May 15 – John
JOHN 13:31-35
This morning we find ourselves sitting around the table at the Last Supper listening in on Jesus’ words. It was the night before Jesus would die, and He had just revealed that He was to be betrayed. Judas had left the group and the betrayal of Jesus was set in motion. As Jesus sat there with the other disciples, He realized that this was His last opportunity to teach them. The last time He would be with them before He went to the cross, and what He had to say to them was simple. “Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.”
The question is, just what does it mean to “love one another?” My guess is that all of us have at one time or another found it difficult to love certain people, or love them in certain circumstances. Most of us view love as a physical and emotional attraction. It is pretty easy for all of us to love people whom we like, find attractive, and have much in common with us, such as social class and so forth. However, how can we love the people we find we do not particularly like, those who seem just too different from us or have some habits that we just can’t deal with?
Loving one another involves setting aside status or rank, and putting on the cloak of a servant to all. Jesus had that very evening washed the dirty feet of His disciples. A task that was usually done by a slave. Yet, Jesus gladly performed this task for those who were sitting around the table with Him. Philippians 2:7 tells us, “If then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet”. Jesus does not ask us to do anything He would not do.
Psychologists have found that if we really love someone it is because we have made a decision to do so. So, this translates into loving others as Jesus loves us is really a decision we make despite our feelings or the way other people treat us. It is up to us! For example, it is up to us to not like the decisions of certain people or groups, but we can still decide to love them as Jesus has commanded.
Jesus is not just talking about liking each other. He does not mean that we need to be best friends with everyone. What Jesus really means is that we need to respect each other, to serve others despite our feelings, whether they are positive or negative, about certain people. Jesus is very clear about this. Let us listen to Jesus’ words in Matthew 5:43-45. “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor’ and ‘Hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.”
Notice Jesus words, “A new commandment I give you.” The dictionary defines a command as an authoritative order. So, Jesus is not making a suggestion but ordering us to “love one another.” That is, if we are true follower of Christ. C. S. Lewis in his book, Mere Christianity, says, “The rule for all of us is perfectly simple. Do not waste time bothering whether you love your neighbor; act as if you did. As soon as we do this we find out one of the great secrets. When you are behaving like you love someone, you will presently come to love them.”
I know of no better illustration of this love than Jesus’ own life and ministry. Throughout his life, Jesus reached out in love and compassion to everyone he met: tax collectors and sinners, rich and wealthy rulers, women regarded as second-class citizens, self-righteous scribes and Pharisees, despised Samaritans, unclean lepers, blind, and sick people.
God calls us to a life of love that is deeper than human feelings or emotions. Love is a committed, thoughtful decision to serve God and our neighbors. This kind of love compels us to work for the well-being of all people including those whom we find easy to love and those whom we find difficult to love.
As we leave here this morning, let us own up to the fact that we as Disciples of Christ have at times fallen short in our love of one another. That is, we have made the choice not to love certain other people. We have ignored how Jesus has first loved us, and simply defined love in whatever way best suited ourselves. The question is whether we chose to follow Jesus command or not. What will you do? Let us remember these words of Proverbs 19:21. “Many are the plans in the mind of man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand.”
Amen