6th Sunday of Easter

The 15th chapter of John’s gospel is filled with love.
And actually, what we heard today:
Picks up exactly where we left off last week.

Last week,
We heard about the love that’s necessary for community:
As Jesus described the vine and the branches:
As the vine and the branches live together:
Keeping each other alive.

This week, we continue reading this profound and moving chapter of the Bible,
Where the word “love” is repeated nine times in only eight verses.
The word “love” is used in this chapter:
Both as a noun and a verb.
There’s no escaping love when you read chapter 15 of Johns Gospel.
Love is a big deal.

And when we look closely:
We can see that this chapter also describes the essence of the human condition:
The essence of love:
In both its beauty and its heartbreak:
As Jesus takes the big risk of love:
Laying his heart bare and vulnerable to his friends:
Telling them: “I have chosen you: You didn’t choose me: I have loved you.”

Do you remember ever taking that risk?
The risk of telling someone you love them?
The risk of that vulnerability:
That potential for pain after you say those words?
Jesus takes this risk boldly:
As he not only loves: but literally lays down his life.

And the risk here,
Is even bigger:
Because Jesus makes it very clear that this relationship:
This mutual love:

is BIG business.
Big commitment.

It goes even beyond the general two-way relationship,
Because the source of all this love is God the father.

Jesus says, “As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you.”
Just like we heard last week, in the Epistle of 1 st John:
We love: because God first loved us.
LOVE: Is a big relationship:
A relationship between us and those that we love:
But whether we like it or not: it also includes God:
Because it ultimately comes from God.

And that’s not all:
Jesus continues with the language we heard last week as he says:
Abide in my love.
Meaning:
Stay in my love.

Remain within it.
Live in my love.

The verb in Greek has the sense of continuing:
Forever:
Eternal.
Not a short-lived experience.
Not mere infatuation.
But real, abiding love.

Abide in my love:
Live in my never ending love.

This is a powerful state of being:
And it doesn’t happen in isolation.
It’s intimately related to our actions, our living, and our being:
Which is why Jesus says:
“If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love.”

And here’s the rub.
Without keeping God’s commandments, we can’t have love:
and we can’t remain in this ever abiding, living, love.

But It’s not about punishment:
It’s not about eternal damnation.
Yet it IS about the fact that we just CAN’T have love:
without following God’s commandments:
Because it’s only because of God’s way of being:
Commanding us to SHARE in that way of being:
that love even exists in the first place.

Jesus exemplifies this relationship of love:
Of following God’s commandments:
Staying in constant connection with God through prayer and loving communion.
All the way to the cross…

So what’s the commandment that we must obey in order to abide in the love of
Christ?

Jesus directs us from himself, and through himself to love one another.

All of the old ritual and sacrifices and strict law following are nothing.
What matters is how we treat one another.
We hear this same thing in 1 st John today:
“By this we know that we love the children of God,
When we love God and obey his commandments.”

This love:
This abiding:
Is circular:
Perpetuating:
Continuing…
Never ending.

And keeping God’s commandments bears fruit.
That we will have joy:
The joy of knowing that we are loved by God.

It’s A state of being:
Of knowing that nothing can ever separate us from the love of God.
But we really only have joy:
If we love:
Because Joy: without love is impossible.
As impossible as life without love.
As impossible as the branches without the vine.
It just can’t happen.

In keeping the commandment to love:
The possibilities are endless.
Jesus tells his disciples:
“I have appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last.”

And a few years later: Paul will list the fruits of the spirit in his letter to the
Galatians.
The fruits:
Of being one with Christ:
Of abiding in Christ:

Of keeping God’s commandments:
The fruits of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness,
gentleness, and self-control.

These are ways of being:
Ways of being that are not earned,
Not taught:
But springing from abiding in Christ’s love:
Living in Christ.
Being in Christ.

And the BEST part:
Is that these fruits:
This abiding love,
Are not just for Jesus’ friends.
They’re for everyone.
No one is left out in the Cold.

Peter had this Epiphany, during a visit to the gentiles:

As we heard today in Acts.

After Peter preached a sermon on the meaning of the Good News,
The Holy Spirit visited all who were present:
Not just the Jews,
But also the Gentiles.
Nobody expected that.

And Peter finally understood:
That the love of Christ is for all.
He said,
“Can anyone withhold the water for baptizing these people?”
For Jews in this time:
This was wacky:
How could you baptize someone who wasn’t a Jew:
Someone who didn’t follow the law?

But Peter knew.
Knew suddenly:

What Jesus really meant about the New Law:
About the greatest commandment:
About loving others:
ALL others.
Peter knew:
That the all embracing love of Christ is really real:
Calling him, in turn to embrace others:
Even the gentiles.

And we are called to do the same.
To live in this cyclical cycle of Love:
Which comes from God:
And transforms us into lovers ourselves:
Continually living, abiding, and bearing much fruit.

Amen.