Can I just Like the Way Jesus Loves?

Introduction

There’s a series of short comics called AgnusDay that are based on scripture passages. One of them in particular caught my attention for today’s reading.

The opening frame shows two sheep in conversation with one another. One of them is reading from a bible and says to the other, “I don’t know if I can love like this.”

The other sheep, holding a coffee and sounding wise says, “Its hard work but your calling is to LOVE like Jesus loved.”

The final frame shows both sheep turning to look at the reader. The first sheep says, “What if I just ‘facebook like’ the way Jesus loves?”

Command to Love

They hit it perfectly with that one. It’s a lot simpler to like the way Jesus loves… than to love like Jesus loves.

I wonder what was on the minds of Jesus’ disciples during that Last Supper that our gospel lesson comes from today. The story that we hear today began two chapters earlier as Jesus tied a towel around himself, stooped down, and began washing the feet of his disciples.

Peter protests. Jesus insists.

As Jesus explains his actions to his disciples, he tells them this:

John 13:15–17 NRSV

For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you. Very truly, I tell you, servants are not greater than their master, nor are messengers greater than the one who sent them. If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them.

Notice the command to do as Jesus has done. Notice also the comment that “servants” are not great than their masters.

In the next section we hear Jesus fortelling of Judas’ betrayal and Judas running out into the night.

And then we hear the new commandment:

John 13:34–35 NRSV

I give you 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.”

And what is their response to the new commandment? Peter picks up on and focuses on the fear that Jesus is leaving them. They don’t respond to Christ’s command to love one another… but focus in on their relationships with him. That’s really important to notice.

I saw a facebook recently that boldly proclaimed that there is nothing more important in our lives right now than having a good relationship with Jesus.

And in one sense, that post was correct. But like the disciples’ response of being afraid that Jesus was leaving them… it focused only on the relationship between us and Christ rather than on Christ’s commandment to love one another.

Who is my Neighbor?

It reminds me of the man who asked Jesus what was the greatest commandment. Jesus turned it around on him and asked him the question. And the man’s response? “The greatest commandment is love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your mind, and all your strength. And to love your neighbor.”

Jesus said to the man, “Go and do likewise.” But rather than just going, the man adds a question. Do you remember what the question is? “Who is my neighbor?” Jesus answers with the parable of the Good Samaritan.

In that exchange with Jesus, the man hit the nail on the head that it is the loving one another part that become messy… that’s the part that we tend to wrestle with.

Getting Back to 15

And as we get back to our scripture reading for today, we hear Jesus repeating that command again:

John 15:12 NRSV

“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.

And if that weren’t enough, just five verses later we hear him say:

John 15:17 NRSV

I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another.

Do you see a pattern to Jesus’ concern for his disciples? He most pressing concern that he lifts up for his disciples is not that they make sure they have a good relationship with him or with God even. But that they move from appreciating what Jesus says and does… to doing as Jesus says and does. Loving one another as Jesus has loved us.

If it were as simple or easy as it seems at first glimpse, I don’t think Jesus would have spent so much time repeating himself on this topic for his final night with his disciples.

Loving one another is NOT Christianity lite. Loving our neighbor… loving one another is one of the primary focuses of Christ’s teachings. It is one of our actionables in this life. That is to say, it is something that God gives us that we can do something about. Loving one another is something that we can participate in.

Challenging Love

Jesus says

John 15:13–14 NRSV

No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you.

Jesus commands his disciples… and us… to love one another to such length as to be willing to set our lives to the side for the sake of one another.

In times of war we have seen that literally carried out as one person dives to give their life for another. But we see that in times of peace as well as we release some of our own security, opening our wallets, our homes, our lives to those in need.

This act of opening ourselves up to others and loving others as Christ loved us is challenging indeed. There is opportunity for others to take advantage of us.

As the new food pantry in Perry was being created, a concern was lifted about how do we stop people from simply taking advantage of the system.

The answer was… we can’t. Not totally, at least. Any time we offer, there will be some who simply take advantage. But there will also be some who are truly in need. We have the command to feed people, and so we feed people. That’s it.

So too, Christ gives the command to love one another… and so we love one another in all of the challenges and occasional pains that that activity of love brings.

But you know, never once have I heard someone in the last days of their life complain about having loved others too much.

The “If”

Now, there’s something in our Gospel lesson today that needs to be pointed out.

After Jesus has talked with his disciples about being servants to one another… of loving one another. After Jesus has forewarned them that he is going to be going away but that he will be sending his spirit, he makes a promise of continued love to them. But it’s a promise that might cause us to raise an eyebrow.

Listen to it:

John 15:14 NRSV

You are my friends if you do what I command you.

As much as we hear from scripture about Christ’s love for us… that we are saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ… and that we are not saved by works… we hear Jesus tell his disciples that they are his friends “IF” they do what he commands them.

It might be tempting for us to think back to that facebook post about having a “right relationship with Jesus” and jumping into the concern as to whether or not we have done enough to merit a friendship with Christ.

But Jesus isn’t telling them that if they choose his path of love that he will pull them closer to him. In fact, he says nothing like that at all.

Let’s read on:

John 15:15–16 NRSV

I do not call you servants any longer, 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. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name.

There are two big things that I want to lift out of these two verses for us today:

Servant vs Friend

The first is that Jesus is teaching the disciples what it is to be a friend of Christ instead of a servant or slave. And in essence, he says that the slave obeys blindly, without fuller understanding about what God is up to. I think perhaps sometimes we act out of fear of being punished or fear of not being reward. That if we don’t obey God strong enough, we might get to heaven but we’ll only get the economy level of heaven instead of the deluxe edition.

A friend of Christ, on the other hand, takes on what Martin Luther describes as the freedom of a Christian. We are made free from the fear of sin, death and the devil and are thus also made free to love one another without concern for our well-being.

It’s the understanding that God has our back through thick and through thin. And that even when we mess up, that God will still be there for us and with us.

Getting back to that relationship piece, being a friend with Christ means that we are able to trust into that relationship. We can trust the permanency of God’s claim over us. And because we can trust in God’s promises, we can love others abundantly, even recklessly.

Who Chooses

The second point is about choice. As we consider what it is to be in relationship to one another and to be in relationship with Christ, Jesus tells the disciples and us in verse 16:

John 15:16 NRSV

You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name.

When it comes to choice, it is not that -we- have decided to claim Christ and that God somehow owes us for that. But rather, Christ chose us.

We are beggars at the table, holding our hands out for scraps… or not perhaps we are beggars who believe we are not hungry. But either way Jesus comes to us with the bread of life and says, “take and eat.”

It is a one-way relationship where Christ gives and we receive. And after receiving our blessings, Christ encourages us to share with those behind us as well with the promise that there will always be enough.

This also answers the “If” part of verse 14 when we heard Jesus say You are my friends “if”. The “if” relies not on the works but on Christ’s love as well as an understanding of what God is up to in the world. Both of which Christ offered to his disciples and then to us.

“I have called you friends” Jesus says. “You did not choose me, but I chose you.”

Conclusion

It can indeed by tempting to simply “Like” the way Jesus loves. But today we are called into what it is to “love” like Jesus loved.

That we might be receivers of God’s Word and God’s Love… and then turn around and be givers of that Word and Love to those around us.

We are called to open ourselves open, to make ourselves vulnerable, and to love one another… not because it is the easy thing to do or because it is the hard thing to do… but because Christ did it… and now he calls us to do likewise.

So who is it in your life that you might choose to encounter with God’s love this week?

Peace be with you. Amen.