Challenge us with the demands of love

That first verse of the our gospel reading has always niggled at me:

John 14:15

John 14:15 BE:NT

‘If you love me,’ he went on, ‘you will keep my commands.

“Commands” can so easily sound like a long list of things that we must check off in order to prove that we love Jesus. So, a question for you. What are the commands of Jesus?

Just a few verses earlier, Jesus has told his disciples:

John 13:34-35

John 13:34–35 BE:NT

‘I’m giving you a new commandment, and it’s this: love one another! Just as I have loved you, so you must love one another. This is how everybody will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for each other.’

But it’s not just about loving each other, it’s about loving everyone. Just think of the greatest commandment passage, where the Pharisees gathered together, and one of them asked Jesus a question to test him.

Matthew 22:36–40 BE:NT

‘Teacher,’ he said, ‘which is the most important commandment in the law?’ ‘You must love the Lord your God’, replied Jesus, ‘with all your heart, with all your life, and with all your mind. This is the first commandment, and it’s the one that really matters. The second is similar, and it’s this: You must love your neighbour as yourself. The entire law hangs on these two commandments—and that goes for the prophets, too.’

In essence, I believe that when Jesus says “If you love me, you will keep my commandments” he is really saying “If you love me, you will love in the way that I have shown you. That love is not soft, or soppy - it’s a whole of life, all encompassing love.

Do you remember when Jesus touched the leper that no one else would go near? (Matt 8:1-4, Mark 1:40-45, Luke 5:12-16) Jesus could have healed him with a word like he so often did. But before Jesus heals him - he touches him. His love for this man was radical and against the culture of the time - he didn’t stand at a safe distance, he rolled up his sleeves and came close.

Or do you remember the time Jesus flipped the tables in the temple? (Matt 21:12-13, Mark 11:15-18, Luke 19:45-46, John 2:13-17) This isn’t Jesus losing his rag in a moment of anger - this is love refusing to stay quiet while vulnerable people were being exploited. Jesus’ love was not passive in the face of corruption.

How about the time Jesus defended the woman caught in adultery, instead of condeming her? (John 8:1-11)

This woman was publicly dragged out to be killed in a shameful way. The crowd is ready with stones - and the religious leaders are trying to trap Jesus. He steps into the firing line and kneels down in the dust. Notice that he doesn’t say that sin doesn’t matter - but he also doesn’t reduce this woman to the worst thing she has done. Jesus - the ONLY sinless person there - doesn’t throw a stone. Jesus’ love doesn’t excuse sin - but it works to redeem it.

Or do you remember the time Jesus knelt with a towel and washed the feet of his friends? (John 13:1-17)

Jesus knows what is coming. He knows he is about to be betrayed, and accused, and mocked, and killed. Yet in those final hours he shows us how to love through service and equality - and gives us an example to follow.

And do you remember when Jesus prayed for the very people who nailed him to the cross? (Luke 23:33-34)

Here we see Jesus’ love in it’s fullest. It’s the climax of all he has taught - love your enemies, pray for those who persecute you, forgive as you have been forgiven.

Love and obedience cannot be separated. As someone far wiser than me wrote (Lesslie Newbigin)

The Light Has Come: An Exposition of the Fourth Gospel 14:15–24

Contemporary Christian thinking tends to avoid the category of obedience and to speak only of love. That is the way to illusion. Obedience is the test of love; love is the content of obedience. In both, as we shall see, Jesus is our guide and mediator

And as Bruce said last week - this section of John is embued with love. The primary thing Jesus asks his disciples is for them to embrace the love he has lived among them as the goal for their own lives.

When you are ordained as a deacon, priest, or bishop in the Anglican Church here in New Zealand, you are asked to make a series of declarations. The one that both resonates and challenges me the most is when we are asked: Will you so live the gospel that you challenge us with the demands of love? Challenge us with the demands of love. It’s not a gentle sell. And of course, we respond: “I will. God give me strength and humility.” But, as with so many things, this isn’t just the job of the ordained. It’s the explicit call of Jesus on all of his disciples. That’s me - but it’s also each of you. Are we challenging each other with the demands of love? For Jesus, that challenge meant

it demanded that he touch the untouchable

it demanded that he confront exploitation

it demanded that he defended the ashamed

it demanded that he kneel with a towel

it demanded that he forgive from the cross

If you love me, you will keep my commandments.

Jesus is not calling us to be merely rule followers - he is calling us to continue forming into a people who love the way he loved. To love god, to love each other, and to love everyone the way he did.

So, let me ask you:

Will you so live the gospel that you challenge us with the demands of love? I will. God give me strength and humility.

Amen.