Scripture: John 13:31-35 (NRSV)
When he had gone
out, Jesus said, “Now service the Son of Man has been glorified, and God
has been glorified in him. If God has been glorified in him, God will
also glorify him in himself and will glorify him at once. Little
children, I am with you only a little longer. You will look for me;
and as I said to the Jews so now I say to you, ‘Where I am going,
you cannot come.’ I give you a new commandment, that you love one
another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.
By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have
love for one another.”
Sermon:
All
You Need is Love
Love,
love, love.
Love,
love, love.
Love,
love, love.
This
is the word for our scripture lesson this morning. Here we are
continuing our celebration of Easter, but we turn in the Gospel of
John back to that Maundy Thursday meal when Jesus washing the feet of
his disciples. Seems a strange look back when we are celebrating the
resurrection, except that the message of this scripture--- love--- is
important grounding for us in the Easter season, especially in the
wake of violence in this country and around the world.
But
such a message seems simplistic, doesn't it. Like Jesus is saying,
“Hey disciples, a lot is going to happen to you, and I know I told
you a lot of parables and taught you many things, but really, all you
need is love.” So then why do we need this whole bible, when
instead we can read Jesus' words in a Beatles' song?
Love,
especially in our culture's mania of candy hearts and roses, may
sometimes seem simple and nice and warm and fuzzy. Sometimes when we
talk about love, we create this picture of a love that looks more
like a bunch of people sitting around singing Kum By Yah rather than
whatever Jesus is talking about here. And our own experiences of love
tell us that what Jesus is saying here isn't all that simple, but
love is a deceptive word and it is hard. So we can't just read it
this morning and leave it with a nice feeling. We have to delve into
it, try our best to grasp it, because it is the heart of this
Resurrection Life we as Christians live.
There
is passage after passage in the bible about love, and I thought about
bringing them all into this sermon, but then I stopped and thought
I'd use a more contemporary work of art to bring this scripture to
life, to really delve
into the meaning of this word love.
So will you join me this morning as we try to understand Jesus' words
read through the lens of a Beatles' song?
“All
You Need is Love” was written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney and
first performed in 1967. They had been asked to come up with a simple
song that could be easily understood by people all around the
world--- even people who didn't speak English. Yet such a simple
message has such a power to it, and points us to Jesus' instructions
to his disciples: “I
give you a new commandment, that you love one another. By this
everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for
one another.”
Let us explore these words together.
There's
nothing you can do that can't be done.
Nothing
you can sing that can't be sung.
Nothing
you can say but you can learn how to play the game.
It's
easy.
The
Beatles paraphrase what Jesus is saying pretty well, I think. John
Lennon begins his definition of love pretty biblically, I think. He
begins by talking about impossibility.
Now
let's go back to the scripture here. The conversation we read takes
place directly following Jesus washing everyone's feet. This is the
beginning of a gentle but fierce conversation in which Jesus explains
to his disciples what is about to happen. He tells them he is leaving
them, he tells them that he will die. The disciples do not even
understand that---
how can they understand something impossible like the resurrection?
But he is patient and tells them that though he dies, yet he will
live.
There's
nothing you can do that can't be done.
Nothing
you can sing that can't be sung.
We
often say that nothing is impossible with God. Sometimes I think we
forget that nothing is impossible with God because
of God's love. That's the link the Beatles make for us. And it was a
crucial link for the disciples. Even though they did not understand
that Jesus was to die, Jesus was trying to plant within them the fact
that, if they could just hold on to love, they would not be left
alone in the impossibility of grief. If they could just hold on to
love, the work to spread Jesus' teachings would not seem as
impossible as it did in the face of Judas' betrayal, as it did in the
shadow of the cross.
Holding
onto love is not about holding onto a warm, fuzzy feeling. We learn
from Jesus and the Beatles here that holding on to love is to say
that nothing is impossible. Even in the face of war and terror, even
in the face of death, love overcomes. Jesus shows his friends his
love by washing their feet, and then he tells them that love is what
is going to get them through the pain and hardship that is ahead of
them.
Nothing
you can make that can't be made.
No
one you can save that can't be saved.
Nothing
you can do but you can learn how to be you in time.
It's
easy.
In
the second verse, I think that the Beatles bring out for us another
important piece of what Jesus was saying to his disciples. Love is
about learning, learning to be the true self that God is calling us
to be. Jesus says, “Just
as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this,
everyone will know that you are my disciples.”
Jesus is encouraging the disciples to become love, as he is.
This
takes time, as Jesus knows, I'm sure, but if he didn't know that he
learns it after the resurrection where he finds his disciples hiding
locked away in an upper room, on the road running from Jerusalem, so
tired they are spouting disbelief, and even going back to their work
as fishermen. He finds them running from that call to be themselves,
running from the call to become God's love in the world.
The
call looks different for everyone, but too often we, like the
disciples run from it. We try to claim impossibility, saying that
love really can't bring any kind of change in the world, so why
bother? But in the end there is nothing for us to do but learn, turn
to scripture, turn to those Godly mentors in our lives, and learn to
be us, learn to love as Jesus calls us to love.
You
see God doesn't leave us alone, and so there is nothing we can do but
let the lessons of love God sends to us wash over us, and settle
within us. Nothing to do but let the nonsensical but strong
connections we make in love to lead us to become...
Nothing you can know that isn't known.
Nothing
you can see that isn't shown.
Nowhere
you can be that isn't where you're meant to be.
It's
easy.
In
a few weeks, we will be exploring the story of the Ascension, in
which Jesus leaves physically, but this love he encourages the
disciples to have back before he is crucified is meant to sustain
them, sustain us through Jesus' physical absence. It is the event I
think Jesus is looking to when he gives this commandment to his
followers.
When
he tells them to love he reminds them and us, that if we just love,
other things fall into place. Nowhere
you can be that isn't where you're meant to be,
if you just love. At least, I imagine that part is included in Jesus'
commandment. After all, the disciples work together a bit after the
ascension, but when Pentecost comes, many of them find themselves
scattered to preach throughout the world. And yet, with the love of
Christ within them, they find where ever they are to be exactly where
they need to be.
This
is an important lesson for us as well, as I prepare to move to
Presbury United Methodist and as you prepare to welcome a new pastor.
Pastors, if they know anything at all, know that the most important
rule of being a pastor is to just love the people. If you love the
people, the the other things like preaching and administration and
teaching and hospital visits--- those things work themselves out. It
may take a while, certainly. But they do.
Now,
at the end of each verse, John Lennon sings that all this is easy.
I'm not so sure, particularly if we are still using the example of
the Methodist itinerant system of moving pastors! Love is often hard
work, and it is risky, particularly in the way Jesus is using it! But
every time we claim something is impossible, love reminds us that it
isn't. The tomb is empty. Christ is risen. Nothing is impossible with
God.
All
you need is love.
All
you need is love.
All
you need is love, love.
Love
is all you need.
All you need is love (all together, now!)
All
you need is love. (everybody!)
All
you need is love, love.
Love
is all you need (love is all you need).
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