13 May
2012
St. Athanasius Lutheran Church
Easter 6 Vienna, VA
“Love One Another”
Text: John 15:9-17; 1 John 5:1-8
Alleluia!
Christ is risen! [He is risen
indeed! Alleluia!] Alleluia!
Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and
from our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.
Since
today is Mother’s Day .
. .
A mother
said to her son, “Son,
please clean your room.” “I love you, Mom!” said the son, who did not clean his room.
A little
later the mother said, “Son,
please take out the trash.” “I love you, Mom!” said the son, who did not take out
the trash.
And then
a bit later there was a knock on the door, and the mother said, “Son, could you answer
the door please? I’m busy
cooking dinner.” “I love you, Mom!” said the son, who . . . well, you know.
There’s a problem in that house, isn’t there?
Now, if
you’re
wondering if that story is about my son and his mother, well, yes it is! But it’s not just about him - it’s also about me and my mother, and
you and your mothers. And, most importantly, it’s about us and our heavenly Father,
isn’t it?
In the
Holy Gospel today, Jesus said: “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have
loved you.”
Love one
another. That should be easy! Jesus doesn’t command us to pray five times a
day, or fast twice a week, or go on difficult pilgrimages to holy places, or
sell all we have and give to the poor, or do all kinds of onerous, burdensome
things - He simply said this: love one another. That’s it. Just love one another. That is, in fact, the summary of all the commandments. They
are a description of what love looks like. Abide in my love,
Jesus said. Love one another.
Yet how
often are we like that son? How often, instead of love, do anger, discord,
bitterness, partiality, jealousy, impatience, suspicion, hostility, greed,
laziness, and discontent reign in our lives instead? We criticize instead of
care. We gripe and grumble instead of giving of ourselves. We get impatient
instead of understanding. We’d rather let somebody else help and mind our own business.
We resent other’s good
fortune instead of rejoicing with them. We know we shouldn’t be that way, yet how often do these
things come welling up from within our hearts? The sin we didn’t even know was there. The sin we
inherited from Adam infecting us and poisoning our lives and our love.
And
speaking of Adam, he’s
another one God gave but a single command to, remember? Just: don’t eat from this one tree. Just this
one! You can eat from all the others: apples, oranges, pears, pomagranites, figs, cherries, you name it - they’re all yours to eat and enjoy. Just not this one, please. Reserve this one for me.
Now, the
scriptures don’t say
what kind of fruit was on that tree. Was it a different fruit than all the
others? Unique and special and one-of-a-kind, that God was holding back from
Adam? I don’t think
so. I think it was just one of many, let’s say, fig trees. So by not eating it, Adam isn’t missing out on anything. He’s not deprived of anything. He’s simply loving God by keeping, by
honoring, this one request.
But he
couldn’t
do it. Eve was deceived; Adam did it
willfully. Because he couldn’t have it, it was the tree he desired most of all. And the
more time goes on, the harder it gets. For that’s the way of it with sin. We want what we can’t, or shouldn’t, have, or what has not been given
to us. And taking it, going after it, or desiring it hurts our love for one
another. Because we’re thinking of me, not them. Helping me, not them. Loving me, not them.
And then Jesus’ command, His
request: Love one another, which sounds
so simple, becomes: what about me? And then it’s all about me, which is tyranny of the worst kind. It’s what Luther wrote of in the hymn we
sang today (LSB #556, v. 2):
Fast bound in satan’s chains
I lay. When it’s all
about me, what’s all
about me, are chains. The chains of sin and death.
But
Jesus said: These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you,
and that your joy may be full. Jesus is not imposing on us. He wants us
to have joy. But when we love only ourselves there is not
this joy, not a joy that lasts anyway. But one that caves to the
insatiable desire for more. For that one tree of which God said: please, no.
So what’s a God to do? Give us more rules,
more laws, more commandments? That’s what some think, but that’s doesn’t work. For how you doing with that one: Love one
another? If we can’t even
keep one, how we gonna keep more? No, more rules,
more laws, more commandments is the way of servants
and slaves. But do you remember what Jesus said today instead? No longer
do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing;
but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have
made known to you.
Friends, not slaves. Friends, not servants. Friends, to whom
Jesus has revealed a better way, telling us not more that we have
to do, but what He has come to do. That that one tree that
Adam and all of us cannot resist, is now a one tree that Jesus cannot resist.
But for Jesus it is not in sin, but in love. For that one tree that He cannot
resist is the tree of the cross. For greater love has
no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.
Jesus is
that someone, who has come to lay down His life for you. For what comes welling
up from within His heart is not sin, but love. And so He comes to
not only show us, but give us, the love we need. Calling us friends - not
because we deserve it, ‘cuz we most certainly
don’t! And
calling us friends not because He’s describing us, but because that’s what He’s naming us; that’s what He’s making us, that’s what He’s doing in us. For what God calls
something, that’s what
it is. God’s Word
does what it says. We did not choose Him, He chose us. Or in
other words, we’re not
His friends because of what we do - we’re His friends because of what He
did. Because of His tree. Because of
the cross.
That
just as one tree made us all sinners, so one tree would make us all righteous
again. As one tree made us slaves to sin, so one tree would
set us free. As one tree brought death into the world,
so one tree would bring life to the world. And when Jesus laid down His
life for you on the cross - for sinful you, rebellious you, disobedient you,
the “what
about me?” you - it was so that
“you” might die, and a new you arise with Him to life again. A life of forgiveness, a life of freedom, a life of love.
And so Jesus
baptized you. And when He did, it was there, in that water, that that old you,
that old Adam in you, died, and a friend of God, a new Adam, arose.
There in that water His tree became your tree - a tree that brings life, not
death. For there in that water He gave you His forgiveness and love, that you
might live a new life. A slave to sin no longer, but a
friend; set free to love.
So you
don’t love
one another in order to be God’s friend. God did not tell Adam not to eat from that one
tree to become holy - Adam already was. He was created sinless. And we don’t love one another to earn something
from God and become holy - you already are. Created anew in
Holy Baptism. Made a friend of God. Your sins forgiven. No, it is so that you can have the joy
that God has for you. The joy of loving and giving.
Friends
of God! And as if that weren’t enough, did you catch what else
Jesus said? As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Don’t pass that sentence by! The Father’s love for the Son is Jesus’ love for you. Anyway
you look at it, that’s
amazing. A completely, 100%, free and undeserved love.
From the King of creation and the God of the universe.
As
the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. Again, that should be easy! To abide in
this completely, 100%, free and undeserved love. . . .
But it’s not,
is it? Starting out is easy, but abiding, or remaining, not so much. Because
there are so many temptations, so many forbidden trees, so much false and
deceiving information, so many challenges. And just as with Eve, the devil
doesn’t pluck
the fruit and place it in your hand, he makes you want it. He lures and
entices you, he makes it look good and makes you all kind of promises if you
will just . . . love his word, and love yourself, and love that fruit . . .
But
Jesus’ love, the Father’s love, is different. He actually
gives you what He promises. He doesn’t tempt tempt you to make you
less, but loves you to make you more. To give you what is good, both for your
life now and for your life forever. And so Jesus gives you a different fruit -
fruit given, not taken; the fruit from His tree, His cross: the
fruit of His own Body and Blood. Eat this, He says, for life. Eat this for the
forgiveness of your sins. Eat this, that I abide in you and you in me, and that
my love abide in you. Eat this often - it is the food
that you need.
And so
once again, Jesus has given us what we need, that we may be who we were created
to be. The Spirit and the water and the blood - His
Spirit, His water, and His blood - all testify to that. To His love and forgiveness and life. Given
to you, His friends. Given to you, His children.
So there
was a Father who said to His children, love one another. But the
children didn’t yell
back, “I love
you, Dad!” They just loved one
another. For they loved their Father, and they loved Him by
loving one another. And it was good. Very good.
Again.
In the Name of the Father and of the (+) Son and of the
Holy Spirit. Amen.
Now the peace of God which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds through faith in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Amen.