Fifth Sunday of
Easter – Year C
April 28, 2013
John
13:31-35
When he had gone out, Jesus said, "Now the Son of Man has been glorified, and God has been glorified in him. If God has been glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself and will glorify him at once. Little children, I am with you only a little longer. You will look for me; and as I said to the Jews so now I say to you, 'Where I am going, you cannot come.' I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another."
When he had gone out, Jesus said, "Now the Son of Man has been glorified, and God has been glorified in him. If God has been glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself and will glorify him at once. Little children, I am with you only a little longer. You will look for me; and as I said to the Jews so now I say to you, 'Where I am going, you cannot come.' I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another."
In
the weeks since the tragic events in Boston, the news media and law enforcement
have been seeking to understand what drove the two suspected bombers to act the
way they did. Who were these two young
men? It’s a difficult question to ask,
and an even more difficult question to answer.
As each day goes by we get more information, that rather than clearing
things ups seems to cloudy the waters. A
wife that had no idea what her husband was planning, former teammates who spoke
of smiles and laughter. Who were these
two young men?
When
we look at their pictures, it’s hard to imagine they did what they did. They look like people we might know. They look like friends we went to school
with. They look like the children of
friends. I’m sure that their friends
from school are all in shock. The
memories they have don’t seem to match with the tragic events of that day in Boston. Those memories, the identities of these two
young people, regardless of what they were have been changed forever by their
actions in Boston. They will forever be
known by and remembered for what they did, for the terrible lasting impact they
had on so many lives.
All
of us are known, and remember other people for specific reasons. Sure, we remember people because of their
faces, the way they look. But, we also
remember people for other reasons. We
remember them for their personality; or the things they said and did. Sometimes those actions, those words define
us for far longer than we would like. I
think of the person who made poor decisions while at college and ended up in
prison because of drugs. For the rest of
their life they will be defined by that decision, by that label – former
convict. No matter the good they go on
to do, they will also have that label follow them. They will always have to put down on their
employment applications the black mark from their past – and it will
undoubtedly cause them to lose out on opportunities.
I
think of the girl who grew up in the midst of a bad part of town, a
neighborhood where gangs were often the only family a person had. In an attempt to find belonging she was
tattooed with images and words that marked her as part of that gang, as part of
that family. Yet, as the years past those
same images that brought her feelings of belonging bring stares, they bring
exclusion. The neighborhood gangs may
have been left behind long ago, yet she cannot remove the identity that she is
marked with. She cannot change the
initial reaction people have when they meet her, when they see her tattoos.
I
think of the young man who was the kicker on the football team. It was the championship game. As the clock was winding down, his team was
making its final drive down the field.
With just seconds left, the quarterback spikes the ball at the 10 yard
line and the field goal team trots out onto the field. It’s a simple kick, “a gimme”. As he lines up, as he’s done thousands of
times before, he focuses on the point where the ball will be, he focuses on the
uprights such a short distance in front of him.
He’s done it a thousand times.
The ball is set and kicked, rising up toward the goalposts as time runs
out. For the rest of his life he will be
known as either hero or failure; the reason they won the championship game or
the reason they lost.
Of course, we all know that who these people
are is far more than just their history, their appearance, their success or
failure. They are far more than
that. The unfortunate reality, however,
is that for many people who they are is a direct reflection of what they have
done; regardless of how they might choose to be remembered. Which begs the question, who are you?
Each of us would answer that question in
different ways. I think the first and
easiest answer is our name, I am Erik Edvard Breddin. Easy, that’s who I am. But, what if we have to fill up 2 pages with
the answer to that question? How would we
describe ourselves? How do we see
ourselves. Would it be just our physical
attributes, our failure and successes? Where
does our faith fit? How far into our
habits, our likes and dislikes, our personality and character would we go? And then, there is always that very uncomfortable
question: how does the perspective we have of ourselves differ from the way other
people see us?
In our gospel lesson, Jesus is gathered with
his disciples in the upper room on the night of his betrayal. In John’s gospel, Jesus has already removed
his cloak, wrapped a towel around his waist and washed his disciples’
feet. Judas has already been identified,
and departed from that place to do what he will be remembered for for all
time. Jesus is speaking with his
disciples, sharing with them his final teachings, his final words of wisdom and
guidance. Jesus knew his time with them
was rapidly coming to a close, so he gathers his disciples around him, seeking
to ensure they had all they needed in order to continue.
James Summerville, writing in the Christian Century[1], transforms Jesus’ words from our lesson into a setting
that we can all understand and relate to; an image that I think will make it
far more understandable to us: like a mother on her deathbed, Jesus turns to
his disciples and says, "Little children, I am with you only a little
longer."
You can almost imagine a mother bidding her
children good-by. Gathered around her bed in a crumbling farmhouse, the younger
ones, wide-eyed, clutch cornshuck dolls and wipe their noses on their sleeves.
The older ones try to be brave, but are unable to keep an occasional tear from
spilling and washing wet tracks down their dirty cheeks.
"Little
children," says Jesus, "you will look for me, but where I am going
you cannot come.
Even
the youngest ones sense that something is dreadfully wrong. The tears begin to
flow freely. The baby drops his rattle and begins to wail.
"I
give you a new commandment," Jesus says, "that you love one another.
Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another."
With a
brave smile and a trembling voice, the mother says: "I won’t be around to
take care of you much longer. You will have to take care of each other. I want
you to be good to each other, watch out for each other and most of all, love
each other. Promise?"
"By
this everyone will know that you are my disciples," Jesus concludes,
making his most important point yet, "if you have love for one
another."
As
disciples, as followers, as Christians you will be known by your actions, by
your love. And it’s not just a
suggestion; Jesus tells the disciples, and John tells us, that loving one
another is a commandment. If we are to
be known as disciples of Jesus, it will be because of our love. Not our theology, not our symbols, not our
churches, not our denominations, not our hymns, not our favorite bible verses,
but our love.
In
recent years Christianity, especially in what we refer to as the ‘west’, has
been declining. We have seen membership
in denominations shrinking, we have all witnessed the size of congregations
shrinking, have all seen churches closing.
It’s a sad thing. It’s even
sadder is the answer that is given when people are asked to define or describe Christians
and Christianity.
About
five years ago a video was posted on Youtube that shared the results of an
informal survey of people on the streets of Chicago regarding their opinions on
Jesus and Christianity.[2] When it came to Jesus, the overwhelming
majority of opinions and comments were positive. The Jesus people talked about was a Jesus
that we would probably recognize – loving, savior, good-guy, compassion,
diversity, kind. But when it came to
Christianity, things went a different direction - out of touch, psycho,
uneducated, backward, overboard, hypocrites, extreme, conservative, fanatical,
bible-thumpers, crazy, kind of freaky, frightening, rigid.
I
know it’s informal, it wasn’t done by a national research firm, the number of
people asked was small, and we have no idea how many comments were excluded by
the people who put together and posted the video, but the message is still
scary. Jesus said, “everyone will know that
you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” Many of us remember sitting around campfires,
or in Sunday School or youth group singing, “and they’ll know we are Christians
by our love.” Yet nowhere in the
comments and opinions of Christians from the video is the word love even heard.
Before
you get angry or upset, there is a lot of love going on in the church. The amount of money and service given by
people of faith to those in need is huge.
All of us have given of ourselves in many ways to others because of our
faith. We can lift up many people who
live lives that are exemplary in their love for others. As a congregation, in the last year we have
contributed to the assistance of many services and organizations that reach out
and help those in need. Our funds have
gone to help the hungry, the homeless, the victims of disaster, foreign
missionaries, and local charities. We
have done all these things out of a desire to live out the commandment of Jesus
to care for others, to love them. Yet,
the message that many people hear is not love.
We have been doing a good job of saying that God is love, that Jesus
loved; but doing a rather poor job of showing that we too are defined by love.
We
are defined by love; by the love we show and the love that was shown to us and
all people in Jesus. A love that brought
God himself down to earth, to walk among us, to talk with us. A love that experienced what it was to mourn,
what it was to cry, what it was to shout with joy, what it was to laugh. A love that would not be stopped by what
society said was proper, by what religion said was right. A love that embraced
and welcomed those that others would hold at a distance and shun. A love that reached out to embrace the world
from a rough wooden cross. A love that
was so strong, so powerful that even death itself could not contain it. A love that continues to make itself felt and
heard among us and all of God’s people.
We
have been shown what love is in Christ.
We take our name as Christians from that example. We are called to be more than just a name though. We are called, we are defined, we are known
by the words of our mouths, yet even more so the acts of our hands. May we be so guided by the Holy Spirit that
the love we have all come to know in Christ Jesus may fill us to overflowing,
and that in overflowing we may extend that love to a world that is need of
knowing not only God’s love, but the love of others. Amen.
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