Sermon for 5/5/24: Sixth Sunday of Easter (series B)

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True Love in Obedience

John 15:9-17

 

ALLELUIA! CHRIST IS RISEN! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

 

 

Is there any word more misused and more confused than the word “love?” “Love” is used to describe everything from promiscuous bed-hopping, to those first emotional stirrings in the adolescent heart, to the same sex relationships which Scripture describe as abomination. And what often characterizes this “love” is that it is selfish and self-centered; it is more interested in what it can get than in what it will give.

There is, however, no confusion about how Jesus defines love. To love is to keep the commandments of God. Jesus showed His love for the heavenly Father by keeping His commandments, and His disciples will show their love for Him by doing the same: especially by keeping the commandment to love one another. Love is obedient action: taking responsibility for the way you care for others. You may have heard love defined this way: “Love means never having to say you are sorry.” This displays the worldly attitude that love is all about me. But true love is all about others.

There is some confusion, even among Christians, about where we can find the strength and power to love one another in this way. Genuine love is not something we can stir up in our minds or emotions. It is, like grace, a gift of God, a gift that first comes to us that we might also love one another. Of course, God is love. It is not just that God loves; He is love. Love is His nature, and everything He says and does is an expression of that nature.

The world teaches that anything done in the name of love is okay—even things God, who Himself is love, calls sin. Love is never free to do what it pleases. Love means obedience; it means commitment. And here, in the love of the Son for the Father, is perfect love. The commandment of the Father to the Son is found in these words of Jesus: “I know that His commandment is eternal life...” The commandment of the Father to His Son meant humiliation and the cross; it meant affliction and suffering; it meant physical and emotional pain beyond anything we can understand. This love had a terrible price, but the obedient love of Christ means salvation for us all.

And now, the love that the Son has for His Father is turned toward His disciples. To them Jesus said: “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lays down his life for his friends.” Jesus, of course, lives this greater love. He is the One who determines how the relationship between them will go. The disciples did not and could not choose Him; He chose them. This relationship to Him was one of pure grace; without Him they could do nothing. And yet, He calls them friends. By calling His disciples “friends,” Jesus does not remove that distinction between them. He is still their Master, and they His disciples. He simply means that He is prepared to favor them with His gifts of grace, to which they are to remain faithful. And then He does what no one would reasonably expect the Son of God to do: He chooses to serve them rather than be served by them. There is no greater or finer love than this: Jesus lays down His life for them.

We said earlier that love is obedient action; it is taking responsibility for the way you care for others. And that is just what Jesus did. He purposely and deliberately laid down His life and then, just as purposely and deliberately, took up His life again in the resurrection, all for the sake of redeeming His world. Jesus serves those who, under all normal circumstances, should be serving Him. He serves them—and us—with the forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation, with joy and hope, with peace and certainty. And through this service to us, His friends, He makes us able to faithfully love Him and our friends.

How will we love the Master and the “friends” He has given us to love? We will do so by abiding in His love. To do that, we need to acknowledge our need for that love and then acknowledge that Jesus has met this need for us. There is no greater love than what He has done for us: giving His life for those who should rightly give our lives for Him. That is a love of such compelling power that it draws us deeper and deeper into its joy and peace.

Where is the fruit of this love to be found? It is found in the gifts of life and salvation Jesus has given to His Church. It is found in the Word of the Gospel that is preached through our ears and into our hearts, creating and sustaining faith in Jesus Christ. It is found in the water and Word of Holy Baptism and its cleansing from sin and death. It is found in the Word of Holy Absolution that answers our repentance with the promise of the forgiveness of sins, life, and eternal salvation. It is found, as it will be offered and received again this day, in the holy body and blood of our Savior, served by Him in His Holy Supper for the remission of our sins.

Fed with this love from God to us, we can, and truly will, love one another as brothers and sisters in Christ. And then will come to pass the words of the Savior: “These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.” ALLELUIA! CHRIST IS RISEN! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

The peace of God which passes all understanding will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus always.  Amen.