5th Sunday in Easter

Think about filling up a cup with water.
You can fill it only so far.

Once it has been filled to the brim:
And you try to add more water:
It overflows:
Spilling water all over.

The same is true of a sponge.
If you submerge it in water:
It becomes so saturated that it can’t absorb any more.
And then it begins to shed the water, and it drips off the sponge:
Spilling water all over.

Can we apply this truth to the human spirit?
Can we imagine someone becoming so filled up:
So saturated with something:
That he or she can’t take in any more:
And the excess spills all over?

I’ve felt this way before.
And I feel it so intensely with my work as the Director of a Church camp.

I ran the camp for seven years, and I remember one summer in particular.
midway through the season:
My heart was BURSTING with love for the kids at camp.
I almost couldn’t even stand it.
And I couldn’t even imagine my heart being able to hold any more.

It was before Louisa was born:
Before I had any of my own kids.

And I remember telling the bishops wife:
Who is also a dear friend of mine:
That I couldn’t imagine having a child of my own,
Because I couldn’t t fathom my hearts ability to hold even more love.

The bishops wife, a dear friend of mine: assured me not to worry.
(She had many children of her own. She knew.)

But I couldn’t conceive of it.

But that’s just the thing.
After Louisa was born:
I realized how right my dear friend was.
I realized that my heart isn’t meant to hold all of that love.
Instead, my heart is meant to burst open:

And overflow:
So that the excess spills all over.
So that it gets spread around on others.

When the cup of love overflows:
Or the sponge of love is over-saturated:
It’s not a mess:
Even though it spills all over.

It’s a GOOD THING.
Because the love overflows onto others:
And begins to fill them too.

And its infectious:
Kind of like laughter or a yawn.
When one person does it:
It spills all over!

God’s love can be kind of like that.
Imagine it.
Picture God’s love overflowing and spilling from the filled up one--
to the nearby one who benefits from the overflow.

In today’s Gospel:

That is exactly what Jesus is talking about.
We hear Jesus saying to his followers:
“Love one another. Just as I have loved you,
You also should love one another.”

For those who knew him best:
It was Jesus’ love that produced their love for others.
It was like water overflowing from the filled-up glass.
Jesus’ love filled them up:
And yet:
He kept on loving them:
Pouring more love into them:
So that his love could overflow onto more and more.

In the same way:
Jesus’ love fills us up so that we can let the continuing love that God pours onto
us, overflow onto others.
It’s kind of like that old blessing of Abraham:
You have been blessed to be a blessing:
In the same way:
You are loved:
To love others.

Or: As in my favorite bible verse,
From the book of first John:

We love because he first loved us.

Or as Jesus commands:
“love one another—just as I have loved you”

Jesus’ love is God’s love:
Gracefully and freely given:
With no strings attached.

God gave us Jesus:
Who IS that overflowing love:
So that we could SEE real love.

See it--
Not so much as a feeling, or excitement, or the longing of one person for another:
But rather SEE a love that is known by the life and teachings of the one who
shares the same humanity with each of us.

God’s love is in fact Jesus:
The person:
Love in action:
Love in life.

And this love in action:
This love in life that IS Jesus:

Isn’t stagnant.
It doesn’t just stay in our hearts:
It actively fills us and overflows from us.
Like a sponge that’s soaking wet,
Or a cup that’s overfilled.

It is the sacrificing love of the cross:
The care-giving love of the Good Shepherd:
The inclusive love that reaches out to the Good Samaritan, and under-served:
The difficult love that embraces our enemies:
The forgiving love of the prodigal son’s father.

And this love in action is Jesus’ commandment to us:
To love one another even as he had loved them.
To love even those who seem unloveable.

And not only that:
But this active, overflowing love is also the marker of who we are:
It’s a part of our identities:
Which is why Jesus also said:
“by this everyone will know that you are my disciples,
If you have love for one another.”

It’s kind of like that song:

“They’ll know we are Christians by our love.”

As we think about the quality of our lives--
As we step back to see how others might view us through our actions:
What will they see?

Will they see in us what Jesus commanded?
Will they see in us who we really are:
Ones who are overflowing with love:
Lavishing the overflow on others?

Most importantly:
Will they see Jesus?

Will they SEE Jesus overflowing from our hearts?

It’s important to note that Jesus gives this commandment to his disciples right
before he is arrested.
And he prefaces the commandment with this:
“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.”

Jesus knows that he will go away:
And that his followers:

Who he LOVES:
Must carry out his message and legacy:
That they:
And US:
Must let Jesus’ love overflow in our hearts:
And spill onto every one and everything else.

Because through this overflowing love:
Jesus will be seen in all the world:
In all of time.

“Love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.”

Amen.