Sixth Sunday after Easter

In his book “What’s So Amazing About Grace?”, author Philip  Yancey writes:  Not long ago I received in

The mail a postcard from a friend that had on it only six words, “I am the one Jesus loves.” . . . When I called him, he told me the slogan came from the author and speaker Brennan Manning.  At a seminar, Manning referred to Jesus’ closest friend on earth, the disciple named John, identified in the Gospels as “the one Jesus loved.”  Manning said, “If John were to be asked, ‘What is your primary identity in life?’ he would not reply, ‘I am a disciple, an apostle, an evangelist, an author of one of the four Gospels,’ but rather, ‘I am the one Jesus loves.’”  What would it mean, I ask myself, if I too came to the place where I saw my primary identity in life as “the one Jesus loves”?  

Guess what this sermon’s going to be about! When people outside the church think of Christians, what do they think they think of? If you have been in the church for years and all your friends are Christians, you’d probably be inclined to think that people have a generally positive view of Christians. Survey after survey finds most people agreeable to the idea of loving one another. It’s an important thing. It’s a nice thing. It’s a good thing. But the same surveys find most people think that Christians are negative people: we’re viewed as being judgmental, disagreeable, petty, too political, and too concerned about tedious points of doctrine. In fact, they say, the number one reason why people outside the church don't attend church is because of their perception of the Christians who are in churches. Now, we can be discouraged by that. We can be offended by that. Or, we can see it as a challenge. An expression of the depth of the work to which God calls us, to be the people of God.

Jesus said: "This is my commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you." Jesus' message to us today is the same as Jesus' message to the whole world today, "I have loved you; now, go love others." To love and to be loved may be the simplest expression of the meaning of life.

In our first parish there were two women; cousins in fact. And they couldn’t stand one another.  Now I knew that they didn’t get along, that they tended to avoid one another, etc., etc., etc. But I had no idea how bad it was until they both ended up serving on church council at the same time. If one said right the other said left. If one said black the other said white. It was terrible. And even if they weren’t saying anything, the    disagreement was palpable.  The ambient temperature dropped by about fifteen degrees anytime both of them were in the same room at the same time. They not only made each other miserable, they made everyone else miserable, too. I finally asked another long-time member about what was going on with these two.  His explanation?  “Oh, their grandmother’s  hated each other.” What kind of a difference would it have made in their own lives, in the lives of their families, and in the life of the                congregation, if they had simply done as Jesus commands?

To love and to be loved, that's it. People do some amazing things to look for love and acceptance from other people. Think about when you were younger. When you were young what was it? Wearing the right clothes? Speaking the right language? Listening to the cool music? Getting in with the right crowd? Getting your own car? But honestly, how much of that has really changed for us as adults? The only difference is that today we tend to buy the social acceptance we crave. Clothes are still important, surprisingly (or maybe not), but now it’s also your house, your car. Maybe it’s a boat, or some other lifestyle accessory. It's not all that different from the peer pressure that our young people face. Because people, no matter what their age, even supposed grown-ups, do some astonishing things to feel loved and accepted by others.

"This is my commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you."  This is a real challenge for Christians, for us. Because at every turn the world tells us that no matter what, there’s always “room for improvement”, you could always be doing “better”. You're not acceptable if you're too fat or you're out of shape or have hair in the wrong places or don't have hair on top of your head. You're not acceptable if you're not driving a big car and living in a house you really can't afford. You're not loveable if you're not just a little dumber than the next person, because nobody likes a know-it-all. Again, nothing new. I got picked on for being smart when I was in high school. This is the way society shows what it calls "acceptance" and "love."

And

when this gets in our heads, and we begin to internalize it? It becomes nothing but destructive. It eats away at the soul. It’s demonic possession. We become the property of all the voices that tell us the reasons why nobody could ever love us.

But what’s the message of Jesus? Jesus loves you. God loves you. God, the Creator of the universe knows you intimately and has proved without any doubt that He loves you by sending His Son Jesus into the flesh that you might know you are loved. "Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love," says Jesus. "I have loved you." Jesus loves you.

I have one goal today. That no one leaves here wondering whether you are loved by God, or worse, thinking you’re not. Jesus is clear and He is speaking to you today, "I have loved you and continue, still, to love you." So what?  Maybe you’re thinking to yourself, "If God really loves me, He has a funny way of showing it." God doesn’t love us the way the world thinks love ought to be.  There is nothing we can do to warrant God's love. There is nothing we can do that can get God to love us.

Brennan Manning tells the story of an Irish priest who, on a walking tour of a rural parish, sees an old peasant kneeling by the side of the road, praying. Impressed, the priest says to the man, ‘You must be very close to God.' The peasant looks up from his prayers, thinks a moment, and then smiles, ‘Yes, he's very fond of me.'" [pp. 68-69]1 

That begins to show us the meaning of John 3:16 that we all know: "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son. But also Romans 5:8, "But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."

Ephesians 2:4-7, "But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved) and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus."

This is, of course, immediately before the verse that every Lutheran knows by heart, verses 8 and 9 here in Ephesians 2, "For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast."

“Yes, He’s very fond of me.” It’s there to reinforce the point: we don't, in fact cannot, earn God's love. But the point is still clear, Jesus says to you today. "I have loved you."

We’re now in the sixth week of the Easter season. This is a time to bathe in the glow of the unmerited, undeserved love that God shows us through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. This should be a time when we focus on what it means to us that Jesus did not just die for us but that He rose for us too. Of course there’s comfort in the knowledge that just as Jesus was raised from the dead so, too, shall we be raised.  But there is also a more immediate result. This Gospel is for the here and now as well as for the Last Day. We are here to be loved by God, so that we, in turn, might be God’s love to others. What would it mean if I came to the place where I saw my primary identity in life as "the one Jesus loves"? How differently would I view myself at the end of a day? What about you? If you saw your primary identity in life as “the one Jesus loves”, how would that change the way you view yourself? What difference would it make to you and in your life?

Sociologists have the theory of the looking-glass self: you become what the most important person in your life (your wife, your parents, your boss) thinks you are. How would my life change if I truly believed the Bible's astounding words about God's love for me, if I looked in the mirror and saw what God sees?2 How would your life be different if you looked in the mirror and saw what God sees? Not the person who is too short, or too heavy. Not the person who isn’t handsome or beautiful enough. Not the person who isn’t good enough or successful enough. But the dear, precious daughter; the dear, delightful son. The child worthy not only of love, but of sacrifice. If we want the world to have a different perception of who we are as the church, then we need to be the ones to do it. And we do that by learning to see in ourselves what God sees. And then we learn to see that same thing in others. Regardless of any reservations we might have. Regardless of who or what that other person might be. Because God loves the world.  Unequivocally, unabashedly, in its totality.

IF we want to change the world’s perception of those who call themselves Christian, its up to us. We do that by steeping ourselves in our relationship with God; by learning as much as possible about God and God’s love for us; by learning to talk about our relationship with God. We do that by telling others about how muchGod loves them. We do that by showing them how much God loves them. We do it by talking about our faith and acting upon it.

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ. You are the one Jesus loves. He has said so. When you leave here, abide in Him. Keep His commandments, not because you are His slave, but because you are Jesus' true friend. God loves you because Jesus loves you.

AMEN