Grace and peace to you from God, our Creator and Sustainer, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit that abides in each of us.

“I give you a new commandment, that you love one another.  Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another” (John 13:34).  This Gospel verse shows up in the lectionary at least once every year, and this year we have heard it twice, both on Maundy Thursday today.  According to John, Jesus gave this “new commandment” the last night he was with his disciples before his arrest and crucifixion.  As familiar as I am with this text, I came up with a few questions this week that need to be answered.  First, what is this love that Jesus commands us to do?  Secondly, what is new about this commandment?  And lastly, what is the purpose of this commandment?

So what is love?  Webster’s Dictionary defines love as “the profoundly tender or passionate affection one person has for another; a feeling of warm personal attachment.”  So is Jesus commanding us to have deep, tender, indescribable feelings toward our Christian brothers and sisters?  Is this about having nice feelings toward each other?  No, it is not!  This commandment is not about emotions or feelings.  In Greek, there are a couple of different words that we translate into English as love, agape and phileo.  In our text this morning, John uses the term “agape” for love.  Literally, this term means to care for someone or something based on a sincere appreciation and high regard for that person or thing.  Many scholars call this type of love the divine love because it is also a love that is unconditional.  Jesus commanded the disciples, and us, to appreciate each other and to hold each other in high regard, unconditionally.  This love is a decision, not a feeling.  To do this, we must know each other, come to respect our differences, and value the gifts each of us brings to the faith community.  Agape love is both unconditional and voluntary; that is, it is non-discriminating, has no pre-conditions, and is something that one decides to do.  We love for the benefit of the other, not for our own benefit.  The love Jesus speaks of here is unconditional, love and unconditional love includes unconditional acceptance.  This is hard stuff.  It is easy to love others, even strangers, when all you really know about them are their good points, but Jesus commanded us to love even when we know there are things about another that we do not like or understand.  In his first letter to the Corinthians, Paul described this love as follows: (1 Cor. 13:4-8a)  "Love (agape) is patient, love is kind.  It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.  It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.  Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.  It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.  Love never fails."  Here Paul described for us the love (agape) that Jesus commanded.  This is the love God has for us!  God knows everything about us, even the sin we have in us; yet, God has chosen to love us even though we may not love Him in return, and Jesus commands us to do likewise to each other.

But what is new about this commandment?  The command to love was given to the Israelites in the wilderness, “You shall not take vengeance, or bear a grudge against any of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself:  I am the Lord” (Lev. 19:18).  To love each other has been part of the law from the very beginning.  The problem was that we didn’t do it very well.  Love had become a “feeling” of kindness and tenderness toward someone or something.  What is new is that Jesus commands us to love as he loved, “as I have loved you…”  We are commanded to love without concern for self, to love without pre-conditions (I will love you if…).   Jesus commands us to participate in the kind of love that demonstrates the same love that he and the Father share.  Jesus said to choose to love, not to hate.  When we choose to love as Jesus loved, what is new about this is the very purpose for which we do it, which gets to my last question.  What is the purpose for this command?
 
The purpose of Christian love is to witness to the world that we are Disciples of the Risen Christ, “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples” (13:35).  Christian love is to be unique.  Christian love challenges the world as Jesus challenged the world.  When we love as Jesus loved, unconditionally, we literally are allowing the world to encounter Jesus.  As Martin Luther said, we are to be Christ-like, and when we are Christ-like we allow the world to encounter the Risen Christ.

So what does this mean for us?  Well, first of all, I think it means that, as Christians, we are called to love all people, even enemies, in the name of Jesus Christ.  This doesn’t mean we have to like everything about them or that we have to have affection for them.  There is a special love and relationship we have for spouses, children, and other family members.  In a similar way, there is to be a special love we have towards our brothers and sisters in the faith.  We are to be intentional about declaring our unity and solidarity with our brothers and sisters here at Salem and with Christians everywhere.  We are not called to judge others or to devalue their gifts because they are different; we are called to love them.  As Peter reminded us in our text from Acts this morning, “If then God gave them the same gift that he gave us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could hinder God?”  (Acts 11:17)

As Christians, when we choose to become part of a community, we are to sincerely appreciate and hold each other in high regard, unconditionally.  We are commanded to be a community that intentionally cares for and loves each other.  When we disagree with each other we should talk about it, not walk away, not stop speaking to each other.   In our own denomination today, there is a huge fight going on over our interpretation of scripture in regards to human sexuality issues.  There are many who want to leave the ELCA and form a “new denomination” because they don’t like what the ELCA is doing.  The say they need to be faithful to God, and some even say it is their job to defend God’s ways.  From my understanding of Scripture, especially in light of this command, leaving is wrong.  According to this command, if we want to be faithful, then we must love each other, even when we dislike each other.  We are called to choose love, not hate.  When the world looks at us, they should see people that act like Christ.  On Maundy Thursday, we not only read this text but the portion before it, as well, where Jesus washed the feet of his disciples and then ate with them.  He exemplified this command when he washed the feet of Judas, the one who was about to betray him, and then ate with him; for by this, everyone will know that we are Christian.

If you ever visit the Holocaust Museum in Washington, DC you will find a memorial for The Reverend Joachim Alexandropoulos.  Reverend Alexandropoulos was an Orthodox priest on a Greek isle in World War II who truly understood Jesus’ command.  One day the Nazis came to his parish demanding that he provide them the next day with a list naming every Jew on the island.  When the Nazis returned the next day, he handed them a list, as they had demanded.  The list contained one name, his own.  He loved as Jesus loved.  We may never be tested to those limits of love, but even if we are not, we are still called to fulfill whatever works of love Christ sets before us. 

This new commandment is hard, but it is this command that is at the core of Christian living.  To paraphrase Philosopher Sam Keen, as Christians, we come to find love not by finding perfect people, but by learning to see imperfect people perfectly.  May we be those people that see imperfect people perfectly.  Amen!