Easter VI

The Reverend Martha Frances

Year B, Easter VI

17 May 2009 

Texts:  Acts 10: 44-48 & John 15: 9-17

Other readings:  Psalm 98; I John 5; 1-6 
 

      What Jesus has to say to his disciples in today's gospel reading is part of what has been called his farewell discourse, his final instructions to his disciples before his almost certain death.  It follows last week's gospel reading in which he is the vine & we the branches.  He is stressing the necessity of staying connected to the source of love & empowerment which is God & establishing the chain of love & obedience in which he is connected with God & his disciples must stay connected to him. 

      Although I believe reading & studying faithful translations of scripture is essential, sometimes modern paraphrases help us glean meaning we would otherwise miss.  Eugene Peterson's The Message puts this passage this way:

      "I've loved you the way my Father has loved me.  Make yourselves at home in my love.  If you keep my commands, you'll remain intimately at home in my love.  That's what I've done—kept my Father's commands & made myself at home in his love.

      "I've told you these things for a purpose: that my joy might be your joy, & your joy wholly mature.  This is my command: Love one another the way I loved you.  This is the very best way to love.  Put your life on the line for your friends.  You are my friends when you do the things I command you.  I'm no longer calling you servants because servants don't understand what their master is thinking & planning.  No, I've named you friends because I've let you in on everything I've heard from the Father.

      "You didn't choose me, remember; I chose you, & put you in the world to bear fruit, fruit that won't spoil.  As fruit bearers, whatever you ask the Father in relation to me, he gives you.

      "But remember the root command: Love one another."

      What Jesus had to say to his disciples before his death applies equally to us as his present-day disciples as we mature day by day.  Jesus tells us he models the love that God showed him & we need to stay just as connected to Jesus as Jesus does to God.  I love the way Peterson translates "abide," a word we talked about last week.  Jesus invites us to make ourselves at home in his love.  There's an intimacy & comfort in making ourselves at home; we're no longer just visitors; we belong at home.  How do we do that?  We fulfill God's commands.  Love is an action verb; we show love not just by putting on a uniform & acting out a part but by the way in which we live our lives, even when we're "at home."

      I'll tell you that, in order to be open to being at home in Jesus' love, I need regular intentional contact with Jesus, both in public community worship & also in daily prayer, meditation, & Bible reading.  When I'm filled up with Jesus' body & blood of the Eucharist & the awarenesses I receive in the scripture & prayer & journaling I make it a habit to include at the beginning of my day, I'm much more able to feel & then pass on God's love. 

      As I was thinking of resting in God's love, I was reminded of Dame Julian of Norwich whose feast day we celebrated on the 8^th of May.  At 30 years old, she had been gravely ill when, on the 7^th day, all pain left her & she had 15 visions of Jesus' Passion which gave her great peace & joy.  In her Revelations of Divine Love, written as meditations on those visions, she explains, "From that time I desired oftentimes to learn what was our Lord's meaning," & she received the answer through the Holy Spirit: " 'Wouldst thou learn the Lord's meaning in this thing?  Learn it well.  Love was his meaning.  Who showed it thee?  Love.  What showed he thee?  Love.  Wherefore showed it he?  For Love.  Hold thee therein & thou shalt learn & know more in the same.'  Thus it was I learned that Love was our Lord's meaning," Julian said. 

      Now we might think Julian was repetitious in her insistence that we look to love as Jesus' central message for us.  However, our gospel reading today becomes the scriptural precedence Julian had for her focus on love. Jesus' emphasis is upon the interweaving of love between the Father & Son, the model for Jesus' love for humankind & our model for caring for each other. 

      Wouldn't it be wonderful if we could say that Jesus' 1^st followers were such extraordinary lovers that the early churches ran smoothly & such has been the case even unto this day?  Where did Christians go so wrong that we now have such a variety of expressions of Christianity in different denominations & even within denominations so that we have incredibly acrimonious infighting as some anticipate at the upcoming Episcopal General Convention to be held in Anaheim next month?  What has happened that so many Christians, much less everyone else, argue endlessly about the proper relationship between Church & State as well as who belongs in the church community & who must remain out?

      A closer look at the reading from Acts today may enlighten us historically.  You may remember that Peter is a pretty conservative disciple who at first believes that only Jews are eligible to receive the Holy Spirit & become Christian, but then that same Holy Spirit gives him a vision in a dream of many animals which aren't considered kosher & invites him to kill & eat.  Peter is horrified when the Spirit tells him, "What God has made clean, you must not call profane."  However, immediately, he is called to visit Cornelius, a centurion in the Roman army, a Gentile.  As Peter teaches Cornelius & his family the basics of the Christian faith, the Holy Spirit descends upon them & empowers them to praise God, even speaking in tongues.  Peter has learned from his vision & decides to baptize those who have received the Holy Spirit in the name of Jesus Christ.  Then he remains to further enlighten them on the Christian life.

      We'll leave for another day the hullabaloo that Peter's rash action stirs up in the larger Christian community, but looking back on this event from many centuries later, we can hardly know how earth-shaking it was to the early Jewish Christians who considered themselves a sect of Judaism to contemplate non-Jews receiving the gifts of the Holy Spirit & becoming part of the "in group."  Over & over again, we see the struggle of the "in groups" to be willing to be inclusive of those previously considered unworthy for whatever reason.

      The undercurrents of Luke's story—as well as his detail elsewhere—tell us that change & further inclusion were not any easier for the early disciples than worshipping in an integrated community has been at many places in our current generation. 

Fortunately, the earliest communities chose to be inclusive & outreaching rather than exclusionist though not without serious opposition repeated throughout history even until now.  Love was the criterion then as it is now, & God's loving us through the self-giving love of Jesus is the model of how we are to love one another.  At last night's concert of Duke Ellington music, one of the songs was "God is a 3-letter word for love, & love is a 4-letter word for God."  What a meaningful coupling for us to remember!

      A wonderful part of today's gospel is Jesus' insistence that a fruit of the love he encourages us to share with others is joy:  "my joy may be in you, & that your joy may be complete" or, as Peterson says it, "mature."  As we mature in the faith, we are better able to have joy in those wonderful experiences others in the community have rather than the envy & jealousy which may bubble up within someone less mature.  Once again, mature love for others often shows itself in deep contentment at another's blessings & gifts of ministry. 

      Further, the growth of the early Church depended upon winning disciples who were willing to put their love to action even when that might mean persecution or at least relocation to avoid persecution.  Increasing the numbers of members wasn't the objective; sharing the news of God's love through Jesus Christ was.  Our growth as a Christian community is essential, not primarily because more active members will increase our stability & spread the work load but mostly because we exist to share the Good News with all we encounter, & growing in discipleship should call others to deepen in faith with us.  How can we at Hope so grow in our own faith & love that others are drawn to share it with us?

      The last part of the gospel passage reminds us that God is the first actor & we are invited to respond.  Jesus assures us that he chooses us as disciples just as he chose his first apostles.  Why?  He says we are to go & bear fruit, fruit that will last, & that God will provide what we need for our love to bear good fruit.  Earlier, Jesus has used the metaphor of the vine (himself) & the branches (us), both dependent upon God the vine grower.  Our love must have arms & legs & wings, for true love is acted out in our lives.  We can only keep what we are willing to give away—the love which bears fruit.  When we are obedient to Christ in our concrete expression of love, Jesus tells us the result is joy—his as well as our own.  We at Hope are well named for opening ourselves to & pursuing how the perfect love which Jesus calls us to is to be manifest among ourselves but also beyond these walls to a world in much need of Christ's love.  How do we accomplish such love?  Jesus says God will give us whatever we ask in Christ's name.  God doesn't call the equipped; God equips those who are called.  How does God call Hope Episcopal to love one another today?