known for this. In a document from the 1st century, a Roman functionary wrote, "See these Christians, how they love one another." This has always been our identity. It is one of the surest signs of the resurrection of Christ, that occasionally He shows up in the way we love one another.

Today the confirmation class is leading the worship service. Have you been loved? How have parents, mentors, Sunday school teachers, music teachers, others shaped you, modelled love for you? All of you reflect on your lives...can you see how you have been loved, like Jesus loves. I know for sure that I have been loved into the ordained ministry. There have been people in my past who loved me in spite of myself. This love is powerful. It is a sign of the resurrection.

So love for one another is a commandment. But much more than that it is a gift.

Love,
Lynn