Sermons from St
Faith's
God's Answer is Love
Fr John Reed
Sunday 19th May, 2019
John’s Gospel is very wordy, reflecting his
desire to let us know the
teachings of Jesus with occasional touches of the
dramatic. The
passage today comes at the end of the
story of the last supper; the disciples; feet have
been washed, Judas’s
betrayal is predicted and Judas is sent
on his way to betray Jesus, setting the train of trial
and crucifixion going.
The chilling words that end the passage are
“and
it was night.” Darkness
is all around.
Our Gospel today follows on from this; with a
long speech from Jesus to
the faithful followers, the remaining eleven
disciples. Jesus talks of being
glorified; for John the glory is the cross. Which in
human terms is hard to
make sense of. It
is not to quote a well
known saying; “Death or glory” but death and
glory. Jesus
is honouring God the
Father through his obedience to the path he is
following, and God the Father is
honouring Jesus the Son in response.
This passage speaks of a unity of love between
the Father and the Son.
And Jesus’s command is love: to love one
another as I have loved you. A
love we see fully expressed upon the cross, in full
view of the hostile
onlookers. When
he sees his Mother Mary
and the Beloved Disciple he places them in a
relationship of love.
The same intensity of love that marks a
family relationship.
Jesus speaks of this love for one another as
being at the heart of being
a disciple.
“by this all will know that
you are my disciples.”
You won’t have to
try to be different, you will be, and you won’t be
able to keep love hidden.
In the book of Acts Peter recounts to the
church in Jerusalem an
encounter in Caesarea
with some
gentiles, or
non-Jewish people, people
who according to the tradition of the Old Testament
were not God’s people.
People who were as unclean and profane as the
animals Peter was asked to kill and eat in his vision
at Joppa. Peter baulks at
this, the vision is asking him to ignore years of
orthodox religious observance
and inculcated prejudice and do the unmentionable. Peter had
the same vision three times, the
same question, and the same answer; what God has made
clean, you must not call
profane.
As Peter meets the household in Caesarea and
begins to tell the story of
Jesus, the Holy Spirit fills them: the Spirit often
goes ahead of the church
and we see in Acts a church that is trying to catch up
in response. God’s
Love knows no boundaries. It is like
the sun piercing through the gloom. The
new command is there for all, not for the
self-selected chosen few. It goes
beyond the people we are comfortable
with, to the uncomfortable people. God does not know
barriers of prejudice and
religious orthodoxy.
The passage in Revelation is often read at
funerals, it speaks of a God
being at home in the midst of humanity.
You could almost imagine God in a cosy
armchair, surrounded by people in
cosy armchairs around a fire, just enjoying being
together. And
to those who are weary, who thirst for a
better world, a world where love reigns, where
suffering, division and war is
ended there is water fresh flowing from the spring of
life. Water that assuages
thirsty parched throats.
We live in the glorious shadow of this new
Jerusalem that will one day
fill the earth, as citizens of that place, here on
earth at this time.
And we have a responsibility as citizens of
it to live out Jesus’s command of love for others. We
need to ask ourselves
particularly in the midst of a disunited and divided
nation, where those who
operate on the fringe of our society preaching
division and hatred against
others because they are different, and legitimising
violence against others who
are different, seem to have found an audience that may
not act but will say we
are with you in spirit: what can we do to increase
love between people.
What should we be saying to the forces of
division and hate? We
are saying Love is
bigger than anything in its way. And the
greatest love of all is found in Jesus; as a community
of believers it is at
the heart of what we are about.
Ask God any question
His answer is love
When you want to hear his voice
Listen for love
How can you delight in him
He will tell
Love
The tough unbreakable, unshakeable love.
Are you looking for him?
You will find him in love
Would you know his secrets?
There is only one:
Love
Do you want to know him,
Do you yearn to follow him
Do you want to reach God
Then
seek and serve Love
