The Power To Love

The New Command & Power

5.15.22 [John 13:31-35] River of Life (5th Sunday after Easter)

Mercy, peace, and love are yours in abundance you who are loved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ. Amen.

Life in this world leaves you with bumps & bruises. Bad things happen when you least expect it—even though history and past personal experience maybe teaches us that we should expect bad things.

For some of us, the bad things that have happened to us would be small things to other people. Bad financial deals pale in comparison to going through bankruptcy. But each leaves its bumps and bruises. Breakups can be messy—even sting—but they can’t hold a candle to divorce or death. Life leaves you with bumps & bruises. Some of us deal with it & develop calluses from it all. Resiliency to help navigate life in the real world. We learn to bounce back from the bad things.

Though we wouldn’t wish what we went through on anyone else—with the benefit of hindsight—we can now see the benefit. We’ve learned something. We’ve grown. We’re better equipped. When we see someone else going through the same, we’re there for them.

But there are some bad things that happen to you that seem to change you at a very deep level. Because of what someone did, you don’t just think or talk differently. You are different. That bad thing has transformed you to the point where you don’t recognize that “old you” anymore.

There are few bad things in life that are harder to bounce back from than betrayal. Betrayal changes you. Betrayal makes you suspicious of nearly everyone—even people who are honest & unblemished. Because in your mind, no one can be that good. Betrayal leaves you jaded at institutions. Cynical towards rules & authority. Case-hardened. Being betrayed by someone you trusted doesn’t typically make you a better person.

Perhaps you have been wounded by betrayal. Maybe it was a company who demanded your very best and then cruelly cut you loose when it “good business”. Perhaps it was more personal. A loved one turned their heel on you when you needed them to have your back most. Maybe you’ve even been betrayed by your spouse. It’s not something you just bounce back from overnight.

When someone betrays you, it feels impossible to trust them again. It seems cruel to be commanded to love them. That’s because betrayal makes us feel inferior and even worthless.

Vocational betrayal is when your company tells you’re expendable. Relational betrayal is when a loved one tells you that they value someone or something else more than they value you. Betrayal is usually, at its core, transactional. And that business is deeply personal.

The most famous betrayal in the history of the world is the backdrop for today’s Gospel. John simply says: (Jn. 13:31) When he was gone. The ‘he’ is ominous. Judas. Judas had just left to meet with the chief priests and to lead the temple guards to arrest Jesus under cover of darkness in the Garden of Gethsemane. The other disciples did not realize that Judas was about to betray Jesus, but they knew one of them would. Jesus had just said to them plainly: (Jn. 13:21) Very truly, I tell you, one of you is going to betray me. Jesus’ imminent and ignominious betrayal was the backdrop for what he has to say to us.

If you’ve been betrayed before—whether by your company, your commanding officer, or a coworker you thought you could trust—you know how humiliating that experience is. It made you mad. It made you treat people differently. It made you look at yourself differently, too. But we kind of expect companies, executives, and coworkers to do that. It still hurts, but we’re not really surprised.

But what about when it’s someone you trusted? Or a loved one? Or even more painfully, someone who says they love and trust in Jesus?

Being betrayed by a believer isn’t something you just bounce back from overnight. But, today, Jesus shows us how to deal with betrayal.

His approach is mind-boggling, isn’t it? Two words stick out in this section. Glory (5x) and love (4x). Those are the last things we’d respond to betrayal with. Being betrayed is degrading, not glorious. Loving people who’ve betrayed you seems impossible. Foolish, even.

Because when anyone humiliates us like this, we want to lash out. When anyone stabs us in the back, we want our pound of flesh. When anyone turns their heel toward us, we want to turn our backs on them once and for all.

When a fellow believer betrays your confidence or gossips behind your back, you want to burn the relationship to the ground. When someone who knows all that Jesus has done for sinners does you dirty, you want to just look them in the eye and tell them “I’m done with you.” When a body of believers behaves foolishly, out of fear or self-interest, when they don’t practice the truth they espouse and even preach, we just want to tell them: I don’t need you.” When we are betrayed, the relationship just isn’t worth it to us.

Betrayal is usually, at its core, transactional. On both sides. Which is why the betrayed usually walk away from the relationship as soon as they discover they’ve been betrayed, sold out for something else.

But Jesus shows us a different way of dealing with betrayal. Jesus is the only human being in history that knew he was going to be betrayed this far in advance. Yes, there are many who had their suspicions and were proved to be right. But no one else ever knew this far in advance. God prophesied his own betrayal. (Ps. 41:9) My close friend, someone I trusted, one who shared my bread, has turned against me. Yet, even though Jesus knew Judas would betray him, he still loved him. He taught him for three years. He gave him the honored responsibility of being the group treasurer. The same night that Judas would betray him with a kiss, Jesus stooped down and washed Judas’ feet. Jesus loved Judas like he did every other disciples, so much so that the other disciples were surprised when Judas betrayed Jesus.

But that was just one betrayal Jesus knew of in advance. When God created the world, he knew how mankind would betray him. That’s exactly what Adam and Eve did by deciding they’d rather be like God than love God. Yet, even before they made that fiendish, foolish choice, God chose to take on flesh and blood & bear the sins of his betrayers.

Eph. 1:4-6 God the Father chose us in Jesus before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love God the Father predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.

Why God would do this is almost beyond comprehension. Why God would call this his glory—glory for the Son to die for those who loved themselves more than they loved him & glory for the Father to sacrifice his Son for those who spat in his face, is almost beyond our tracing out.

But there is a hint, here, in how Jesus address his beloved disciples. They were his follower, his students. Servants. That’s how they would have identified themselves. But he calls them (Jn. 13:33) my children.

A parent knows this kind of self-sacrificing love. Why would you turn your lives upside down for someone who will behave impetuously, foolishly, selfishly, and sinfully? You wouldn’t marry someone like that! But you love a baby who does all that and more. You put yourself through many pains to give and spare them so much. Because you love them you instruct them even when you suspect they aren’t listening. Because you love them you give more of yourself than they deserve.

Jesus loves us far more. (Jn. 13:33) My children, where I am going, you cannot come. Where was he going? To the cross. To the bowels of hell. To be forsaken by his Father. Why? For you and me. For all the times we have chosen God’s blessings over God’s being. We could not come because Jesus would not let us!

This Jesus who lived for us, who died for our sins, who rose triumphantly from the grave to give us hope and joy, heaven as our eternal inheritance, gives us a new command. (Jn. 13:34) Love one another. Love his children. Which shouldn’t strike us as a strange request. Parents, how many people can you stay friends with if you hate their kids? Jesus also calls this body of believers (Eph. 5:23) his bride. How can you love someone and hate their one & only bride?

This might seem cruel to command us to love one another—especially if you have been hurt or betrayed by believers. But remember who is commanding it? Jesus. The one who has been hurt, betrayed, and sinned against more grievously than any of us. He continued to love sinners. He died for every single one of them, even when they denied even knowing him. Jesus bearing our sins changes us far more than being betrayed does. We are different.

When we are betrayed, we recognize that our betrayer has to fall into one of two camps. Either they are an agent of darkness, working for the evil one, or they are a beloved child of God who has betrayed God and his children. Why is this important? Because if they are working on the Devil’s side, they cannot win. Just as Jesus defeated sin, death, and the devil, and even used being betrayed to redeem us, so he will use our being betrayed for our eternal good. If they are a child of God who has sinned, we are called to love them. To call them to repentance & to forgive them, just as Jesus did for us and them. By this, everyone will know you are Jesus’ disciples, that you are following your Lord & Savior.

But we don’t have to wait for betrayal to love one another. Life has plenty of other bumps and bruises for all of us. Some of us have been through bigger bad things than others. It’s easy to be dismissive of those who make mountains out of molehills, so to speak. But remember how Jesus loved you. He tells you to cast all your cares upon him, because he cares for you. This same Jesus calls you to show his care and concern for each other. And we do love them. Not because love comes from us, but because God’s love for us, flows through us, for the benefit of one another. This love is a living spring welling up in us to eternal life. Amen.