Growing in Love
John 15:9-17
by Jim Westmoreland
A rather eccentric looking young man wearing an old brown suit and holding a small, worn, stickered suitcase, walked into the center of a town in which he had just landed a job. When he got to the town square, he spun around a few times and looked up to the skyline. Fixing his eyes on the closest church steeple, he immediately made his way to the front door, knocked and asked to speak with the pastor.
The pastor invited him to his office, they sat down to talk. Then, the young man rose to his feet and immediately stood on one foot. Surprised by this behavior, the pastor asked how he could help the man. The young man said, "I have come very far and wish to settle in this town and join your church. But, first, I would like you to instruct me in the entire faith as I stand on one foot." Assessing the man to be deranged, the pastor promptly showed him the door.
Returning to the town square to repeat his spinning ritual, he headed in a new direction to the nearest church steeple. Again, he made his way to the front door to speak to the pastor. Again, he said, "I have come very far and wish to settle in this town and join your church. But, first, I would like you to instruct me in the entire faith as I stand on one foot." Uneasy and feeling that the young man was irrational, he also showed him the door.
A third time the young man repeated his spinning ritual and headed toward another church steeple. An old, slouched and limping, white-bearded pastor answered the door and showed him to his study. "I have come very far and wish to settle in this town and join your church. But, first, I would like you to instruct me in the entire faith as I stand on one foot." The pastor looked at him through timeworn but wise eyes and smiled saying: "Jesus commands you to love one another as He has loved you -- the rest is all commentary." At that the young man settled into town and joined the church.(1)
What is at the heart of discipleship? Too easily we say that we are to love one another, that we are to grow in love. It is easy to talk about love with our family and close friends. What is it like to talk about love with someone who is struggling, who has lost their job, who has cried out to God for relief and relief has not come? What is it like to stand with someone who is unpopular? What is it like to support the personhood and basic needs of someone who is our enemy or with whom we strongly disagree?
You will remember Jackie Robinson as the first black man to play Major League baseball. In his first season with the Brooklyn Dodgers, Robinson faced venom nearly everywhere he traveled. Pitchers threw fastballs at his head. Runners spiked him on the bases, brutal epithets were written on cards and spoken from the opposing dugouts. Even the home crowds in Brooklyn saw him as an object of reproach.
During one game in Boston, the taunts and racial slurs seemed to reach a peak. To make matters worse Robinson committed an error and stood at second base humiliated while the fans hurled insults at him. Another Dodger, a Southern white man by the name Pee Wee Reese, called timeout. He walked from his position at shortstop toward Robinson at second base, and with the crowds looking on, he put his arm around Robinson's shoulder. The fans grew quiet. Robinson later said that arm around his shoulder saved his career.(2)
Who do we know that is feeling down? Who do we know that others look down on? Who needs encouragement? Who needs someone to step out and risk being misunderstood to put an arm around someone's shoulder? Who will we choose to show God's love to? How will we choose to grow by showing God's unconditional love to someone we may not even like?
In today's Scripture lesson Jesus, gives his disciples a rather simple commandment, "Love one another." Sometimes when we read the teachings of Jesus his words seem hard to understand. Sometimes, he hints and suggests that we consider a new perspective or outlook on life without ever really saying it. So, we are left with a sense of confusion and uncertainty. Sometimes, we have difficulty knowing how to apply his teaching in a given situation. Christian ethics may suggest a number of possibilities. There does not appear to be a clear right and wrong. But his words that we have read today are very clear and concise. They are very straightforward. There is no gray. There are no conflicting responses. His command is unmistakable.
However, even when we know what is expected of us, it is not always easy to do. John Dominic Crossan, the author of one of the more provocative new books on the life of Jesus illustrates through a conversation that he has with God, not only the difficulty of obedience, but how we try to worm are way out of the obligation of obedience.
"I've read your book, Dominic," Jesus begins," and it's quite good. So you're now ready to live by my vision and join me in my program?"
"I don't think I have the courage, Jesus, but I did describe it quite well, didn't I, and the method was especially good, wasn't it?"
"Thank you, Dominic, for not falsifying the message to suite your own incapacity. That at least is something."
"Is it enough, Jesus?"
"No, Dominic, it is not."(3)
One characteristic that marks a person who claims to be a disciple of Christ is that no matter what the situation, he or she attempts to respond to other people as Jesus would respond. At that level the WWJD movement has accurately identified the crux of the Christian life. Our response is not based upon whether the action "Makes sense," or "Feels Good," or is "what everyone else is doing" or will enable us to accomplish are goals in life. Certain situations require certain responses. Period. A Christian is someone who through baptism has signed on by publicly committing themselves to obeying the teachings of Jesus.
What does it mean to grow in Christ? What does it mean to grow in love? Jesus said, "This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you."
God hasn't just commanded us to love each other, he has shown us how to love each other, and he has given us what we need to do it with, and he promised us joy and victory over the world when we love with the faith that God is with us to help us as we obey him.
The good news of Jesus Christ is that God did not sit on the sidelines and let us perish, He sent his own son to save us.
And now, my friends, that Son has sent us! And in sending us, he has promised to be with us, giving us the strength we need.
Love that counts, love that is real, is acted out.
Love, does not sit by the wayside, looking at those who suffer
or complaining about how bad things are, and making
judgements about who or what is to blame.
No, it leads to involvement, to the attempt to heal and help, and wipe away the tears, to the attempt to be like Jesus, who upon seeing the suffering of the world, descended from his throne in heaven and walked among us, as a servant, a teacher, and a healer, that we might know what it is that we should do and know that he is with us to help us to do it.
It is not an option but a command, that we should grow in our love for one another. Jesus said, "I have called you friends." And, I have appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last." Amen.
entury Christian Church, May 21, 2006 - Sermon by Jim Westmoreland
www.centurychristian.org
1. Fr. Jim Mazzone, Christ the King Church, Worcester MA, Catholic Homilies and Sermon Ideas at http://members.aol.com/homilies/index.html retrieved 5-19-06.
2. Brett Blair, www.eSermons.com , email newsletter on 5-15-06.
3. "The Historical Jesus: An Interview with John Dominic Crossan," The Christian Century, 108 (December 18-25, 1991), p. 1204.