Sermons

Easter

In an NBC Today program interview, Maya Angelou said: “Courage is the most important of all the virtues because without it we cannot practice the other virtues consistently.”[i] It takes courage to live according to the teachings of Jesus. We live in a world where the prevailing wisdom says that we should take care of ourselves, look out for number one, be concerned with providing for our own safety and comfort even at the expense of others. However, into this self-centered world come the penetrating and discomforting words of Jesus, who teaches us that life in the Body of Christ is not about me the individual but about us, the community of people created in God’s image. It takes courage to embrace and live according to this Easter reality.

We certainly will need courage to face the truth of today’s Gospel. Jesus, teaching his disciples what life will be like once he is no longer with them, makes a direct link between obedience to the commandments and love. He says, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.”[ii] He also says, “Those who have my commandments and keep them are those who love me; and those who love me will be loved by my Father.”[iii]

Love and obedience – the correlation between these two makes many Christians very nervous. Rightfully so, we have been taught that salvation comes by grace alone and that we cannot earn our way to a healthy relationship with God. Wholeheartedly, we believe that. However, we also believe that God calls us to new life, to living according to the ethics of God rather than the ethics of the world. Therefore, Jesus teaches us that obedience to the commandments is the path that we walk once we receive the gift of salvation.

To what commandments does Jesus refer? Only once in the Gospel’s does Jesus refer to a commandment. He says to his disciples during the Last Supper: “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.”[iv] Jesus’ new commandment seems painfully obvious – love one another. Did it really take Jesus to tell us that we ought to love each other? As obvious as it sounds, the implications of this new commandment are profound and often frightening. It takes courage, the type of courage described by Maya Angelou, to live fully according to this commandment of Jesus.

What is love? We need to remind ourselves that the love of which Jesus speaks is not based on a feeling, a desire, or a whim. It is not a love that is here today and gone tomorrow. Love is a commitment, a conviction that exists at the core of our being and that is based on God’s prior love for us. In our Baptismal Covenant, we promise to “seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving (our) neighbors as ourselves.”[v] It is not so much what we believe but how we live that defines us as Christians who seek to live lives marked by love.

Yesterday, I spent a couple of hours with the six members of our parish who Bishop Wolf will confirm or receive on May 18. As we considered the implications of our commitment to God and the church, we discussed what it means to live by Jesus’ commandment to love. It is easy to find ways that we can love people. We do it all the time. However, sometimes it takes great courage to obey Jesus’ command to love. When we are tired, when we are busy, when we are fed up it is easy to act not from a position of love but from self-interest. When we are afraid or uncertain, when we face the unknown, it is easy to forget Jesus’ command to love. The day to day mundane interactions of life often put our commitment to Jesus’ commandment to the test.

Of course, Jesus’ commandment to love goes far beyond the day to day interactions of our lives. In our baptismal covenant, we also proclaim that God calls us to “strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being.”[vi] These strong words highlight the challenge of Jesus’ commandment to love. How do you live as a Christian in this world? You speak out against injustice or prejudice, even when the price is high. Sometimes it is easy to remain silent in the midst of someone else’s pain but Jesus’ commandment does not afford us that option.

Then, of course, there are those unsettling words of Jesus: “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven.”[vii] If ever we need courage to live according to our faith, it is in the midst of violence and persecution because we become fearful and we loose our courage to do what is right.

You might remember that two weeks after the September 11 attacks, we read those same words of Jesus regarding our enemies. What extraordinary timing. In the midst of so much pain, Jesus penetrates the darkness of fear with words that take great courage to embrace – “love your enemies.” I received some interesting responses to my sermon that day. All I really said was that there were no footnotes in the Gospel that excluded certain people from the commandment to love. God calls us to move in a radically new direction – to love even those who would do us harm. When I received criticism for preaching that message, I told people that they would have to take it up with Jesus because he said it, not me!

It takes courage to love the unlovable. Anne Koester, a pastoral psychologist says: “Courage empowers us to reach across barriers that divide us.”[viii] The source of our courage is the Holy Spirit. God does not give us these commandments and then abandon us to live according to our own strength. Rather, God gives us the Holy Spirit, who lives within us. In today’s Gospel reading, Jesus said to his disciples, “The Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you.” [ix]

Of the Holy Spirit, Maya Angelou says: “I believe that the Spirit is one and is everywhere present. That it never leaves me. That in my ignorance I may withdraw from it, but I can realize its presence the instant I return to my senses. It is this belief in a power larger than myself and other than myself which allows me to venture into the unknown and even the unknowable.”[x]

Secure in the power of the Holy Spirit, may we venture into the unknown, seeking to love all people regardless of the fear or the cost. Our Easter postcommunion prayer says: “ send us forth in the power of your Spirit, that we may proclaim your redeeming love to the world.” Amen.

[i] As quoted in Homily Service, May 2002, p. 20.
[ii] John 14:15.
[iii] John 14:21.
[iv] John 13:34.
[v] BCP, 305.
[vi] Ibid.
[vii] Matthew 5:44.
[viii] Anne Y. Koester, Homily Service, May 2002, p. 20.
[ix] John 14: 26.
[x] “In the Spirit,” in Wouldn’t Take Nothing for My Journey Now (New York: Random House, 1993) 33-34.