Confession

So the other day I posted this very self-righteous post about how I wasn't going to do any sermon prep for Sunday because "if I can't talk about the love of God for ten minutes without writing it down I should open a bookstore in Vermont and grow a long beard"

But I am a writer and I cannot help myself. So I admit it. I wrote it down. And here it is. I hope you enjoy it. Now excuse me while I pack for Vermont and, no, I don't need my razor.

Love, Gospel Style

John 21, 1 John

Paul said that Faith, Hope, and Love abide, these three. He wasn’t speaking specifically about the Bible but he might well have been. His words are a very good summary of the Bible. The Bible speaks throughout of faith, hope and love but clearly the greatest of these is love.

Love permeates the pages of the text. Yes, I know, you can find a healthy dose of violence and betrayal and dysfunction as well. For what, ultimately, is profound about the love of God if not the sin it overcomes? From the dawn of creation to the promise of the New Jerusalem, the love of God directs the reader from death into life.

The psalms are full of love. The Song of Solomon is full of love but we can’t read any of that until after 8 at night. Proverbs speak of love. Isaiah and Jeremiah talk of the love God has for the people even after they have broken the covenant and of how that love will re-establish a newer, better covenant.

And, of course, that newer covenant is the covenant we speak of as being sealed in Jesus’ blood. The New Covenant we also call the New Testament. Paul is all over love as we have mentioned already. Jesus obviously speaks of love. But there is no writer in the New Testament who prioritizes love as much as the one we know of as John. John’s gospel---and the three letters which bear his name---make love the center of all things. For John, clearly, the greatest of things is love.

And when speaking of John’s use of love it is always important to remind ourselves what he means by this. The word, as you have heard in many places and ways, is agape. Agape is a special kind of love. Agape is a love that prioritizes the well being of the Other. It is not a feeling, although it may generate feelings. It is not private, like love two people would hold exclusively for each other. It is a way of life. It is the way that Jesus is when he says he is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. His way is love because God’s way is love and Jesus is, after all, according to John, the love of God incarnate.

God is love, John says, and those who abide in God abide in love. But John places the emphasis of this love, not in word or speech but in action. Jesus, being the prime example, demonstrated love by his laying down of his life for the world. Agape is this kind of active love. As the writer Fred Buechner pointed out, to love someone in this way does not mean you have to like them. It means you have what is best for them at heart in what you do and say.

This is the new commandment of which Jesus speaks to his community on the eve of his execution. A new commandment I give you. That you love one another. In this way the world will know that you are my disciples, that you love one another as I have loved you. This commandment is not about affection. It is about attitude. To love one another in the community is to set the needs and desires of others along side our own. To love one another in the community is to understand that we are different and have different interests and tastes. To love one another in the community is to be aware of the ways in which we can honor one another and demonstrate the value we have for one another rather than simply taking what we can get for ourselves.

John’s Gospel ends twice. The first ending comes at the end of chapter 20. Chapter 21 comes later and is added on to bring John’s understanding of love into a new awareness. Whereas the original Gospel centered around the immediate community of Jesus, as distinct from the forms of Judaism which rejected that community, chapter 21 draws our attention to the needs of leadership in the community as it continues to develop. The back and forth with Jesus and Peter suggests to us that the community may have become a bit too much inward looking. The first step is learning to love each other in the community of Jesus. But John 21 wants us to know that this is not the end… it is the means to a larger end. To feed Jesus’ sheep. And who are Jesus’ sheep? All who hear his voice, whether they are part of “our” crowd or not.

So John presents us with a total picture of Love, Gospel style. First, God is love. God’s love for us is first and it is unconditional. For God so loved the world that he gave his only son. As God loved us, we should love one another. The community that bears Jesus’ name must show the world that God’s love is real by the way in which they love one another. How crucial this is—that we learn how to value and respect each other and are willing to place another’s needs ahead of our own. What an inviting community that would be to those burdened and disgusted with the “me first” society. And finally, after having received God’s love and shared it within the community, we take it out to the world and share it with the sheep of Jesus’ fold. Feed my sheep, Jesus told Peter, if you love me.

On Valentine’s day it is customary to give some sign of one’s affection—a card, flowers, candy. Do we dare think of this table in that way? A sacrament is a visible sign of grace. At the table we share with Jesus and with one another that covenant of agape love which is the basis of the community. Does it cheapen the moment to think of this table as God’s "valentine"-- love made visible, tangible? For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son. Jesus so loved his own that he gave his own life. We so love one another that we give the body and blood of Jesus to one another in remembrance not only of him, but of his love. Amen.