Sermon-Thursday, May 6, 2007
Fifth Sunday of Easter
Brothers and sisters,
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
In our Gospel lesson for this morning, Jesus gives you an impossible command . He gives you an impossible command when He commands you to love one another just as He has loved you. It’s impossible, you can’t do it. You can’t possibly show the same love for each other that Christ Jesus has shown for you, in His life, death, and resurrection. Yet that is exactly what He commands you to do in this new commandment that we read about in this morning’s Gospel lesson.
Maybe your thinking "What’s so new about a command for us to love one another?" And you would be right, there is nothing new about that. I mean we can trace the command to love your neighbor as yourself back to the old Mosaic law from Leviticus.
So again what is so new about this command to love one another? In John 14:31 Jesus says that the world must learn that He loves the Father and that He does exactly as the Father has commanded Him. Jesus’ obedience to God’s commands are His proclamation to the world that He loves the Father and that through Jesus, God loves the world, as it says in John 3:16 that God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son.
What is new about this commandment is that Jesus is bringing those whom He has claimed as His own into that love that marks the relationship that He has with His Father. Jesus says that people will recognize you as disciples of Christ by the love that you show for one another. That is a promise, it's not a conditional statement.
Through faith you are brought into the love that marks the relationship that Jesus has with His Father. And as you seek to live out this baptismal calling of having love for one another you are displaying the identifying marks of discipleship in Christ.
As faithful Christians claimed by your redeemer in the waters of baptism you are called to love all people, even your enemies, in the name of Christ Jesus. You are called to cast aside your petty prejudices, jealousy, envy pride etc. and love even those whom you might find to be absolutely unlovable.
You are called to follow the example of Peter from our first lesson for today who did something that would have been absolutely unthinkable to a lot of people in his time. He associated with gentiles. He taught them, proclaimed the Gospel to them, shared the love of Christ with them, and over time many of them were brought to faith. He put aside his fear and prejudice in favor of his faithfulness and devotion to his Savior, and in doing so long standing barriers began to be broken down.
In the fourth chapter of Acts there is an example of what can happen when a community of faithful people unite in their baptismal calling to have love for one another. In this chapter the author writes of the spirit of cooperation that was present among the early believers who laid the foundation for the church. It says that all the believers were of one heart and mind and that no one claimed any possessions as their own, and that they continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. It says that there was no needy among them because when those who owned land or houses sold them they brought the money and laid it at the feet of the apostles, and it was distributed to anyone as they had need.
We get another reflection of the type of love that Jesus calls us to in the third chapter of Galatians. In this chapter we read of Paul painting a picture of a united community that has risen above any barriers of race, economic status or gender.
But as inspiring as those examples might be they still don’t even come close to being a reflection of the love that Christ has shown for you in His life, death, and resurrection, and all of these examples ended up being fairly short-lived. Obviously the early church survived, but that early spirit of cooperation and unity would eventually dissipate.
Peter, who would help to break down barriers between Jews and gentiles by proclaiming the Gospel to gentiles, and sharing the love of Christ with them, would again isolate himself from gentiles, particularly in an incident at Antioch, out of fear of how another group of disciples would act if they saw Peter eating with gentiles. And, despite Paul's promising words, the church in Galatia would allow themselves to be taken in by a group of Judaizers who proclaimed a false Gospel that was built not on God’s promise of forgiveness and redemption in Christ but on a legalistic dependence on Jewish law.
Again this reminds you and confirms for you that this new command that Jesus gives you; to love each other as Christ has loved you is impossible. On the cross Jesus bore the penalty for the sins of all humanity. That is how much He loves you and that is how far He has gone to show you that He loves you. You can’t do that.
Indeed, right before Jesus gives the disciples this new command, He tells them that where He is going, the cross, they cannot come. You can’t duplicate the love that Christ Jesus showed on the cross. Even in your most pious moments, you still fall way short. Daily, in one way or another, you fail to live out your baptismal calling to love each other as Christ has loved you, be it through the petty grudges that you hold against people or each other, be it through prejudices that you hold, be it through gossip, be it through selfishness or whatever, you allow yourself to be taken in by the slings and arrows of the devil.
But God does not leave you in sin. He does not leave you in the clutches of sin, death, and the devil. Indeed Christ Jesus went to the cross and showed a degree of love, devotion, and faithfulness that you could not even begin to duplicate. And He did this for you. He did this to bring you into the love that marks the relationship between Jesus and God the Father. He did this to save you and free you from sin, death, and the devil. He did this to free you from your attempts at attaining your own salvation that you might delude yourself into thinking you could achieve.
Through faith in Christ Jesus, you are not left alone. Indeed in the lesson from Revelation for today we read "See the home of God is among mortals. He will dwell with them; they will be His peoples, and God Himself will be with them; He will wipe every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for the first things have passed away." Our Lord promises that He is making all things new and that He is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end and it is done.
In Christ Jesus, it is done, the promise of forgiveness, redemption, and new life has been fulfilled. The new commandment to love one another as Christ has loved you is not a legalistic burden, it is a call to the freedom that you have in Christ. You have been freed to take the focus off yourself and set aside all your prejudices, or jealousy, or fear or whatever self-imposed barrier is keeping you from sharing the love of Christ with each other and those around you through word and deed.
Indeed you cannot do what Jesus did on the cross. But by the grace of God, Jesus went to the cross, and now you can go to your neighbor and show the marks of discipleship that come from the love of Christ.
Amen
Brothers and sisters,
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
In our Gospel lesson for this morning, Jesus gives you an impossible command . He gives you an impossible command when He commands you to love one another just as He has loved you. It’s impossible, you can’t do it. You can’t possibly show the same love for each other that Christ Jesus has shown for you, in His life, death, and resurrection. Yet that is exactly what He commands you to do in this new commandment that we read about in this morning’s Gospel lesson.
Maybe your thinking "What’s so new about a command for us to love one another?" And you would be right, there is nothing new about that. I mean we can trace the command to love your neighbor as yourself back to the old Mosaic law from Leviticus.
So again what is so new about this command to love one another? In John 14:31 Jesus says that the world must learn that He loves the Father and that He does exactly as the Father has commanded Him. Jesus’ obedience to God’s commands are His proclamation to the world that He loves the Father and that through Jesus, God loves the world, as it says in John 3:16 that God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son.
What is new about this commandment is that Jesus is bringing those whom He has claimed as His own into that love that marks the relationship that He has with His Father. Jesus says that people will recognize you as disciples of Christ by the love that you show for one another. That is a promise, it's not a conditional statement.
Through faith you are brought into the love that marks the relationship that Jesus has with His Father. And as you seek to live out this baptismal calling of having love for one another you are displaying the identifying marks of discipleship in Christ.
As faithful Christians claimed by your redeemer in the waters of baptism you are called to love all people, even your enemies, in the name of Christ Jesus. You are called to cast aside your petty prejudices, jealousy, envy pride etc. and love even those whom you might find to be absolutely unlovable.
You are called to follow the example of Peter from our first lesson for today who did something that would have been absolutely unthinkable to a lot of people in his time. He associated with gentiles. He taught them, proclaimed the Gospel to them, shared the love of Christ with them, and over time many of them were brought to faith. He put aside his fear and prejudice in favor of his faithfulness and devotion to his Savior, and in doing so long standing barriers began to be broken down.
In the fourth chapter of Acts there is an example of what can happen when a community of faithful people unite in their baptismal calling to have love for one another. In this chapter the author writes of the spirit of cooperation that was present among the early believers who laid the foundation for the church. It says that all the believers were of one heart and mind and that no one claimed any possessions as their own, and that they continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. It says that there was no needy among them because when those who owned land or houses sold them they brought the money and laid it at the feet of the apostles, and it was distributed to anyone as they had need.
We get another reflection of the type of love that Jesus calls us to in the third chapter of Galatians. In this chapter we read of Paul painting a picture of a united community that has risen above any barriers of race, economic status or gender.
But as inspiring as those examples might be they still don’t even come close to being a reflection of the love that Christ has shown for you in His life, death, and resurrection, and all of these examples ended up being fairly short-lived. Obviously the early church survived, but that early spirit of cooperation and unity would eventually dissipate.
Peter, who would help to break down barriers between Jews and gentiles by proclaiming the Gospel to gentiles, and sharing the love of Christ with them, would again isolate himself from gentiles, particularly in an incident at Antioch, out of fear of how another group of disciples would act if they saw Peter eating with gentiles. And, despite Paul's promising words, the church in Galatia would allow themselves to be taken in by a group of Judaizers who proclaimed a false Gospel that was built not on God’s promise of forgiveness and redemption in Christ but on a legalistic dependence on Jewish law.
Again this reminds you and confirms for you that this new command that Jesus gives you; to love each other as Christ has loved you is impossible. On the cross Jesus bore the penalty for the sins of all humanity. That is how much He loves you and that is how far He has gone to show you that He loves you. You can’t do that.
Indeed, right before Jesus gives the disciples this new command, He tells them that where He is going, the cross, they cannot come. You can’t duplicate the love that Christ Jesus showed on the cross. Even in your most pious moments, you still fall way short. Daily, in one way or another, you fail to live out your baptismal calling to love each other as Christ has loved you, be it through the petty grudges that you hold against people or each other, be it through prejudices that you hold, be it through gossip, be it through selfishness or whatever, you allow yourself to be taken in by the slings and arrows of the devil.
But God does not leave you in sin. He does not leave you in the clutches of sin, death, and the devil. Indeed Christ Jesus went to the cross and showed a degree of love, devotion, and faithfulness that you could not even begin to duplicate. And He did this for you. He did this to bring you into the love that marks the relationship between Jesus and God the Father. He did this to save you and free you from sin, death, and the devil. He did this to free you from your attempts at attaining your own salvation that you might delude yourself into thinking you could achieve.
Through faith in Christ Jesus, you are not left alone. Indeed in the lesson from Revelation for today we read "See the home of God is among mortals. He will dwell with them; they will be His peoples, and God Himself will be with them; He will wipe every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for the first things have passed away." Our Lord promises that He is making all things new and that He is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end and it is done.
In Christ Jesus, it is done, the promise of forgiveness, redemption, and new life has been fulfilled. The new commandment to love one another as Christ has loved you is not a legalistic burden, it is a call to the freedom that you have in Christ. You have been freed to take the focus off yourself and set aside all your prejudices, or jealousy, or fear or whatever self-imposed barrier is keeping you from sharing the love of Christ with each other and those around you through word and deed.
Indeed you cannot do what Jesus did on the cross. But by the grace of God, Jesus went to the cross, and now you can go to your neighbor and show the marks of discipleship that come from the love of Christ.
Amen
posted by Steve at 12:49 PM
1 Comments:
Great job-I really liked this one. I loved how you placed the command alongside of the impossibility of not doing it themselves-you killed them with the law by using a word of the gospel.
THis is a great line: "In Christ Jesus, it is done, the promise of forgiveness, redemption, and new life has been fulfilled. The new commandment to love one another as Christ has loved you is not a legalistic burden, it is a call to the freedom that you have in Christ."
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