This Is My Commandment: Love One Another As I Have Loved You

“This Is My Commandment:

That You Love One Another As I Have Loved You”

AS I preached this as a sermon on “Mother’s Day,” It occurred to me, as it almost always does, that Mother’s Day is NOT an official church occasion, but that the love most of our mothers had or have for us may help us understand Jesus’ command to love one another as he loves us, as God loves us.  So let’s reflect a little bit on our mothers’ love for us.  First, our mothers loved us before we loved them, in fact before we even knew what mothers were or what love was.  Secondly, a mother’s love is unconditional.  Mothers love us no matter what we do.  They may be disappointed by some of our actions, they may even be heartbroken when we do things they never dreamed we could do.  The good news about this is, among other good news, is that when we did really dumb, even stupid things in high school, they did not abandon us or throw us out on the street. 

This is the kind of love Jesus is talking about in the Gospel of John 15:9-17 when he proclaims, “As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you, abide in my love. . . I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you and so that your joy may be complete. . .This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you,”

Jesus then says something very interesting, very motherly, if you will: “you did not choose me, but I chose you.”  This to me is one of the greatest assurances that God loves all of us, regardless of race, religion or lack of religion, political belief or our sins.  What a blessing that the God who created us, all of us, loves us just as our mothers love us: without reservation, second guessing or favoritism.

As I reflect on Jesus’ new commandment, I am reminded of Psalm 98 where the psalmist begins by proclaiming, “Sing to the Lord a new song, for the Lord has done marvelous things.”  Truly, God has given us a New Song, A New Commandment, and, to quote my Lutheran Pastor Friend and Civil Rights activist, Robert Graetz, “God has given us a New Word for a new day.”

God has given us the scriptures as a “family story,” and as a guide, but Scripture is not the end of the conversation, it is simply a part of the ongoing conversation between God and God’s people.  God continuously goes beyond what we believe to be the limits of God’s Kingdom to include others.  In The Acts of the Apostles, Chapter 10, we hear that “the Spirit fell upon all who heard the word, even on the Gentiles.”  Peter then proclaims, “Can anyone withhold water for baptizing these people who received the Holy Spirit just as we have?”  The Spirit has gone beyond the confines of the church and bestowed its blessings on outsiders.

What I believe this means for us as Christians is that we first become friends of Jesus, and only then can we become friends with each other.  I believe this means we face the world with open scriptures and open hearts, with, as H. Richard Niebuhr proclaimed in the 1950’s and 1960’s, we face the world with the Bible in one hand and the Newspaper in the other.

As the people of God, our world becomes more complicated.  Once we have become friends with the Jesus who chose us first and loved us first, then we are called “to love one another as Jesus loved us.”  This is true, even when we disagree with other Christians over so many things: immigration, same sex marriage and relationships, war and peace, who God saves and who God does not save, and. . .you fill in the blank!  If our faith does not deal with these issues and in this way, it is not a faith worth having.

Whatever our disagreements, we stand at the same altar and receive the same “body and blood of Jesus Christ.”  This can lead us to share our differing beliefs respectfully and to work together to reduce the rhetoric, anger and hate in our society as a whole.

So, Jesus says, “this is my commandment, that you agree, that you be conservative, that you be liberal, that you be perfect, that you be correct all the time, that you defend God.” NO! 

 “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you, PERIOD!” 

That you love one another just as your mothers love you! PERIOD!