Love Is Obedience

Jann Martin May 1, 2005

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John 14:15-21

Gospel Lesson

Jesus Promises the Holy Spirit

¹⁵ "If you love me, obey my commandments. ¹⁶ And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor, who will never leave you. ¹⁷ He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth. The world at large cannot receive him, because it isn't looking for him and doesn't recognize him. But you do, because he lives with you now and later will be in you. ¹⁸ No, I will not abandon you as orphans; I will come to you. ¹⁹ In just a little while the world will not see me again, but you will. For I will live again, and you will, too. ²⁰ When I am raised to life again, you will know that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. ²¹ Those who obey my commandments are the ones who love me. And because they love me, my Father will love them, and I will love them. And I will reveal myself to each one of them."

This is the Gospel of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.

This scripture reading is taken from the time when Jesus was talking to the disciples the evening of the Last Supper. He's preparing the disciples for what is about to happen. Jesus is about to make the supreme sacrifice by His death on the cross for all sins; His obedience to the Father is a supreme act of love. He wants to reassure them and give them direction as to how they should handle themselves. The first thing He tells them is to obey His commandments if they love Him. Just as He, Jesus obeyed God and followed His direction in teaching the disciples and those who followed Him.

They are confused with just having heard that He is going to die, but then return, one of them will betray Him and one of them will deny Him. Jesus is telling them that one who is to come after Him will meet their needs. The gift of the Holy Spirit will be given to them to comfort and to guide each of them. If they are obedient and live in love, the Spirit will come to them, and the Spirit will dwell in them if they are obedient and live in love. This is like the question about, which came first the chicken or the egg. Let me say it one more time to be a little clearer. If they are obedient and live in love, the Spirit will come to them, and the Spirit will dwell in them. They are to use the lessons they learned about love from Jesus such as the washing of feet and caring for one another. Serving one another is an act of love, not of being a slave to those around us.

Jesus gives us the same commandment to love Him and those around us. We are coming into the season of weddings. In the vows are the words "Jeff will you love Mary?" then "Mary will you love Jeff?" Have you ever thought that, maybe, the words should be, "Jeff, do you love Mary? Mary, do you love Jeff?" But the words are "Jeff will you love Mary? Mary will you love Jeff? " With the words spoken in this way the definition of love is an act of the will, something we decide to do, a promise. When we think of love, we think of a feeling. But, when God speaks of love, it is a promise.

Today's scripture isn't as much about Jesus as it is about us. He is commanding us to love one another and thus, linking love with obedience. In John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that he gave His only begotten son," Jesus obeys God and goes to the cross. In so doing He is making the ultimate sacrifice in showing us how much He loves us. He is also asking us to reach out in love to those we come in contact with.

I'd like to read a portion of a sermon preached by Sanford Ragins: "We are told that about two thousand years ago, in Roman times, two rabbis, Rabbi Ishmael and Rabbi Akiba, were walking by the way when they met a sick man. Nearby they saw a farmer plowing his field, and Rabbi Ishmael called out to the farmer and asked him to go quickly to the nearest town and summon a physician.

And the farmer said, "Oh, rabbi of little faith, it is God's will that this man has become ill. If God wants him to die, he will die. If God wants him to live, he will live."

The rabbi was angered, and he said to the farmer, "What do you have in your hand?"

"A plow of course," answered the farmer.

And the Rabbi said, "Why do you interfere with the earth that God has created, O farmer of little faith? If God wants your crops to grow, they will grow. If God does not want your crops to grow, they will not grow. But what do you do? You plow, and you sow, and you water, and you weed, and you work. You enter into partnership with God in the work of creation. And so it is," the rabbi concluded, "with the physician who is partner with God in the work of healing. Now go and summon a doctor." I see this story as God telling us that we are to be His hands, and through His love, we are to take care of those around us. Also, that we are given talents and are to use them such as doctors, lawyers, farmers, teachers, religious leaders and many more each of us has a job to do in this world.

We are to love and reach out to our church and society. After a stewardship campaign, a pastor asked his congregation why they gave. Some of the people said they gave out of a sense of gratitude for all that God had done for them. Some gave out of a sense of duty and obligation because they felt they should support the organization they belonged to. One woman responded, "If you are going to be a disciple of Christ, this is what you do. You give. He gave to us. We give to support His work in the world. That's that." Part of her reasoning was probably due to her feelings and love for Jesus, but also out of a sense of obligation because of Jesus command for her to love those around her. One way to show that love is by supporting the church both financially and with our talents.

Evangelist Rich Wilkerson received this letter after a crusade he was involved in. "Dear Mr. Wilkerson, I attended your crusade in Seattle a few weeks ago. It's my first year of college and a group of my friends invited me to come to your crusade. I agreed, reluctantly, but I was desperate. The preceding four years before college were the worst years of my life, and I was willing to try anything that might help. My nightmare started when I turned fourteen. That was the year my uncle moved into our home. Shortly after he moved in, he would sneak into my bedroom and sexually abuse me. He threatened to hurt me if I told anyone, so I endured the abuse, saying nothing, anxiously awaiting my first year of college when I would be out of the house. By the time I entered college, I was a mess. My first year was a disaster. I slept with any guy who would have me, drank, and drugged myself into forgetfulness almost every night, but I would still be awakened by nightmares. When I came to your crusade, I was at the breaking point, and when you asked us to come forward to meet Jesus, I almost ran to the front.

On the five-hour drive home, I fell asleep. I dreamed I was asleep in my college dorm room when I was awakened by my uncle once again. I wanted to scream for help or get out of bed and run, but I could do neither. He kept asking me to come to him, and I could not resist. I could feel myself giving up and coming to him once again, when suddenly the door to my dorm room opened again. It was Jesus with his arms wide open, beckoning me to come to him. I jumped out of bed and ran past my uncle into the arms of Jesus. I woke up with all of the girls in the car looking at me because I was crying, saying out loud, "I'm free! I'm really free." This young girl had a rough past but now in the present she found a loving Jesus to care for her.

Looking back to the example of love and marriage, we can learn that, real deep and abiding love isn't the cause of the marriage but the result of marriage. In our marriage vows we promise to love one another - for better or worse, in sickness and in health, until death do us part - as the years go by this love deepens and you find yourself more in love than the day you were married. This is also true of our relationship with Jesus. As time goes on if we promise to love Him and keep His commandments, our relationship with Him will strengthen as well. Then we will want to be obedient to Him and reach out and love those around us even more.

Amen.

©Jann Martin 2005