Text: John 15:12
"This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.
Prayer: from Psalm
19:14
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in
your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.
President Obama seems to be a likeable person. He’s got a ready smile and a good sense of humor. He’s well spoken and bright. I think I would be happy to spend some time with him. I could see myself having a cup of coffee with him, or share a hamburger with him at some fast food restaurant. A conversation with him would be stimulating. I wouldn’t mind having him as a neighbor and inviting him and Michelle to share dinner with Mary and I. Now I don’t see myself going one on one with him on a basketball court. But other than that I think we could get along.
But he is the President of the United States. I don’t think that I’ll ever get close to him. He is the most powerful person in the world, some people say. He’s not your average Joe next door. He is guarded by a phalanx of security people. Only those who have business with him, only those who are invited get to speak to him.
He is a powerful person. He is the Commander-In-Chief. He’s commands millions of people in uniform. All kinds of government agencies are at his command. He is the guardian of the world’s most potent arsenal. He may be a likeable person, but he is the President of the United States. When he speaks people listen. Indeed, when the President of the United States makes a request, it isn’t really a request. It has the power of command. Obama speaks and the people around him do as he says.
Jesus is a likeable person, at least to those of us who have taken on his name and call ourselves Christian. Who wouldn’t like someone who is kind and loving, someone who blesses little children, someone who teaches and demonstrates the love of God. Who wouldn’t like someone who likes to party and turn water into wine. Who wouldn’t like someone who is compassionate to the poor and the hungry. Who wouldn’t like someone who heals the sick, gives sight to the blind, and welcomes the sinner.
Jesus is likeable. We want to relate to him. We want to be close to him. We wouldn’t mind having him over for dinner. But he is Lord. We say that he is Lord of all. He is powerful. His word has the power of command. Jesus Christ is awesome. Even though he is likeable, even though we might want to be close to him, there is something about him that inspires awe, an awe that carry with it a sense of trepidation, a sense that we need to keep our distance.
Jesus is likeable. I do want to be close to him. But he is my Lord. He has the power to see right through me. His eyes can pierce my innermost secrets. More than that, he has the power and the right to judge me. Even more than that, his word has the power of command.
I hope that there is no misunderstanding here. I am not suggesting that Barak Obama is on the same level as Jesus Christ. Comparing the two, in general, is like comparing apples and oranges.
There is no comparison except perhaps in the sense that both are winsome, inviting and likeable and both of them have a aura of awe and power.
This morning’s gospel reading underscores this duality in the nature of Jesus Christ.
On the one hand, Jesus speaks about love, and joy and friendship. “As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you,” he said. “I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you,” Jesus said. “I have called you friends because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father,” he said.
Jesus is talking about the kind of things that invite us into a close relationship with him. He loves us. He is a friend to us.
On the other hand, Jesus speaks from a position of power. He commands us. He expects us to obey him. Five times, in the seven verses of the gospel that we read this morning, Jesus mentions the word “command” or “commandment”. Over and over Jesus issues commands, and he expects obedience. "This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.”
There is this duality about Jesus. On the one hand we want to be close to him. On the other hand we are a bit put off with this awesome power, his ability to command, his expectancy of obedience. We, in our twentieth century western world, are an independent lot. We like our freedom. We like to go our own way. We don’t like being told what to do.
Still, we call Jesus “Lord”. He is our boss. He is our commander. Obedience is part and parcel of the relationship. We relate to Jesus not just in terms of what we want him to do for us, but also in terms of what he expects from us.
Bishop William Willimon relates a conversation he had with a woman, years ago, during the “Iranian Hostage Crisis”. She told him that she had gotten to know a graduate student from Iran. She had received him into her home where he lived with her family. Because of the Iranian revolution, his funds had been cut off and she was trying to find him odd jobs in town to support himself. Willimon heard the story because she was trying to get him to hire the young man to do work in his yard.
“Does he support the revolution?” Willimon asked.
“He thinks it’s all just wonderful,” she replied.
“Well, I think it’s rather remarkable that you have befriended him and that you are working to help him out, that you have received him into your home. How did you come to do that?” Willimon asked.
She slammed her first down on the table where they were sitting. “Because I’m a Christian, darn it. You think this is easy?” Obedience to Jesus isn’t easy. It can be hard. But it’s part of the bargain.
It reminds me of a conversation I had with my parents many years ago, when I was a young man.
As most of you know, my family came from the Netherlands. We lived there during the Nazi occupation of the Second World War. The occupying forces had been rounding up the Jews that lived in the Netherlands and deported them to concentration camps. Some were fortunate enough to escape and become refugees. My parents harbored and sheltered Jewish refugees in our home during those evil times.
I was sharing this story with a friend of mine who was shaking his head in wonder. “You know, your parents put their lives at risk, and your life as well. Haven’t you ever been angry at your parents because they put you and your family in such danger?”
I had never thought of that. I didn’t question my parent’s actions. As a matter of fact, I thought it was brave and wonderful that they were willing to do this in order to save someone’s life. But it made me wonder. So the next time I was home with them I asked why they did what they did. Without hesitation my father answered, “It was the Christian thing to do.” And that was the whole answer.
Being a Christian isn’t just about getting close to Jesus because he loves us and saves us, it is also about living out a life of obedience.
"This is my
commandment,” said Jesus, “that you love one another as I have loved
you. May God grant us so to live, and to God be the glory. Amen.