Fifth Easter

              May 6, 2007

       Jesus took his disciples up on the mountain and gathered them around him.  And he taught them, saying: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, blessed are the meek, blessed are the merciful, blessed are you who thirst for righteousness, blessed are the peacemakers…”

     And Simon Peter interrupted him to ask, “Do we need to write this stuff down?”

     And Phillip added, “Will this be on the test?”

     And John raised his hand, “I’m sorry.  Would you mind repeating that?”

     And Andrew said, “John the Baptist’s disciples don’t have to learn all this stuff!”

     And Matthew said, “Huh?”

     And Judas ended the discussion with, “What does this have to do with real life?”

     A Pharisee, standing outside the group to check on the SOL criteria, said, “I don’t see any of this in your syllabus.  Do you have a lesson plan?  Is there a summary?  Where are your student guides?  Will there be any follow-up assignments?  What grading standards do you intend to use?”

     Thomas, who had missed the session, came to Jesus as the group was coming down the mountain and said, “Did I miss anything important?  Can I borrow somebody’s notes?”

     And Jesus wept.

     We laugh, as we are supposed to, but the truth seems to be that we are a lot like those first disciples.  The ministry, the mission, and the message of the founder, pioneer, and perfector of our faith offers us tools for living a contented, productive, useful life and we turn them into weapons or standards by which to judge.  We concern ourselves more with the externals and not so much with the internal dynamics that produce resurrected living.

     It is a basic truth about the Christian faith that those who have learned to live it faithfully and well have accepted it on His terms and have let go of any notion of attempting to stretch it to fit some preconceived notions or set of prejudices.

     In John’s Gospel for today, Jesus gives the very foundation of the life to be lived by those who call themselves a Christ follower, a Christian.  He says, “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.”

     So, what does that mean for us, for our relationships with other people, both those like us and those who differ from us, for whatever reason?  How are we to love one another in 2007, on this Sunday when we celebrate the Holy Eucharist in His name?  We do have a model.  And as much as we may wish to develop another more to our liking or less strict, we will be flung back again and again to the central model for all we say and do; that model is the one we call Jesus the Christ.

     How is it that he loved the world, the people who were not like him, and his own followers?  First, he loved sacrificially.  There was never and is not now a limit to what God in Christ will do to show love in this world.  There is no limit to which God’s love will go to rescue and save; no demand is too much, no sin too great that God can not overcome it.  If the demonstration needed to show how much love meant the cross, the one called Jesus the Christ was prepared to endure it.

     Sometimes, very often in fact, we make a mistake.  We allow the world to teach us that love is meant to give us happiness; happiness that is calculated on the basis of what others give us, on what we can get from others and from the world.  True happiness, genuine fulfillment in this life comes from sacrificial love, giving without thought of what may be given in return.

     Secondly, our model loved with understanding.  We are known, whether we like it or not, through and through by this person called Jesus the Christ.  He knows our weaknesses and yet loves us anyway.  Those who really love us are the people who have seen us at our worst and still love us.  Sometimes we hear the old phrase “love is blind.”  I’m not convinced that is true.  Love that is blind can and often does end up in nothing but bleak and utter disillusionment.  Real love is open-eyed, for we see the others around us not as we wish them to be but just as they are.  That kind of love includes the whole person and not just the parts we might find attractive.  That kind of love takes the other person not only for better but also for worse, not just in health but in sickness as well.  The most profound truth about the love of God in Christ is his heart is big enough to love us just as we are.

     Finally, our model loved with deep forgiveness.  His closest friends denied him, forsook him, betrayed him, and ran away in his hour of greatest need.  They were often blind and insensitive, slow to learn and understand.  But he held nothing against them.  There was and is no failure that cannot be forgiven.  Love which has not learned to forgive cannot do anything but shrivel and die.  We are poor creatures, and there is a truth in life that somehow leads us to hurt most of all those who love us most of all.

     If for no other reason, all enduring love must be built on forgiveness, for without it we are bound to die.

     So, dear friends in Christ don’t worry about what’s on the test.  Just remember that the answer to every question is “love.”  We will never run out of the need to teach and experience the love of God.  That love is unaltered, based on sacrifice, understanding, and forgiveness.  That love is the only thing that lasts forever.  It is infinite precisely because it comes from the heart of a loving God.  Amen.