May 10, 2015
It’s about love, again
- John 15:9-17
- Dr. Teri Thomas
May 10, 2015
Its about love, again.
John 15:9-17
It was a young pastor’s first church, in rural North Carolina.
He was overly eager to prove the depth of his liturgical and theological wisdom.
One way he did that was to forbid the use of the hymn "In the Garden."
“Why would Christians,
whose biblical faith values community far above individualism
ever sing, He walks with me, talks with me, tells me I am his own?
It is not in the hymnal for a reason and has no place in our worship.”
He repeated this rant frequently through the years.
And then, one night the pastor was called to the hospital,
an elderly parishioner was dying.
He rushed to the hospital, and waited for all of the man’s children to arrive;
and when all of them were there,
they held hands around the bed and commended him to Jesus
and prayed for his peaceful passing.
This dear old salt-of-the-earth farmer looked up from his death bed and smiled,
and then he spoke.
"I love every one of you. I'm ready to go.
And I love Pastor Tim, too, and I love his voice
and I know he'll sing "In the Garden" for you at my funeral.
Then he died.
Through tears, the oldest son looked at the pastor and said,
"Thank you, Pastor. Daddy always loved that song!"
(The Rev. Dr. Timothy Smith, Lutheran Church of the Redeemer, Atlanta, GA)
Last words have great power.
Pastor Tim sang “In the Garden” at the man’s funeral.
It is difficult to ignore someone’s last wishes. They carry great weight.
The last few weeks our Gospel lessons have contained some of Jesus’ last words.
They are part of what is called the farewell discourse,
where in Jesus reviews, one last time,
the things the disciples will need to know when he was gone.
The topic he keeps coming back to is the one we have heard the last three Sundays.
“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.”
We’ve heard that before.
They had heard that before.
But this time he added more.
This is why you need to love.
He said , “You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit,”
Chosen
Just as Jesus chose the disciples, he chooses us.
He didn’t sit around and wait for disciples to find him,
he went out and selected them.
Same with us.
We think it is our choice to come here and try to be good Christians.
But we can do so only because God chose us to be his children.
Our choice is to obey or disobey.
We are loved, chosen, appointed,
and sent into this world in the name of Christ to flourish—
to grow, blossom, and bear fruit abundantly.
Connected to such a life-giving source how can we fail to thrive?
As God’s chosen people, we are dearly loved,
and we are called to abide in that love.
Friends
Jesus goes on in this passage
You are my friends if you do what I command you. I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father.
He has chosen us for a new relationship.
He abandons the image of servant in favor of friendship.
So what does it mean to be a friend?
I asked on Facebook and this is just a sampling of what I heard-
Someone that values our presence. Loves being with us.
Someone who sees and brings out the best in you - and invites/allows you to bring out the best in them.
Loyalty.
Someone who is fully present when you need that.
Acceptance
Someone who accepts me as I am, listens, shares who they are, and who shares their sense of humor, interests, or other gifts
Ready to listen, ready to forgive. Honest when you need it. Accepts you as you are.
Its when you go see concerts you really don't care about seeing because you don't want your friend to go alone.
Authenticity
Someone who doesn't judge.
Someone who will bail you out of jail (if she wasn't with you at the time of arrest)
A real friend will be willing to have a hard conversation with me when they know I'm better than how I'm acting.
C.S. Lewis distinguished between friends and lovers-
"Lovers are always talking to one another about their love;
friends hardly ever talk about their friendship.
Lovers are normally face to face, absorbed in each other;
but friends are side by side, absorbed in some common interest."
Aristotle said that a friend is somebody who helps you to be wise or to be good.
Pretty demanding role.
We have to be selective, we can’t be that kind of friend with everyone.
Jesus chose us to be his friends.
Why?
Joy
Jesus says, I tell you these things so that my joy might be in you and your joy might be complete.
Here they are in the middle of the Farewell Discourse,
Jesus’ parting words to his disciples.
There’s already been the acknowledgement of troubled hearts.
And the next chapters will be words about rejection and hatred and abandonment.
Joy appears misplaced in passages that deal primarily
with Jesus’ departure and impending death.
Joy seems at odds with the realities that the disciples face -- that we face.
We tend to ask -Where is joy when I need it the most?
Jesus knows that the presence of joy needs to be heard,
needs to be felt,
particularly when we face things that assume an absence of joy.
Joy can be elusive,
hard to come by in the midst of crisis or trouble.
I’d guess we have all had some personal struggles where joy seemed impossible.
I can get wrapped up in negative thinking.
This is wrong ,
this awful thing happened
this is bad
life is miserable
I am miserable
Since that is so easy for me to fall into
I try to make a nightly habit of creating a gratitude list
What can I be grateful for tonight?
It works every time.
What do you need to remind you that joy is present?
Who do you need around you to tell you that joy is here?
The Greek words for “grace” and “joy” share the same root.
Joy may very well be a feeling of grace, the emotion of grace.
Joy is that indescribable sense when you find yourself experiencing abundant grace.
It’s the guarantee of God’s grace when all that is good seems so far away.
It’s the security of God’s love when it appears that love is nowhere to be felt.
If we keep God’s commandments, we will abide in God’s love,
so that God’s joy may be in us, and our joy may be complete.
Jesus’ last words. The ones that have power over us.
They are all about love, again.
Jesus loved us so much that he chose us and sent into this world.
Jesus loves us so much that he calls us friends, bringing us into real relationship.
Jesus loves us so much he promises us complete joy.
It’s all about love, again.
Thanks be to God.
Amen.