Grace to you and peace from our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen
The text for
this meditation is written in the 13th Chapter of the Gospel
according to St John: Verses 31 – 35
31
When he was gone, Jesus said, “Now is the Son of Man glorified and God is
glorified in him. 32
If God is glorified in him, God will glorify the Son in himself, and will
glorify him at once.
33
“My children, I will be with you only a little longer. You will look for me,
and just as I told the Jews, so I tell you now: Where I am going, you cannot
come.
34
“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must
love one another. 35
By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one
another.”
Relationship
experts claim that everyone has two fears. One fear is that we will never be
loved. The second is that we will never be able to love someone. Whether we
want to admit it or not, whether we are the biggest killjoy or the most
hopeless romantic, love is an essential part of our life. It’s what make or
breaks relationships. It’s what causes us anxiety or a sense of peace. It’s
what makes life miserable or worth living. But for something that is so
essential to us, so important in life, we are really confused as to what love
actually is. For us, love has so much to do about me: Am I lovable enough?
Do I love someone enough? Or alternatively: I don’t care if someone loves me or
not. I don’t care if I love this person enough or not. In this text, Jesus lovingly
tells us that our ego-centred ideas of
love are clumsy; and that in fact love doesn’t
start or end with us.
Jesus’ teaches
us that love ultimately originates and lives in Him alone. If we want to really
understand true love we have to back up a little and pay attention to Holy
Week. I know we’re celebrating Easter, but this is so important. Jesus’ life on
earth was about to culminate. He was with his disciples in Jerusalem
celebrating the Passover As his disciples were gathered around him he looked at
Judas and said, “What you are about to
do, do quickly.” So Judas left, quickly and his only concern was how he was
going to force Jesus to made a stand. To be the true conquering Saviour of the
Jews as was, and still is, the Judaist expectation. That one act of selfishness
ironically would begin the chain of events surrounding what Jesus calls his
glory.
“When he was gone, Jesus said, “Now is
the Son of Man glorified and God is glorified in him. If God is glorified in
him, God will glorify the Son in himself, and will glorify him at once.” There are a lot of glorious things
about God. The creation of the earth, stars, land animals and mankind. The
Bible tells us that he is so glorious, so perfect, that he had to shield Moses’
eyes from even looking at him. Even Jesus performed some pretty glorious acts
like raising Lazarus from the dead. But here, after one of his own disciples
leaves to betray him, Jesus says that he is glorified. Just as the events of
Holy Week were about to start he says that he is in his glory.
Jesus
knew the disciples didn’t get what he was saying, He tried to clarify himself
in the words, “My children, I will be
with you only a little longer. You will look for me, and just as I told the
Jews, so I tell you now: Where I am going, you cannot come.” In other words
Jesus was going to the cross. Jesus was going to die. Out of all the things he
could have chosen to glorify Himself: his presence at creation, his birth with
angels singing, his transfiguration. He chooses his death on a cross.
Doesn’t
sound too glorious does it? We do have an advantage over the disciples in that
we know the end of the story. We know that after his suffering and death that
he will rise. But we can’t gloss over his suffering and death and go straight
for his resurrection as his glory because Jesus includes it as a package deal
as a part of his glory. Our sin and the punishment for it is central to this
passage. The fact is that Jesus death is
the whole reason Jesus came to earth. This was his one purpose and forgiveness,
salvation and glory is ours as a result. Yes! We are glorified along with
Jesus.
In this
text, Jesus ties his Passion directly to love. “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you
must love one another.” The love Jesus’ disciples are to have is to be like
His love for us. The love that drove him to action. The love that drove him to
the cross. True Christian love always starts and ends with Jesus; we are not
the initiators, we are the beneficiaries!
Friends,
our human nature is such that when we read this section we begin thinking of
people who really need to hear this. We create a list of people who could
probably be a little more loving. Remember Jesus’ words “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you”
Can we do that?
If we
are to love as Jesus loves us then we can’t put ourselves first. Love isn’t
even about how we feel. It doesn’t give to get. It’s not about the satisfaction
we might get from loving someone else. Love doesn’t start or end with us.
Love
doesn’t even draw a line in the sand and say, “I’m willing to do this for
someone but not that.”
There
is no limit to love. There is no ceiling or no cap. If we’re loving we can’t
say, “I have been loving enough to this person and I am done.”
Jesus
lesson to us is that we can’t love if we
don’t actually love. We can’t convince ourselves that we actually love
someone if we aren’t moved to action. Love is less of an emotion and it is more
doing, and as we look at ourselves by Jesus’ definition can we truly say that
we love? If we are truthful, we may find fear and doubt.
Take
heart, this is a part of Jesus’ glory because he glories in the weak through
the cross. Love doesn’t start and end with us. It start’s with Jesus’ love and
the scope of this love is beyond all human understanding. God the creator of
the universe, who suspended the stars and carved out the oceans, who was so
blameless and pure that he can blind men gave all of that glory up and he
became man to live, suffer and die on this earth. This is the love that drove
him to a cross and to the depths of hell for us. This is the love that raises
him from death to his resurrection and our resurrection and salvation. This is the
depth of his love for us.
How can
we ever love like that, so selflessly and so freely Friends we can’t because this
love has no origin in us. This love is not something we have to muster up. This
is not a love we have to find. At the Baptismal Font, through the presence of
the Holy Spirit, Jesus gives us the gift of all the love we need, and as it
flows through us as God has ordained those around we will see Jesus in us. “By this all men will know that you are my
disciples, if you love one another.”
Remember
how we said that Jesus’ glory is tied to his love? It is tied so tightly that
his glory is his love for you. And when you love, people will know that you are
one of his, because there is only one kind of love that is true. Love doesn’t
start with you and it doesn’t end with you. It has been given to you.
The most
amazing thing is that Jesus’ boundless love comes to us in spite of ourselves. Jesus
loves us regardless of who we are and what we have done so that we in turn may
love others regardless of who they are and what they have done. As we are told
in (1 Corinthians 13) “Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or
boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it
is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing,
but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all
things, hopes all things, endures all things”
Friends,
if we feel that we are never thanked and never appreciated, we get nothing in
return, Jesus commands us to keep loving as we are loved by him. From Jesus
that love to us is an underserved gift of pure grace.
When we
realise that love could never possibly start or end with us. When we realise
that we are more unlovable than we could ever admit, and yet, in Christ, we are
loved more than we would ever dare to hope, only then we understand that we
live in the grace of God’s true love. If we fear that we will never be loved,
look at the depths of Jesus love has for us. If we fear that we will never be
able to love someone else; read the “Passion
Account” as written in the Gospels and know the depths of Jesus love for us
and remember His words as written in (John 14: 23) “Those who love me will keep my word,
and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home
with them”. That is a promise to uphold us all forever. Amen.
The
love and Grace of our Great Triune God that is beyond all human understanding,
keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen
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