In this season of Easter, our
scripture readings have jumped around the Gospel of John. Today, we return to the Last Supper of Jesus
and his Disciples, the meal and conversation Jesus had with his friends on the
eve of his arrest and death on the cross.
Although the Disciples were ignorant, Jesus knew what was about to
happen to him….he knew he would be betrayed by Judas, arrested, put on trial,
and killed. So, it was important to
Jesus to emphasize his most essential teachings for his friends. He needed his friends to carry on his work
after Jesus ascended to heaven, so Jesus shared several final teachings or
commands with the Disciples gathered at the Last Super.
Hear Jesus words as they were
recorded in the Gospel of John, Chapter 15, verses nine through seventeen:
Scripture Reading John 15: 9-17
“As the Father has loved me, so have I
loved you. Now remain in my love.
If you keep my
commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands
and remain in his love.
I have told
you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.
My command is this: Love each other as I have
loved you.
Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s
life for one’s friends.
You are my
friends if you do what I command.
I no longer
call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business.
Instead, I have called you
friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known
to you.
You did not
choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear
fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father
will give you.
This is my
command: Love each other.
Prayer for Understanding
Lord, we long for your wisdom and truth. Send your Holy Spirit to guide us as we listen. Prepare our ears to hear your Word and our hearts to receive it. Amen.
My mother spent
most of her career as a medical social worker.
After several years working in a maternity unit, she moved to working
with dialysis patients. Almost 500,000
Americans undergo regular dialysis treatments because they have kidney
failure…this means we either already know people who are receiving dialysis
treatments or we will know people who will have dialysis.
My mother
became a big advocate for the National Kidney Foundation while she was working
with dialysis patients. The National
Kidney Foundation offers trainings for staff people who work in dialysis units.
They educate patients. They do research on treatments for kidney disease. And, they recruit and educate potential
kidney donors.
Sometimes, people who have kidney
failure qualify for a transplant of a donor kidney so they are able to live
without dialysis treatment. In our
scripture reading this morning, Jesus said: “Greater love has no one that this:
to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” On the National Kidney Foundation’s
website, there are several testimonies from people who chose to donate
kidneys. Some people donate kidneys to
people they don’t know. Some people donate kidneys to acquaintances. Some
people donate kidneys to family members. Some people donate kidneys to friends.
One of the newest testimonies came
from Austin Gray. Austin took a break
from being an American Ninja Warrior to donate a kidney to his childhood friend
Kaylee. In his testimony, Aaron said
that there are…”100,000 American waiting for a kidney donation, and there are
also another 100,000 Americans who would give a kidney if they knew about the
need.”
Jesus told his disciples to love one
another. He wanted them to remember that
he was more than their teacher. He was more than their master. Jesus was their
friend. And, as their friend, he loved
them. And, they were supposed to love each other no matter what happened.
When Jesus was at the Last Supper, he
knew his friends were about to be plummeted into a terrible, tragic season of
their lives. Jesus would be killed. And,
although he would be resurrected, he wasn’t going to stay on earth forever to
guide them. Jesus knew as the church
developed, the disciples were going to undergo stress and persecution. Some of them would be martyred. They would argue about how to lead the new
church. Despite their differences, the disciples would need to love each other
above everything else.
We experience this in our own
families. We sometimes have trouble
loving each other when stressful situations arise. Pressure is put on
relationships as we work to provide care for older relatives and children. Pressure is put on relationships if a family
member loses their job or the family moves into a new home. When we are stressed, it is difficult for us
to get along. We have to first and
foremost love each other.
Jesus called
his disciples his “friends.” The
disciples probably had moments when they struggled to work together. They probably didn’t always feel like the
best of “Friends” with each other. They probably had occasions when they struggled
to love each other.
In our own
church, and in all Christian congregations, we are called to be “friends” with
each other. This is not an easy
assignment. Very diverse people are part
of each congregation. We have a mandate
to welcome everyone to join us in our church, which means the people who join
us may be very different from each other.
We sometimes have to “work” on being friends which each other, because
we become brothers and sisters in Christ with people we perhaps would not have
picked to be friends with in our non-church life.
I kind of think
about like the cafeteria in a stereotypical high school…at each table sits a
different clique – the football players at one, the cheerleaders at another;
the kids who play in the marching band and the drama kids who act in the plays;
the art kids and the stoner kids; the soccer players and the video gamers; the
kids who are goth and dress in all black and the kids who are punk with spikey
green hair; the kids who are going to be the next Jeff Bezos and the kids who
are going to be the next Lady Gagas; the kids in ROTC and the kids who are into
hunting. So, in churches, we take a kid
or two from each table and bring them together to worship God and work together
to share the love of God with our neighbors. This is wonderful, because no
matter who you are or where you are on life’s journey, you are welcome
here. And, this can also lead to a few
minor hiccups, because it is sometimes difficult to love people who are very,
very different than we are.
Part of our
work in loving each other is to give generously to each other. Jesus said, “Greater
love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” So, not
only are we challenged to love each other, but we are challenged to have the
greatest type of love – sacrificial love.
We love other people and expect nothing in return. We give and don’t
expect to get. We share things and aren’t angry if they are not returned. We are generous not because we get something
out of it but we are responding to the generous love of God to us. God forgives us and loves us and we can’t
reciprocate that love to God. We are the beneficiaries of God’s love and grace
to us, and we are called to share love and grace to other people.
Today is Mother’s Day Sunday. This
is a day when we appreciate the women who have been nurturers to us and to our
wider community. Some women nurture by
being traditional mothers. And, many more women are nurturers by the love and
compassion they extend to all people….people in their families and people in
their communities. This is the day we
thank women who nurture – aunts, godmothers, Sunday school teachers, classroom
volunteers, school teachers, nurses, babysitters, lunch room ladies, and moms.
We thank the women who have loved us and loved the children in our community. And, as we work to live out the love of
Jesus, we appreciate the women who have been examples of Jesus’ love to
us.
Let us work to love like Jesus. May it be so. Amen.
** Artwork is "Messanger of sympathy & love, servant of parted friends, consoler of the lonely, bond of the scattered family, enlarger of the common life" by Eubene Francis Savage**
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