April 24, 2016 Fifth Sunday of Easter

April 24, 2016


Fifth Sunday of Easter


Acts 14:21-27, Revelations 21: 1-5, John 13: 31-33, 34-35

In today’s Gospel reading, the theme of love continues to demonstrate the relationship between God and us. Jesus begins by explaining God’s glorification. To glorify someone is to see the great good in them, to love them for that good, and to make that great good known to others. Now this is tricky, but it goes like this. God recognizes the good in Jesus, who is God the Son of Man. The good is all the more evident in the sacrifice Jesus is about to make for us. Jesus is in God and God is in Jesus. Because Jesus is acting out of love for the supreme good, God is glorified in his actions. Jesus is also glorified by God because he is revealing to the world by his actions the mercy and love of God. Jesus is simultaneously glorifying God by being the instrument of God’s mercy and love by means of his being and is glorified at the same time by God. This Gospel notes a shift then between the relationships of God to Jesus to the relationship among the followers of Christ—it is the extension of the relationship among the divine persons of God to the relationship between Christ and us and the relationship that should exist among all of us. Jesus has made the love that exists among the persons of the Trinity to be the love that now exists between Jesus and his followers. We are to see the greater good in our relationships with others and among ourselves. Jesus commands us to make love the rule of law among ourselves—we are to see the great good in our fellow humans, and that good is that they are created in the image of God and saved and sanctified by Christ. We are to love everyone for that good which is in them—to will their good to the point of our own sacrifice if necessary.

Doctrine: Love one another “as I have loved you” Christ is “our model of holiness,” whom we should imitate. The one new commandment we are to obey is love. To love is to will the good of the other through one’s actions, even to the point of sacrifice. It is the gift of self to the other. Love is the essence of every moral law: total love of God, love of neighbor as oneself, the Ten Commandments, the laws of the Church. It is even what is at the basis of every just civil law.

Practical application: How do we live love? How do we make a sincere gift of self to those around us? The answer is imitation of Christ. We learn many, many things by direct imitation, that is, by observing another and doing the same. Sometimes the one we imitate helps us by showing us and explaining things. We have all this when it comes to imitating Christ.

We, as disciples of Jesus, have continually fallen far short in our love for one another as well as in our love for those outside the community of faith. Theological and ethical arguments often descend into personal attacks and name-calling; personal interests often trump the common good of the community; those in need of compassion find judgment instead. Jesus could not be clearer: It is not by our theological correctness, not by our moral purity, not by our impressive knowledge that everyone will know that we are his disciples. It is quite simply by our loving acts—acts of service and sacrifice, acts that point to the love of God for the world made known in Jesus Christ.

I know that there are those who believe that this world is past the point of redemption. Maybe it is. But that is not for you and me to decide. God is the one who began life, and God is the one who will close it. In the meantime, we who have decided to follow Jesus have been given a commandment to carry on in love.

Whenever people who were suffering or in need came to Jesus, Jesus never said, "It is too late. You are not worth saving." Always, Jesus healed them. All they had to do was want to be healed and believe that God wants the world to be healed. If the whole world will not be healed, God still wants whoever will to respond to God's love and find life instead of death.

You and I, who look to Jesus, must allow ourselves to be the instruments of God's grace. Jesus demands that we do more than simply save ourselves. Jesus commanded that we do more. Jesus commanded that we not surrender as long as we live on earth. We are to love our neighbors as ourselves. We are to love even our enemies. We have a commandment—a mission. This earth we live in may be corrupt and filled with the poisons that people pour on it. But it also contains the very goodness with which God created it. It is the only life we know.

Let us work with God on the side of the goodness that God created, rather than write off the world and wait for the end and let the devil take what follows. To love is what Jesus clearly asked us to do. Soon enough, the end will come. Let us not wish for it, but be a working part of the new heaven that Jesus had brought already down upon this earth. After all, we are not yet part of the dead, but, by the grace of God, part of the living.

And while the passage that we read today trips off the tongue in a kind of benign

and comfortable way, “Love one another as I have loved you,” it is a commandment that is easier said than done; easier heard than fulfilled. In fact, I am convinced that it is not only difficult for us to love one another; it was never easy for Jesus to love his disciples. I think it was a trial at times. I think that it was hard for Jesus to love the disciples, not easy. As hard for him as it was for them to love one another. What was hard for him was to see the potential, the possibility of what they might be, and to know that they fell so short. I think it was hard because he knew how much depended on them, and how difficult it would be for them to live up to that. And it was hard because he knew how given to pettiness and jealousy and bullheadedness and sin that they were prone to be, and how far short they fell from the mark.

The disciples were an unlikely lot, several fishermen, a tax collector, a crook who
was the treasurer, a member of a subversive political party, a pair of twins; they didn’t necessarily have a lot in common these folks except for, of course, Jesus, which is why they were like us—basically good, but flawed.
There had been indications all along that the choice of these people was not
without its challenges. The gospels are replete with stories of the disciples’ pettiness, their lack of faith, their inability to pick up the mantle and cast out demons or perform miracles, their backbiting, their jockeying for position. Even Peter couldn’t accept Jesus’ repeated explanation that the Son of Man must, suffer and die, nor could he accept the inclusion of women as Jesus’ disciples. And so he tried to dissuade Jesus from his course of action, which frustrated Jesus no end; enough so that he rebuked Peter, called him Satan, and told him to get out of his way.
The inner circle of James and John, were diminished by the fact that their mother
wanted to get advance seating arrangements for them at the heavenly banquet, a move that left the other disciples jealous and bickering among themselves.

In fact, the words of loving one another come out of Jesus’ mouth immediately following Judas’ departure from the upper room. “Do quickly what you have to do,” Jesus tells Judas, and Judas took the bread from Jesus’ hand, and ran out into the darkness of the night to find his way to the council where they awaited his arrival. The other end of this teaching on love which begins with Judas’ betrayal is Peter’s denial. Jesus no sooner finishes his words to his disciples than they leave the upper room together, making their way to the garden where he is arrested and then stands trial before the high priest. And as he does Peter denies that he even knows Jesus.

Wow, that’s really some kind of love, isn’t it.

But in spite of all that, Jesus loved them. He loved them because he believed that
together they were a sum that was greater than its parts. That together they were better than they were alone. That maybe, just maybe, they might rise above their pettiness and bickering and limitations and achieve something that had the love of God in it. Something that had his love in it and in so doing, they might just love one another.

Somehow it helps me to think that it wasn’t easy for Jesus to love his disciples,
that he had to work at it the way I have to work at it, because all too often I get
discouraged by the frailty and brokenness and painful inhumanity of those whom God has created. It’s easy to blame the victim, to ignore the plight of others, to walk away from the situation. After all, others are not from my group; they’re not my kind—I wouldn’t normally associate with those kinds of people. And then I think that God has and is. That’s the real difference—God has. God has hopes and dreams for all of us. God wants more for us than we have dared to think possible for ourselves. And more importantly, God will not give up on us—God even wants us to love one another as God loves each of us. How has God loved us? Enough to die for us, enough to give his life for our sake; enough to put up with us. If Jesus could love the disciples, in spite of all their painful flaws and disgusting humanity, then we can surely love each other in the same way, in spite of all our flaws.

But then along comes this story of Jesus bookended by betrayal that expresses
Jesus’ best and fondest hope for us, that we love one another as he has loved us. He
thinks we can do it. And it helps me to know that it wasn’t easy, even for him, because it isn’t easy for us. Love one another as I have loved you, he urged us. As I have loved you. With patience, forgiveness, forbearance, peace of spirit, and a willingness to take the bad with the good.

Maybe Jesus had to tell us to do this because on our own we might not try. We
might give up. But for his sake we might attempt it—loving one another.
And who knows, maybe Jesus is right. If we do so, perhaps everyone will know that we are disciples. It’s about as sure a sign as there can be… that we love one another as God has loved us.

I remember this sign or billboard I saw once. It said: “If they were putting Christians on trial would there be enough evidence to convict you?”

What can we do to show our discipleship, to show we are Christians—followers of Christ. How do we serve each other as Christ commanded? Here are some examples that the Bible gives us, and they don’t cost a thing.

Accept others without judgment -- Esteem others [highly regard] no matter their circumstances in life -- Encourage others to be their fullest selves-- Show true empathy to and for others-- Serve one another by showing deference in matters of liberty--Be kind to others-- Speak the truth to others—be honest-- Show compassion toward others
Forgive others-- Comfort others with the hope of Christ-- Live in peace and harmony with others--See and seek the good in others--Pray for others—especially for their success-- Be patient with others-- Refuse to be resentful or hold grudges--Volunteer to help--Fight injustice and discrimination when you see it, and as much more as your imagination will allow because the love Jesus speaks about comes from the spirit and is a gift to us—we only need to express this love by what we do and how we see the world. With the grace of God, we can do it.

Let me leave you with these words from Mother Teresa:

“We know only too well that what we are doing is nothing more than a drop in the ocean. But if the drop were not there, the ocean would be missing something.”
-Mother Teresa