“If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” The words of Jesus sound quite conditional, and we may be tempted to start thinking about how well we have kept his commandments and so prove that we love Jesus. This is a mistake, as Jesus is not asking us to guess what his commandments are. He has just told the disciples that he gives them a new commandment. They are to love one another, as he loves them.
We have no hope of measuring up to the high standard of Jesus’ love for us, but he is not asking us to prove anything. Jesus is telling the disciples and us the nature of our relationship. The “If” in the beginning of what he says is already believed to be true. We are the ones who love Jesus. Since we love Jesus, the rest will follow. We really should read, “Since you love me”, or “When you love me you will keep my commandments. Then everything that follows will also come true. Jesus will send the Advocate, the Holy Spirit of truth. Jesus will not leave us orphaned. Because Jesus lives, we also live.
This is not a logical exercise in if we are good enough to claim we love Jesus. True, we often fail. We do not do every good thing we know we should. We often have to choose between good actions. We often discover we have hurt others. But fundamentally, this is the community of people who love Jesus. Since this is true, we will live by Jesus’ new commandment. We will love one another. We will show that love to the world.
Our task is not to check our consciences and see if we have measured up. Instead we need to seek how to live the truth of our relationship with God. We had an example of the opposite approach last week. The world was supposed to end. There were billboards with the flames of hell warning us about our destruction if we were not the chosen few who were good enough to be taken up into heaven. Apparently none of us were good enough, for we are all still here! In truth, it’s not about our being good enough. Our salvation is all about what God does in us, despite our not being good enough.
As you know from any relationship, we act from the deepest longings of our hearts. If we love another person, there are ways that we will act. If I love my wife (and I do), I will give her a hug and a kiss when I leave the house. If I love my granddaughter (and I do), I will smile every time I see her. If I love my friend (and I do), I will send them a card or give them a call when it is their birthday. No one has to tell me to do these things. It is the nature of the relationship. It’s what we do when we love. If we love Jesus (and we do), we will follow his command and we will love one another.
The extraordinary thing is that Jesus is telling us what he will do because we love him. Jesus sends the Holy Spirit. The Spirit gives us truth, and the Spirit dwells in us. Jesus promises life. Jesus promises communion with him and with God the Father, and with one another. The love we have for Jesus will be returned by Jesus and the Father and the Spirit. Jesus is assuring the disciples and us that the relationship will not be broken. Even though we no longer see Jesus, he is still beside us, and the Holy Spirit is within us to help us live lives of love with each other and with the world.
This is not a promise that our life of faith is easy. We fail and we sin. People around us will not understand what we believe and they may not appreciate why we try to reach out in love. Sometimes we may even suffer for doing the right thing. We are living in an age when our faith has lost its social prominence. It is much more socially acceptable to not take our faith too seriously.
Yet we are always free to act, motivated by the relationship of love that God has begun in us. Peter reminds his listeners that they may be persecuted for doing the right thing. (We are to make sure that our suffering is not deserved, by doing the wrong thing!) But if we are made to suffer, it is an occasion that God can use to bring others to salvation.
Paul walks up to the Areopagus and preaches to the philosophers. He is very tactful and he builds his argument upon well-known phrases of different philosophical schools. I think he may have even been persuasive until he started talking about resurrection from the dead – which would have been ridiculous to the philosophers’ ears. Paul takes his stand and risks looking ridiculous because he has been motivated by love. He has had a dream gentile people longing for God. He keeps speaking and trying to offer relationship because he wants others to have what he has. Paul knows he is loved and forgiven. He knows he is in an unbreakable bond with God.
As we consider how we live as believers in our own community in our day, we should begin with what we know. We know we love God. Therefore, we should live as people who love. We know we are commanded to love one another. God has also promised to be part of a relationship with us. As we live out our lives of love, God sends the Holy Spirit to assure us and to guide us. God also sends the Spirit to strengthen us and to give us the words to say to share the love we know. God also will use us to reveal what love might mean and how love might look. Our task is not to work up some sort of passion, but to follow the passion already within us. We already know how to love. We only need to believe we can.
We have no hope of measuring up to the high standard of Jesus’ love for us, but he is not asking us to prove anything. Jesus is telling the disciples and us the nature of our relationship. The “If” in the beginning of what he says is already believed to be true. We are the ones who love Jesus. Since we love Jesus, the rest will follow. We really should read, “Since you love me”, or “When you love me you will keep my commandments. Then everything that follows will also come true. Jesus will send the Advocate, the Holy Spirit of truth. Jesus will not leave us orphaned. Because Jesus lives, we also live.
This is not a logical exercise in if we are good enough to claim we love Jesus. True, we often fail. We do not do every good thing we know we should. We often have to choose between good actions. We often discover we have hurt others. But fundamentally, this is the community of people who love Jesus. Since this is true, we will live by Jesus’ new commandment. We will love one another. We will show that love to the world.
Our task is not to check our consciences and see if we have measured up. Instead we need to seek how to live the truth of our relationship with God. We had an example of the opposite approach last week. The world was supposed to end. There were billboards with the flames of hell warning us about our destruction if we were not the chosen few who were good enough to be taken up into heaven. Apparently none of us were good enough, for we are all still here! In truth, it’s not about our being good enough. Our salvation is all about what God does in us, despite our not being good enough.
As you know from any relationship, we act from the deepest longings of our hearts. If we love another person, there are ways that we will act. If I love my wife (and I do), I will give her a hug and a kiss when I leave the house. If I love my granddaughter (and I do), I will smile every time I see her. If I love my friend (and I do), I will send them a card or give them a call when it is their birthday. No one has to tell me to do these things. It is the nature of the relationship. It’s what we do when we love. If we love Jesus (and we do), we will follow his command and we will love one another.
The extraordinary thing is that Jesus is telling us what he will do because we love him. Jesus sends the Holy Spirit. The Spirit gives us truth, and the Spirit dwells in us. Jesus promises life. Jesus promises communion with him and with God the Father, and with one another. The love we have for Jesus will be returned by Jesus and the Father and the Spirit. Jesus is assuring the disciples and us that the relationship will not be broken. Even though we no longer see Jesus, he is still beside us, and the Holy Spirit is within us to help us live lives of love with each other and with the world.
This is not a promise that our life of faith is easy. We fail and we sin. People around us will not understand what we believe and they may not appreciate why we try to reach out in love. Sometimes we may even suffer for doing the right thing. We are living in an age when our faith has lost its social prominence. It is much more socially acceptable to not take our faith too seriously.
Yet we are always free to act, motivated by the relationship of love that God has begun in us. Peter reminds his listeners that they may be persecuted for doing the right thing. (We are to make sure that our suffering is not deserved, by doing the wrong thing!) But if we are made to suffer, it is an occasion that God can use to bring others to salvation.
Paul walks up to the Areopagus and preaches to the philosophers. He is very tactful and he builds his argument upon well-known phrases of different philosophical schools. I think he may have even been persuasive until he started talking about resurrection from the dead – which would have been ridiculous to the philosophers’ ears. Paul takes his stand and risks looking ridiculous because he has been motivated by love. He has had a dream gentile people longing for God. He keeps speaking and trying to offer relationship because he wants others to have what he has. Paul knows he is loved and forgiven. He knows he is in an unbreakable bond with God.
As we consider how we live as believers in our own community in our day, we should begin with what we know. We know we love God. Therefore, we should live as people who love. We know we are commanded to love one another. God has also promised to be part of a relationship with us. As we live out our lives of love, God sends the Holy Spirit to assure us and to guide us. God also sends the Spirit to strengthen us and to give us the words to say to share the love we know. God also will use us to reveal what love might mean and how love might look. Our task is not to work up some sort of passion, but to follow the passion already within us. We already know how to love. We only need to believe we can.
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