Easter 5C-- "Defining Love"

Text: “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. 35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:34-35)

Today’s text takes us back to Maundy Thursday. Let’s take a minute to return in our minds to what happened that night: the Last Supper; the institution of Holy Communion; Jesus praying in the Garden of Gethsemane; Judas’ betrayal. There’s a lot you can focus on. But I find myself coming back to today a question that we focused on as we celebrated Maundy Thursday a couple of weeks ago:

How do you ‘command’ someone to love?

“A new commandment I give to you,” Christ said on this night, “that you love one another....” But how do you command love? How do you order— or ‘direct’, or ‘require’— someone to love others? We imagine emotions to be beyond any higher authority. They are what they are. We feel what we feel. And we either feel it or we don’t. They are outside of our control, let alone being held accountable for them. How do you command someone to love?

That’s an important question to answer because love isn’t optional for you, as a Christian. “By this all people will know that you are my disciples,” Jesus told them, “if you have love for one another” (John 13:35). It’s not optional. It’s a defining characteristic. By that standard, do you or I qualify?

We certainly don’t see much love in the world around us. Is it love that leads to Twitter mobs chasing down anyone that doesn’t say the right things or think the right things or believe the right things?

But, far too often, you and I look just like them. Is it love that leads us to assume the absolute worst motives possible for everyone? That leads to magnifying any fault that we can find— real or imagined— and broadcasting it for the world to see?

Love defends others, speaks well of them, and puts the best construction on everything.

Love judges even its enemies as worthy of protection; worthy of our care/compassion. It helps and supports them in every physical need.

And it cares for all of them; in every physical need. To do anything less is murder. It’s sin. And it’s sin because it’s the opposite of love.

It is true that love is required of you. The commandment is directed at you, just as much as it was directed at the disciples: Love one another. Starting with the people right here, all around you. The couple sitting in front of you. The family sitting across from you. And, of course, don’t overlook the family member sitting right beside you. Love them. And, again, love is a defining characteristic of what it means to be a Christian.

By that standard, do you or I qualify?

It seems impossible to command love— on multiple levels.

But Jesus did. And He’s the only one who could. Why? I really can’t put the answer to that question any better than I did back on Maundy Thursday.

How do you, as parents, make sure that your children love each other? That might not be at the top of our minds from moment to moment— things like feeding them, keeping them physically safe, etc., are usually more pressing— but that’s something that we all hope for, I think. My family is at the point when our children are headed out on their own. I have to say, one of the unexpected joys is to see the bond that still ties them together, even when they’re not all under the same roof. We may not focus on it much, but one of our goals, as parents, is certainly making sure that our children grow up loving each other.

And there is a long list of strategies that people have come up with to try to do that. Obviously you set limits for what they are allowed to do or say to each other and what they’re not allowed to do or say— things like “no hitting,” or “no calling each other stupid.” But that only controls their outward behavior. It doesn’t change their hearts. Love is something different.

Spending time together might help. But, depending upon the activity and the kids involved, it might just have the opposite effect. I’m not sure how much love is created by really long car rides, for example.

Trying to get them to love each other seems like a daunting task, especially when most of the time it seems like you’re trying to keep them from killing each other.

Now, I can’t claim to be an expert— and I may or may not be able to claim personal success, for that matter— but it seems like there is one thing that you can do to ensure that your kids love one another: you love them.

You love each and every one. You love them, not just when they’re cute and ‘loveable,’ but when potty training isn’t going so well, or when they’re throwing up on the carpet, or when they’re, well, teenagers. You love them, not for who they could be or should be, but for who they are. You love them when they succeed and when they fail. You love them through the laughter and through the tears. You love them when they’re talking to you and when all you get is the cold shoulder. You love them when they disappoint you and when they make you proud. You love each and every one of them.

Of course, that doesn’t guarantee that they’ll love each other because, in the end, it’s not up to you. They are, ultimately, responsible for themselves. But that is the one and, I think, the only way that you can command love. To be able to say, “Just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.” And that makes it a pretty powerful command.

That’s why Jesus— and only Jesus— can command love.

Hopefully your parents were or are able to say to you, “Love one another as I have loved you.” Jesus most certainly can.

How much more powerful is that command coming from the mouth of your Savior, especially on the night that, “having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end” (John 13:1b)?

When we talk about love in the church, it’s not some sort of weak, needy thing. Jesus has loved— and continues to love-- each and every one of you.

He loved you while you were still His enemies.

He loved you enough to take your sins and failures upon Himself. He loved you enough to pay the price for all the ways that you have failed to love. He loved you enough to take them to the cross and pay for them there.

His love did not waver, even as He was forsaken by His Father for you.

He loved you through the tears. He loved you through the mocking. He loved you through the crown of thorns.

His love makes you a beloved child of God, in whom He is well pleased.

That is love. It’s not some vague feeling. It is an active thing. It is bleeding and dying. And during this season of Easter, we’re also reminded that this love is, in fact, stronger than death. Even now, as He’s seated at the right hand of the Father, ruling over all creation, His love is undimmed. He loves you through the happy times and through the sad. He loves you all the way down into the grave. And His love will carry you all the way through the grave to eternal life.

His love is a powerful thing. And each step of the way it was for you. Everything He did on that day was for you.

And now He says, “Love one another as I have loved you.” That is why the Church, for literally thousands of years, has cared for the poor and forgotten, for those despised and rejected by the world. Because you and I are beggars who have been given an inheritance in heaven by the Son of God.

It’s why you continue to love, even those who accuse you of being love-less toward those in need. Why you stand firm, even when you’re punished for witnessing to the truth. Why the world will never know you or accept you— because it does not know and will never accept Him.

It’s why you continue to love those around you— those in front of you, those across from you, and especially the family members right next to you— even when you don’t feel particularly loving, or the people you’re loving aren’t particularly lovable.

And yes, it’s why you defend them against gossip and rumors, speak well of them, and put the best construction on the thoughts and motives of others— even when they speak all kinds of evil against you on account of Jesus Christ.

Because that’s what love is. That’s what love actually requires. And that’s the love that you’ve received.

Yes, it is all about love. That’s why it matters what you believe about Jesus Christ. No other so-called god can claim that word, either in doctrine or in practice. None of them no what that word means, let alone have demonstrated actual love. The doctrine, the rituals, the whole point of them is to point you to Him. And the word and sacraments, they actually bring you Jesus Christ. They give you the benefit of all that His love has done for you.

Love one another.

As often as you get tired of loving people (who can make it hard to love them), come and receive His love once again.

Eat and drink of the love that He poured out for you on the cross— the very body He gave for you there and the blood He shed for you there.

Receive the fullness of His love for you— in, with, and under bread and wine— and learn from Him true love for one another.

It is all about love. Love that goes beyond anything that we could have imagined— certainly beyond anything that the world around us can comprehend. Love that you have seen and received in Jesus Christ. Now go. Love one another. Just as He has loved you, you also are to love one another. Give what you, yourselves have received.