Readings: Acts 11:1-18 John 13:31-35
We pray: May we find, among the words, the love that
transcends all – the love of God for us.
Amen.
The words of hymn
writer Bill Wallace
Buried in autumnal ending lies the shoot that bursts
the tomb, for the letting go in autumn sows the seed that births the bloom.
Autumn is a
fascinating time of year – some people’s favourite I shouldn’t wonder. A time of endings, yet of harvest. Where seeds are bursting out of those dried
pods ready for new growth, where the leaves are frenetic in the wind. I was walking through one of our green
patches a few day ago and leaves were just everywhere, soaring and dropping
then taking off again – just so much fun that you could almost hear their cries
of ‘wheeeeee’.
And we know,
because we have experienced the season (some of us more than others), that in
the midst of the act of stripping the tree of what was is the new budding of
fresh life to come.
In the Gospel
reading for today we are taken back to the moment when the giant kauri that is
Jesus is about to be cut down for good – not just a few leaves falling but
according to the wielders of the axe an end, a finish. Yet Jesus knows otherwise. He knows of the new life that will come from
this act of wanton destruction but he also know that it will not be easy – and
so he chooses his words with great care, and with effective simplicity, words
that will echo down through generation after generation of believers – he commands
love! Love one another! As I have loved you, so you love one
another! Get this right and all else
will follow. In these moment of urgency,
final words, impending end, Jesus word is love.
Some context.
These are words
that follow immediately on from the betrayal of Judas and impending betrayal of
Peter.
These are words
that are given deep into the heart of a really vulnerable moment, an end of
life moment when all is stark and precious.
These are words
spoken into community.
These are words
that command: no debate, no analysis, no promise, just action.
These are words
that ask much of our living, including a bit of dying.
These are words
spoken into an autumn, a time of endings and dying, words that will ensure the
growing of new life, of the kingdom.
Using the words of Bill Wallace, these words of command are the shoot
that bursts open the tomb, or the sowing of the seeds that, in turn, birth the
bloom.
Such a hackneyed
word, love. So twisted and entangled
with conditions and expectations. Or so
fluffy that it can fly faster than those autumnal leaves in a strong wind.
So maybe it is
good to consider the command to love in the shadow of the cross, in the intense
moment of last good byes and the vulnerability of uncertain future rather than just
in the warm glow of Easter joy.
For then, it is
living love in the midst of betrayal – loving your enemies, those who have hurt
you and ignored you, those who by their very actions can threaten you and
yours. Got to be the hardest thing to
do, for sure. Yet the power of love that survives betrayal is surely the open
door to reconciliation and new beginnings.
It is the place of forgiveness and improbable relationships that can
bear much fruit.
Living love in
vulnerability. Jesus, in his complete subjection
to suffering, in his words from the cross, showed us how it is that love can be
so powerful in the midst of total disempowerment. Too often we think that we need to be strong
to offer the gift of love – as if it would somehow drain us or compromise our
position. Many of you will know and have
experienced it – that it is in the moments of brokenness when there are no
words, no fixes that love is most absolutely present - in the hand held, the
tears shed, the knowledge of God’s love within and around us.
Living love as
community. And what is community
according to Jesus? It is us, it is us with them, it is the unlikely mix of Jew
and Gentile, untouchables sitting down at table with the acceptables, it is
diverse peoples living in the commonality of Christ – and loving each
other. It is showing to the world that
this love commandment has the power to demolish walls of distrust and ‘other’
in a way the world has never seen before or since.
Living love as
command. Red rag to a bull for many of
us –
commandment – I
don’t think so! At least let us decide what it means, debate it for a while:
put some words around it, maybe a creed or two just to make sure we know our
options here. It doesn’t work like
that. Just do it, says Jesus. Love each other and if you need any guidance
on that – well look to how I have lived, listen to my teaching, talk and pray
with me and each other, and then all else will follow – only then will the
world know what it means to follow Jesus.
Living love even
unto death. It is kind of tempting to just sidestep this one – metaphor,
language of the day, not that relevant today.
But actually it was the reality for Jesus, it was the future for many of
those disciples, and for many more who have come since. There have been heaps of Martin Luthers and
Corrie Ten Booms and Eric Liddells and Joe and Jess Blogg’s who have chosen
love over their own safety. Those who refused
to fight in wars and were executed by their own side, those who fought and
whose humanity became a fragile thing.
But we are not all asked to live in extreme danger to our physical lives
in Jesus name - it is but a short step from there to seeking death as means of
redemption, also known as martyrdom.
We are asked,
however, to understand the reality of living love even to the death as Jesus
did. On the cross Jesus turned the world
upside down by his redefinition of what it means to live to the glory of God. He knew it would take more than a few sermons
or intensive teaching sessions to get the message of God’s love across to the
world– extreme action was called for.
Yes the cross, but more extreme yet was the humility and love with which
he endured it. He acted out the love of God on the cross – he entered into the
words he had said in John 12 – ‘Very truly I tell you that unless a grain of
wheat falls to the earth, it remains just single grain; but if it dies, it
bears much fruit.’[1]
Falling to the
ground is not the world’s idea of glory, that’s for sure. Accolades, honour, renown it is not. Glory, Jesus tells us in this commandment is
found in our love for each other, in the coming together of all people in
community, in the loving, humble service we give to each other, in the compassion
we show and the care we have that all are loved and valued. From that dying to self comes the fruit of
loving community.
This command to
love is to take deep root in us – and other things may well have to die to
allow that – so that we can give witness to what no purely verbal argument can
ever accomplish: the glory of God
breathing through the life of a Christ centred community – you and I. Amen.
Margaret Garland
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