As we move into a time when more people are getting vaccinated and we can again begin to gather in-person, one of the things I am truly looking forward to is baptizing the children who have been born in our midst during this pandemic. Walter and Brenda Kopf’s grandson, Garrett, will be baptized in two weeks, and Mark and Molly DeHate’s son, Luca, will soon be baptized. As many of you know, I find baptisms to be one of the most meaningful things I do as I live into this call to ministry because in baptism we are shown how deeply and unconditionally we are loved by God, something that is communicated in all our scripture readings on this day.
In today’s reading from Acts, Peter is astonished to discover the Holy Spirit falls even on those who are Gentiles, those considered “other.” He then understands Gentiles cannot be denied the cleansing waters of baptism, new life, and God’s unconditional love. And, in our second reading, the writer of 1 John tells us the unconditional love that comes from our Creator Parent, expressed through the person of Jesus and through the Spirit, is born in us as we obey God’s commandment to love. Then, in today’s reading from John’s gospel, we find a continuation of the words we heard Jesus speaking last Sunday, and he again speaks about abiding in the love that is splashed all over us, love that will make our joy complete.
This whole section of John’s gospel is known as Jesus’ Farewell Discourse because he is preparing the disciples for his death. He knows he is going to die, and he knows he will be leaving them. In John’s gospel, these words are some of the last words Jesus speaks during his earthly life, and his last words are all about love. Jesus speaks of his love for the disciples as he calls them friends. And, by extension, he speaks these words to each one of us saying, “As the Father has loved me, so I love you, and so you should love one another.”
In our culture, the word “love” is highly ambiguous. However, in Greek, there are many different words for different types of love. The big challenge for us is that these multiple words become translated into English as just one word, simply the word love. In today’s passage, the word that has been translated as love comes from the Greek word agape. Agape love describes the excellence of character that is God’s very nature. It is all about relationship and it is the kind of love we find characterizing the relationship of the three persons of the Trinity. It is the kind of love in which we participate through sheer grace. Agape describes the Father’s love for the Son and it describes God’s love for us. Agape is all gift – a gift from God. Agape is not a feeling or inclination. It is the kind of love that responds as obedience to God’s commandment to choose to love others as God has chosen to love us. Agape love is always primarily interested in the good of the other person, rather than one’s own self. It is never a love that attempts to possess or dominate others. The concern is always for others and agape is never domineering, manipulative, possessive, or subordinating. Agape love always allows authentic, genuine space for others to be and become and grow. And, it is always offered without reserve.
We live in a culture that is extremely individualistic, self-focused and self-serving, a culture in which love takes on possessive characteristics. In fact, there is frequently a tendency to view love as a commodity, even something that becomes a scarcity as some people begin to think others are receiving more love than they are. This is never what love is about.
We as a people have become very selfish, and far too often self-interest is placed at the top of any list of priorities. In fact, we have become a nation that has increasingly exemplified the characteristics of narcissism, as in America first, something that I pray is beginning to turn around. We tend to be people who talk about love as this warm, euphoric feeling inside, a feeling one has when one is with some special person. We talk about “making love.” We throw the word love around and use it in cheap ways as we talk about loving objects like our house or our car, or something we want to get or possess. Quite honestly, what we claim to love is often borne out of a consumer driven culture. But, when it comes to people and relationships with others, we can be rather stingy and self-serving about our love.
So, today it is fitting that Jesus’ words break into our lives with a message of love, the love God has for this world and for all people. The love God calls us to live into every day is a very different kind of love. The nature of this love is giving. In fact, one might even say giving until it hurts. That is the love Jesus was talking about and that is the love he lived. Jesus not only gave until it hurt, he gave himself over unto death on a cross, all for the sake of love.
When we live into this kind of love, it is a choice. We choose to love, and it becomes a way of life through which we become changed. To love in this manner means obeying Jesus’ command to love. Agape love is a disciplined habit of care and concern, one that we work on perfecting over a lifetime as the living Word changes us, continually challenges us, takes us to new places, and continually makes us new. The love God shows toward Jesus is a demanding love, but it is also full of presence, promise and immeasurable joy. It is a love that prunes, cleanses, challenges, molds, and forms us. It is that kind of love that carried Jesus throughout his ministry. And, guess what, my friends, it is that kind of love that carries us and holds us, and it is that kind of love we are called to live.
The love of God that we are invited into is a love without limits. It is a wasteful love. It is love that is selfless and thus produces and enhances life. In fact, this love we see in the person of Jesus Christ is a love that invites us into a whole new dimension of what it means to be human, a love through which we become more fully human and whole. When we live this kind of love, all those boundaries that establish status and power are reversed. When we live this kind of love, the boundaries that have been created to separate us from those considered “others” are obliterated. This love is a servant love that truly cares for all others.
Friends, God is defined as love. The love of God, the love we are called to live, is not an entity so much as it is an all-pervading, penetrating experience. It is experienced when we discover that God’s love embraces us as we are, and God’s love embraces all people as they are. We discover that we cannot create this kind of love, we can only receive it and then share it. This is the love that binds us to God and one another. And, this love is the very meaning of Jesus.
There is a story about Karl Barth, one of the great theologians of the twentieth century. Toward the end of his life, Barth made a tour of the United States, where he had the opportunity to speak at several of our nation’s top universities. During a question/answer time following one of his lectures, a student posed what seemed to be an impossible question to answer. The student asked, “Dr. Barth, you have written extensively on every aspect of theology and church history. I’m wondering if you could sum it all up in a short sentence or two.” The room fell silent. Dr. Barth just stood there for a moment, carefully considering how to respond. Some of the professors and students who were there clearly began to feel awkward that such a minor question would be asked of such a brilliant scholar. Finally, Karl Barth turned toward the student and succinctly replied, “Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so.”
Today, Jesus’ last words to the disciples and each one of us are, “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 and made myself at home in his love. I’ve told you these things for a purpose: that my joy might be your joy, and your joy wholly mature. This is my command: Love one another the way I loved you. This is the best way to love. Put your life on the line for your friends.”