I give a new commandment

Summary

Just a few weeks ago we read other passages from this same section of John’s Gospel.  For this section was a part of the Maundy Thursday reading.  In fact the commandment that Jesus gives in these verses today is the very reason that Holy Thursday is named, ‘Maundy.’  ‘Maundy’ and mandate are related words, coming from the Latin word, ‘to command.’

As we just heard in this gospel Jesus says to his disciples, “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.”

The question that we need to ask today is, ‘Why are we reading this passage again, so soon after Maundy Thursday?’  Is there significance to this?

I would argue yes.  The reason that I say yes, is because of the First lesson scripture we read from Acts, is the end of the story of Peter’s visit to the household of Cornelius the Roman Centurion.  This story is very important concerning the growth of the early church, and the reality of all of us sitting here today, with bared heads.  Please stick with me while I explain.

We must remember that the earliest church was comprised entirely of Jews.  Jesus was a Jew, all of the apostles were Jews, practically speaking every Christian was a Jew.  So what did this mean for the growth of the church?

Well, as we humans do, we stick with what we know, meaning, because Jesus was the fulfillment of the Jewish prophecies of a Messiah sent by God, and all of his disciples were Jews, the first believers in Christ figured you must first become a Jew in order to then become a Christian.  In other words, they thought, you couldn’t believe in Jesus without first living out the Jewish laws that guide life, for Jesus was a follower of those laws.

If this belief had held, we either would not be sitting here as Christians, or we would all have our heads covered either by yarmulkes or scarves, and be worshiping Jesus the Christ in a Jewish-Christian service.  And there is nothing wrong with that, there are numerous Messianic Jews, or to put it in other words, Jewish-Christians around the world.

But, if that had been the case, there would probably be far less believers in Christ around the world, if Peter, and especially Paul had not been directed by the Holy Spirit to open the doors of the church to Jews and non-Jews alike.

And that is what we are reading about this morning.  The Holy Spirit led Peter to the house of Cornelius the Centurion, where he baptized a household of Gentiles, non-Jews into faith in Jesus Christ.

Now as we can imagine this was upsetting for some of the leadership, and this was only the beginning of this argument, that threatened to become a split in the early church.  The Apostle Paul became the true leader of the gentile wing, or group in the early church, and thankfully for us, Paul won out.  For it was only then, that Christianity started to spread across the globe, at times spreading as rapidly as a grass fire in a dry spring meadow.

It is Jesus’ command to ‘love one another’ that is at the heart of Christianity, and so at the heart of the spread of our faith.

This command of Jesus’ to love one another is the most simple, and yet, the most hard teaching, I believe, that ever left his lips.

It’s simple, because, as we all know love is at the center of any true relationship.  And you know, I am not here talking about romantic love, but the love that is real friendship, filled with patience, forgiveness and loyalty.  Love is what makes true relationship, be it between any two people.

Yet, that is what also makes it the hardest command!  Think about it.  We each have our true friends, some of them family some of them not, and then we have our acquaintances, and then the strangers we meet in everyday life, and then to round it out, those who I will name as, our enemies.  And I am not simply speaking about some faceless terrorist, but also those categories of people who we dislike or fear, and then especially those individuals who we know, and even sometimes have to relate to, that we simply do not like, or dare I say, even hate.

Now, please understand, I am just laying this out here, because what I have said is true to our realities.  I am not stating a theological or spiritual belief, for those would run against, everything I just stated concerning love.  No, what I am getting at here is the way we truly are, the way we truly think, the way we truly act.

And we act this way, in the face of Jesus’ command, to ‘love one another,’ and this is why his ‘new commandment’ is so hard.  There are many people we don’t try to love, and we don’t want to try and love them.  In our minds and hearts they are the enemy.

Some of them are faceless, groups of people, who we identify, and then fear or dislike because of our stances or way of thinking; be it political, or social, or economic, or religious, or racial, or sexual, or ethnic.  They may be liberal or conservative, they may be urbanite, suburbanite, farmer or fisherman.  They may be filthy rich or dirt poor.  They may be Lutheran, Catholic, Baptist, or Pentecostal, they may be Muslim or atheistic.  They might be white, black, brown or red, gay or straight.  Perhaps they are Norwegian, Somali, Polish, Afghani or from America.  Or they may be your co-worker who can never say anything nice, your sister who is greedy, your neighbor whose loud music and parties disturb your nights, or that pastor who never says the right thing.

We all have our enemies.  And yet Jesus calls us to try and love them.  Love them he says!  Yet, as far as the world is concerned, as far as we’re often concerned, that’s simply ‘crazy talk!’

We may love that Jesus died for us, but we don’t want to have to die in our hate, or pride or opinions, in order to try and ‘love one another’, especially when that concerns our enemies, or even simply the person we disagree with concerning politics or money.

The question that each of us needs to ask ourselves is this, “What would it mean for me to try and love those who I don’t like, agree with or whom with I have nothing in common?”

What would that look like?  How might I have to change my behavior or attitude so that I could enter into a relationship of love with that person?  How might I reach out in love?  How might the world, especially those with whom we don’t see eye-to-eye know that we are God’s people, that we are Christians?

Well, Jesus said, “You did not choose me, but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name. I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another.”

Jesus loved us, each one of us to death, so that we might know life.  He chose to love us, and he chooses to love all people, even the ones we do not like, or even, that we hate.  And, here’s the fun part, he chooses us to go and love them.  Wow!  We get to love the people that annoy us, that bother us, that make us angry, or even, that we hate?  Yep, we’re commanded to love everyone, to try and try again.

So, I guess we have to ask ourselves, “In Jesus’ name, how might we live out new relationships in such a way that we might break down the walls that separate us from one another? How might we build bridges to cross those chasms of dislike or hate?  How might we create true relationships based in the love of Jesus Christ given us in our lives?

Let’s be imaginative, try to love in Jesus’ name and see what happens.  Let the world see who we are, let’s show them.

Amen.

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