A New Kind of Love
Posted on Apr 24, 2016 by David Whetter
As Jesus met with his disciples on that final evening, the night before he was crucified, he said, “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). Love, love, love! How many times have we all heard this verse of Scripture? We all know it. In our lectionary we hear it at least once a year, on Maundy Thursday, and this year we have this verse twice.
As he is preparing to leave his disciples, Jesus gives them one final set of instructions as to what to do when he is gone. He didn’t give them instructions on what to tell others about him. He didn’t give them instructions on how to form the correct church congregation. He didn’t give them instructions on the proper creeds to memorize. And to my chagrin, he didn’t even give instructions on the proper worship style. No, for his big final command, Jesus said, love one another and then he said, “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (13:34-35).
Of all the things Jesus could have said at that moment, he decided the most important thing was to tell them about love. He could have tried to get Peter and the rest of the disciples to better understand what was about to happen. He could have given better directions on the best way to develop a congregation. He could have helped them create a creed so we would know exactly what he wanted us to believe. He could have gone on a rant about how wrong Judas was to leave to go betray him. But instead he said, if you want the world to know you belong to me then love each other. Jesus didn’t say like each other, no, he said love each other. For Jesus, love is not a feeling but a way of living. It is about how we act toward and treat others. It is about respecting and honoring others. Love is being patient and kind to others. Love is about being honest with others and always placing the needs of the other at the top of your priorities. Love is about honoring what others value.
The most important thing we can do, according to Jesus, is not reciting the correct creeds. It’s not worshipping a specific way. Its not memorizing scripture so we can recite it when we want to impress others. No, the most important thing we can do is put our faith into action by loving others. And to love another means we must honor them, respect them, care about them, be patient with them, be kind to them… This is the kind of love Jesus was talking about.
Now, this text definitely focuses on love, but at its core, Jesus is speaking about justice. Jesus is saying that his disciples will be known by the actions they take to care for others. His disciples will be known by how they respond to the needs of the world.
Remember two weeks ago we heard Jesus ask Peter do you love me? And each time Peter responded yes, Jesus said to him, “feed my sheep.” Just saying he loved Jesus was not what Jesus wanted of Peter. No, he wanted Peter to go show how he loved Jesus; go and put that love into actions Jesus said. If the church is going to make a difference in the world, then at its core, at the core of what we are, has to be love.
You know, one of the things we often hear about the church from folks who don’t want to be part of the church is that we are a bunch of hypocrites. Well, that is true, we are, but that is only because we are human. It’s easy to say we love Jesus, but it is a lot harder to put that love into action. Is easy to say we love Jesus, but when by our actions we ignore the poor, or we don’t welcome certain people to be part of our community because they are not like us, then our actions say something else.
It is so easy to say we love Jesus, while at the same time we draw lines about who we will love and who we will be tempted to cast in the role of “less loving” in our lives. This happens in the hearts and minds of both individuals -- and the church. This is why we have spent the past two years trying to make sure we are truly a welcoming community. If we say we are followers of Jesus’ and we are Christian, then we can’t be a place where some people don’t feel comfortable.
As I was thinking about this, I began to wonder, why do we in the church spend so much time worrying and arguing about our worship style, or, whether or not we use or say the correct creeds? Why do we argue about things like human sexuality, or …? When in reality, we ought to be making sure that everything we do shows that we do love our neighbors, that we are concerned about the injustices happening in our communities and that we are willing to do something about those things. We ought to be making sure that those who are frightened and scared to be themselves because the world has rejected them, that they know here, in this place, they are not only welcome but they can be themselves and they will be loved. We ought to love the world enough to be willing to get involved and seek to change those things that are not just.
You see, what Jesus was saying to his followers that night, and to you and I today is it doesn’t matter what we say. It doesn’t matter how much scripture we know, or whether or not our church dogma is correct. It doesn’t matter how often we go to worship. No, what matters is how we act out our faith and how we share the love of Christ in the world. What matters is whether or not, we help the world experience Christ.
You know, so often I believe we make this command harder than it needs to be. Have you ever seen the movie Forrest Gump? It is one of my oldest daughter’s favorite movies. When she was in high school it was always on. To this day she can recite “Gumpisms” with ease. But my favorite Forrest Gump quote is "I'm not a smart man, but I know what love is." When Jesus says, love as I have loved, he is talking about a new kind of love, a love that is filled with actions, not words. I think he is saying to you and I,
- Go, support our youth ministries so they can go serve and be in mission
- Go, visit someone who lost a loved one and still grieves.
- Go help feed the hungry at Children’s Memorial.
- Go, help prepare and hand out bags Pantry Packs.
- Go, stand with those who are fighting to earn a livable wage, so they can put food on their tables
- Go, let the immigrant know, that you care about them and that you will protect them from harm
- Go, do something simple, ordinary and kind today, knowing God is present in all that you do.
Go, love as I have loved! Amen