Commanded to Love
Scripture: Psalm 98 read responsively and John 15:
9-17
Preached by
Linda Jo Peters ~ May 13, 2012
Mother’s Day
Unity Presbyterian Church ~ Terre Haute, Indiana
INTRODUCTION TO SCRIPTURE
Psalm 98 is a song of Praise which typically begins by
inviting others to join in praise and then offering reasons for that praise. What in your life brings you to your feet
shouting for joy? For the psalmist not
only are all believers celebrating the grace of God, but all of creation. Join me in this song of Praise.
1O sing to the Lord a new song, for he has done
marvelous things. His right hand and his holy arm have gotten him victory.
2The Lord
has made known his victory; he has revealed his vindication in the sight of the
nations.3He has remembered his steadfast love and faithfulness to the house of Israel. All the ends of the earth have seen the victory of our God.
4Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth; break forth into joyous song and sing praises.
5Sing praises to the Lord with the lyre, with the lyre and the sound of melody.
6With trumpets and the sound of the horn make a joyful noise before the King, the Lord.
7Let the sea roar, and all that fills it; the world and those who live in it.
8Let the floods clap their hands; let the hills sing together for joy
9at the presence of the Lord, for he is coming to judge the earth. He will judge the world with righteousness, and the peoples with equity.
John 15: 9-17
The abiding relationship of vine and branches of last
Sunday's lesson, which culminates in the bearing of much fruit, is now given
further explanation in terms of love. If abiding is not for its own sake, but
has an end or a purpose to produce abundant fruit, now that purpose takes shape
in love. Love is what flows through the vine.
Love binds us in a lasting relationship with God. Out of our relationship with God in Christ a
new commandment is given that is not as instructional as the first ten are, but
directs us to the source of obedience to God’s will for our lives. Keep love flowing!
As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my
love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have
kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. I have said these things
to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete. “This
is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. No one has
greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 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. You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and
bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you
ask him in my name. I am giving you these commands so that you may love one
another.
SERMON
As these final lessons of Jesus speak to us of abiding in
love, we remember that this Gospel begins with a revelation about why Christ
came to live among us – to dwell/abide/make a home with us. The famed John 3:16 “For God so loved the
world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not
perish but may have eternal life.” He
came because God loves us. Love is the
prime mover for our very salvation. Love
shapes Jesus’ life, ministry, death and resurrection. Yet people’s reactions to Jesus was violent.
VBS looked at the theme of stopping bullying for our July 7
event. It made me start thinking more
about bullying and why has bullying become a national pastime? Is it new? Is it what killed Jesus? Where does the desire to hurt others come
from?
One definition of bullying is an act of repeated aggressive
behavior in order to intentionally hurt another person, physically or mentally.
Bullying is characterized by an individual behaving in a certain way to gain
power over another person.[1] This definition made me think of
terrorism. But finding a definition of
terrorism turned out to be a whole other ball game. One person’s terrorist is another person’s
freedom fighter.
As scholar Bruce
Hoffman, has noted:
It is not only individual agencies within the same governmental apparatus
that cannot agree on a single definition of terrorism. Experts and other
long-established scholars in the field are equally incapable of reaching a
consensus. He does note that there are common characteristics to terrorists and
terrorism:
·
( )
political in aims and motives· violent – or, equally important, threatens violence
· designed to have far-reaching psychological repercussions beyond the immediate victim or target
· conducted by an organization with an identifiable chain of command or conspiratorial cell structure (whose members wear no uniform or identifying insignia) and
· perpetrated by a subnational group or non-state entity.[2]
In Hoffman’s description I did find my similarity to bullying. Terrorism and bullying are both violent or
threaten violence and both have far-reaching psychological repercussions. I could bemoan how we got into this mess with
an ethos that values solving problems with violent actions. I am not sure we even know how to entertain
ourselves without violent actions: from movies to sports. Does anyone remember when basketball was not a contact sport with violent
overtones to intimidate the other players?
Or when sliding into base to deliberately hurt the base player got you
ejected from the game? I have seen this
behavior in little league and church softball games. I want to yell at people, “stop hurting each
other.” Thank God, our wise leaders of
VBS decided to focus on behavior we want from all people: love and peace. They are following Jesus’ model to command us
to love one another rather than a command to “stop hurting each other.” Demanding the behavior he wants from his
disciples rather than telling them what not to do. Mothers have long known the value of focusing
on good behavior rather than bad behavior.
Because with children and often with adults the behavior one focuses on
is the behavior that gets repeated. So love
and peace is the theme for Unity’s 2012 VBS!
I also wondered why a commandment?
Loving and living in peace with friends and family is hard
enough to accomplish but with enemies the odds of being successful is greatly
diminished. If it was easy to love all people, God would not need to command
us. Having the force of a divine
commandment gives us strength to put the effort into loving those who are sweet
and beautiful as well as those who are filled with anger and violence or
withdrawn and unresponsive. Just as a
mother loves her new born or intransigent teenager, God loves us. All people are children of God and we are
commanded to love them as Jesus has loved us: sacrificially. This
is a love that requires action and service.
It is an investment in God’s children.
Who do you love? Start there and
work out being loving and forgiving and generous of spirit with all you
meet. See everyone as a beloved child of
God. In doing so, you will fulfill the
greatest commandment of all: LOVE. Amen.
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bullying
[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terrorism
and Bruce Hoffman, Inside Terrorism, 2 ed., Columbia University Press, 2006, p. 41.
