"Last Comments To The Disciples and Us"
Dr. James Mayfield
June 1, 2003 Text: John 15:9-17 What would you say to those closest to you if you knew that in a few hours you would be dead? As the Gospel of John tells the story, Jesus knew he did not have long to live when he spoke the words we read this morning. He knew his time was running out and that the work of his short lifetime would be left in the hands of his disciples. And so, one more time he told them what he expected of them. He told them how to do what he expected of them. And he told them he knew they could do it. When we discussed this passage last Wednesday, Randy Stevens said these last words might be compared to what a coach might say to the team just before sending them out to play the most important game of the season. Jesus was not just talking about what was going to happen to him in the crucifixion-resurrection. He was talking about what was (and is) expected of his disciples. Jesus knew that the time was at hand when the task of proclaiming the Gospel was to be placed in the hands of his disciples. Jesus knew he was not going to be physically present as he had been. The disciples were about to become the Body of Christ in the world. The heart of what Jesus had say to his disciples and to those of us trying to be his disciples is contained in the passage we read. Jesus said: 12 "This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 13 No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command you." We are commanded to love one another. Perhaps it is true of all people, but it certainly it is true of most of us in this country; we do not like being ordered, commanded to do anything. And yet this is the command, the order. Jesus was saying, in effect: "There are some things in life that non-negotiable. And the chief of these are the great commands to love God with all that we are and to love our neighbors as ourselves. These are non-negotiable. Obey these commands, and life can be as God intends it to be. Disobey these commands, and sooner or later all hell breaks loose." Jesus was not making mere suggestions when he said the greatest commandments are to love God and neighbor. He was saying what is at the heart of it all. He was not just saying, "It would really be nice if everyone loved God and neighbor." Jesus was saying: "The only way to the peace and joy God offers us is through obeying the command to love." We humans were created to live in community. We humans were created inter-dependent. What others do impacts our lives, and what we do impacts the lives of others. This is the way it is; it is non-negotiable. In this world where inter-dependence is a fact of life whether we believe it or not, the only way for life to be as God intends life to be, is for us to live in compliance with the non-negotiable basic commands to love God and neighbor. "This is my commandment," Jesus said, "that you love one another as I have loved you." Can you imagine any more difficult order to obey than the command to love others? In the great Russian novel Brothers Karmazov, Ivan says: "I could never understand how one can love one's neighbors. It is just one's neighbors, to my mind, that one can't love, though one might love those at a distance. ... To my thinking, Christ-like love for (us humans) is a miracle impossible on earth. ... And what is this Christ-like love Ivan says is impossible for us humans? It is giving of ourselves for the good of others. And this involves more than merely doing kind and helpful deeds for individuals. It also involves working to change what needs changing in our society and throughout the world so that all our neighbors can be the persons God intends them to be. This involves us in doing more than what we want to do or what we feel like doing. It is doing what is needed to enable our neighbors, near and far, to become and be the persons God intends. Jesus, in giving of himself for our good, did not have the luxury of doing only what he felt like doing or wanted to do. Remember, in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke Jesus prayed that he not have to endure the cross. "Let this cup pass from me," the prayed. But then he went on to pray: "Nevertheless, it is not what I want that matters; it is your will, your plan, the purpose you are working toward that is most important." This is Christ-like love: the giving of ourselves for the good of others, whether we feel like it or not. Is it any wonder that the words of Ivan are our words as well? Christ-like love for (us humans) is a miracle impossible on earth. Lay down our lives for others? Invest ourselves for the sake of benefiting others? Make the focus of our living be that of serving others? You have to be kidding. What Jesus said sounds good: "No one has greater love than those who lay down their lives for others -- that is to say, who live their lives giving of themselves for the good others." But who of us can live this way? Little wonder so many of us say in one way or another: "Jesus, do you really expect that of me? Don't you mean just some of the time? Certainly you do not mean all the time." In my imagination, I see Jesus smile a weary smile as he says: "Yes. All the time." Then he says (in effect): "You can do this. I have made known to you everything I have heard from my Father. If you listen to me, you will know what you need to do, Remember, you did not choose me; I chose you. You are a first round draft pick. I see in you the ability to live as God intends you to live. You say that is impossible, but I say to you that with God's help living as God intends is a real possibility. "God has given your life purpose. You are to live fruitful, productive lives; and the fruit your living is going to produce is not the kind of fruit that rots or dries and withers. When you live as God intends, the fruit your living will produce will be fruit that will last. Your living will make a difference. "And you can do it. God will give you what you need to live as God intends. All you have to do is get started and ask God to help you." All this, in effect, is what Jesus was saying in the passage we read this morning. And he went on to say: " 11 I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete." The command to love that we have been given is not for the sake of drudgery; it is not some punishing obstacle course that we must run in order to receive some sort of heavenly reward. We are to live lives of love so that our joy may be complete -- that is to say, so that we will experience fulfillment. The way to finding deep and lasting satisfaction in life is in living as God intends. As Augustine said: "Our hearts are restless, until they find their rest in God." The way to the profound joy of knowing that our lives are well spent, the way to the profound joy of knowing that our living will be used by God, the way to the profound joy of knowing that our living matters, and that our lives will make a difference, the way to this joy, is coming to terms with the non-negotiable reality, the command, that the way to live is loving others as God in Christ has loved us. And far from being impossible, all we have to do is to start living the life of love and praying for God's help, and what we ask of God, God will provide, and then we will find ourselves doing what Ivan declared to be impossible. The miracle will happen within us, and we will live loving our neighbor as ourselves. God, as we receive this sacrament, empower us to live loving others as you in Christ have loved us. Amen. Pastoral prayer: Let us thank God for our blessings. God, it is easy for us as individuals and as a congregation to substitute what the world calls success for being faithfully obedient to you. Forgive us when our longing to be winners in the eyes of the world causes us to become failures as disciples of Christ. Show us the way to faithfulness. Even when we are striving to be faithful, it is not always clear what you want us to do. Help us as individuals and as a congregation to discover each day what being faithful to you requires of us, and then give us the will and the courage to do it. Forgive us when we fail, and move us beyond our failures so that we become the persons you intend us to be, doing what you want done. All this we pray in the awareness of the one who not only showed us what faithful obedience really is but who also revealed the power of your grace that makes faithful living possible. Amen. |