Jesus said, “Now the Son of Man is glorified and God is glorified in him. 32 If God is glorified in him, God will glorify the Son in himself, and will glorify him at once.
33 “My children, I will be with you only a little longer. You will look for me, and just as I told the Jews, so I tell you now: Where I am going, you cannot come.
34 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
On Sunday we asked folks to remember the first time their parents left them alone in the house. Jesus isn't ever going to leave his followers but the situation is analogous because one phase of his ministry--the most visible part--is coming to an end and the next phase is about to begin. That phase will include his crucifixion, resurrection, and the ascension into heaven. He's not leaving his followers but they're about to take on far more responsibility for the house!
Before your parents left you for the first time they went over a detailed set of instructions, right? "Remember to feed the dog, turn off the stove, call me if you go anywhere, and NO PARTIES!" The order and content may vary depending on your parents, but one thing's for sure: whatever they thought was most important they said last, right as they were going out the door. It doesn't matter if they had told you seven times before. "NO PARTIES!" made one more return as they were ducking into the car.
This gospel reading is the equivalent of Jesus' last instructions to the kids. And what did he say just as he was throwing his suitcase in the trunk? "Here's my command. Love one another just as I have loved you. This is how everybody will know you are my followers."
That's it! So simple! And yet it's every bit as important to God as "turn the stove off" was to your parents. Without this there's no security, continuity, responsibility, family life...in some ways no life at all.
It's funny how many ways people try to follow God. There are as many flavors of faith as there are stars in the sky. But Jesus' Big Instruction provides the litmus test for them all.
If understanding God were simple the Bible would only be a few pages long. We'd have a handy set of definitions and instructions and that would be it. It's nowhere near that clear. That's no accident! The Bible provides enough space and access points for millions and millions of people to find God's relationship with them. Those people have different opinions, follow different rules, operate in different environments. None of them are completely right. Few are completely wrong either. Everybody operates in ambiguity.
The test of faith isn't what you believe, it's how you use what you believe. We're thrown into conflict with each other not to prove who was right or wrong, but to see what we'll fall back on when we can't figure out who's right and wrong. Will we retreat into enemy camps, lobbing theological shells at each other, creating enemies and scorched earth all around us in God's name? Or, in the midst of these moments of confusion, will we opt to love? This is what God is watching for, not who got it right, but who loved the most even when they might have gotten it wrong.
None of us can be God. Jesus knew this when he told his disciples, "Where I go you cannot follow." We could not make the sacrifice he did, nor would it mean the same thing if we tried. There was only one Jesus. But this one thing we can do: we can love in his name. And when we do this, we become like Jesus in every way that matters. Even if we never walk on water or heal a leper, we have performed the act that stood at the root of his ministry, at the root of his very identity. Loving people echoes the act of Our Savior in their lives. Nothing else can substitute. If we do this, we have fulfilled our faith. If not we have no hope of doing so.
Return now to the moment when your parents left you in the house. Yes, they said, "NO PARTIES!" seven times, including in the last second in which they saw you. But for most of us that wasn't the absolute last thing they said, was it? After all the instructions and admonitions, after working through all the worry and fear, what did they really say last?
"I love you."
Maybe they understood more than we thought, even if we did throw that party anyway.
--Pastor Dave (pastordave@geneseelutheranparish.org)
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