This is the sermon I preached on Sunday, 5/14 at St. Timothy Lutheran Church, Bemus Point, NY. The Tex was John 14:15-21.
Like some of you, I am a visual learner. Pictures help me to understand things better. Well, I must say that today’s gospel is a visual learner’s dream. The timing of this passage is a continuation of last week’s gospel. Jesus is still preparing his disciples for the time when he will no longer be with them physically.
John’s writing is typically dense and twisty--Jesus is in the Father, if you’ve seen Jesus,
you’ve seen the Father. Jesus asks the Father to send the Spirit. It makes your head
hurt. In seminary, we had a class on the gospels. We had to choose which of the four,
we wanted to concentrate on for Greek translation. Our prof warned us that we would regret choosing John’s gospel because of the language. It has the most difficult Greek of the four gospels. I must say, however true that may be, it remains my favorite gospel. I love the language.
I mentioned the visual piece of this text, and you may ask, “Where?” Let’s look at the first verse of this passage and compare it to the last verse. Verse 15 reads, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” Now let’s look at the last verse of today’s gospel. “They who have my commandments and keep them are those who love me.” They are saying the same thing in just a bit different way. The last verse is flipped from the first.
In the first, love comes before commandments, while it’s the opposite in the last verse.
It’s all about love. These two verses are each a bracket around the rest of the passage. In between the two brackets, what that love looks like is spelled out in depth. The text is
bracketed by and surrounded by love.
The first bracket seems to be propositional; if you love Jesus, then you’ll be obedient.
“This should NOT be read with a finger-wagging, stern warning tone of voice. This is
more a statement of plain common sense logic. [Is Jesus talking about the Ten
Commandments? No. There is only one commandment in the Gospel of John.] What is
the commandment? ‘Love one another as I have loved you’ (John 15:12). So this verse
reads: If you love me, you will keep my commandment to love one another as I have
loved you” (David Ewart, www.holytextures.com). Out of the love relationship flows
commandment-keeping, i.e., more love! The word for “love” implies a continuing act of
loving Jesus--keep on loving or continue to love Jesus.
What’s in the middle, vv. 16-20? This is all about that while Jesus may be absent, God is not. What does it look like to have a relationship with Jesus in his absence? God
through Jesus gives us promises, reassurances.
There are two promised presences in this passage. First, is the promise of the Paraclete, (vv. 16-17). In our translation it is “Advocate”, which is but one way to translate this. The Message uses the term “Friend.” A Paraclete is one who comes alongside us. Just as Jesus was with his disciples, the Holy Spirit would be with them
and us.
Jesus’ next promise is the promise of his return, (vv. 18-20). This could possibly refer to the resurrection, not just his final coming in glory at the end of the age. Remember, this is prior to the crucifixion and the disciples did have time with Jesus before he ascended. Here the comings are limited to the disciples who know the Spirit of Truth and see Jesus, something the world is unable to do (Brian Stoffregen, crossmarks.com).
The second bracket is v. 21, the last verse. Like the first verse, “verse 21, should not be read as an exclusivist, finger wagging, reward and punishment, statement, but of simple common sense logic: ‘They who have my commandments and keep them are those who love me’ means ‘They who love one another as I love them are those who love me (who is abiding in everyone.)’ And ‘those who love me will be loved by my Father’.
means that those (in whom I abide) who love me will be loved by my Father (who loves me and therefore also loves those in whom I abide)” (David Ewart, holytextures.com).
So what? Jesus is calling each one of us to the obedience of loving one another as Christ has loved us. Today is the anniversary of the mass shooting at the Buffalo Tops Market. What does that mean for us? No one we know was killed. These were our brothers and sisters who were murdered. These are our brothers and sisters who are suffering the loss of their loved ones.
What can we do to apply Jesus’ teachings to this situation? We remember them in the prayers. Some churches have totally adjusted their worship around this anniversary, like St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Olean and Bethany Lutheran, who share the same pastor.
Some churches have had additional services of lament over the violence in our land. What is our role? For one thing, let us lift up those who are falling in our prayers at home. Let us speak out against the violence in our land, marring the image of God in each life touched by such turbulence in our neighborhoods and society. Let us befriend our brothers and sisters of color to hear what is on their hearts and encourage them. Form relationships to keep each other from falling.
Let us pray. O God, where hearts are fearful and constricted, grant courage and hope. Where anxiety is infectious and widening, grant peace and reassurance. Where impossibilities close every door and window, grant imagination and resistance. Where distrust twists our thinking, grant healing and illumination. Where spirits are daunted and weakened, grant soaring wings and strengthened dreams. All these things we ask in the name of Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. Amen. (Evangelical Lutheran Worship)
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