Loving Each Other

This is the message given in the Wednesday night Lent service in the Gettysburg United Methodist church on March 3, 2021.  The Bible verses used are John 15:1-17.

            It’s the last night of Jesus’ life on earth.  He’s talking to the disciples.  This will be his last chance to tell them what they need to know before he leaves them.

            The disciples know Jesus is leaving.  It’s hard to tell whether they really understand that he’s going to be killed, and they almost certainly don’t understand what that means.  But they know he’s leaving, and he’s leaving soon.  So they’re paying pretty close attention to what Jesus is saying.

            Jesus uses the analogy of branches on a vine.  That’s something the disciples would’ve understood.  Branches take their life from the vine.  The branches can stay healthy and fruitful and productive--as long as they stay with the vine.  But if the branches get cut off from the vine, if they are no longer fed by the vine for any reason, they will dry up and wither and be useless.  The only thing you can do with them is burn them.

            But how can they stay with Jesus, how can they be fed by Jesus, if Jesus goes away?  Jesus tells them.  He says “remain in me, and my words remain in you.”  In other words, Jesus is telling them, remember everything I’ve told you.  Everything about God, everything about how to treat people, everything about how to live your lives.  Remember all my words.  Take them into your hearts.  Share them with others.  He tells them that if they do this, they will show themselves to be Jesus’ disciples and they will bring glory to God the Father.

            And Jesus says it again in a different way.  He says, “Keep my commands”.  If they do that, they will feel Jesus’ love, just as he kept the commands of God the Father and felt God’s love.  

            I wonder how the disciples felt, hearing Jesus say all this.  I suspect they were wondering if they could really do this.  Could they really remember everything Jesus had told them?  They’d been with Jesus for three years.  Could they really remember everything Jesus had said over those three years?  Could you or I do it?  Think about all the things the Bible tells us Jesus said.  Can you remember them all?  Neither can I.  And then, think about the fact that Jesus said a whole lot of other things that are not recorded in the Bible.  How were the disciples going to remember all that?  

            And then, too, time was going to pass.  It was going to be a longer and longer time since Jesus had been with them.  How could they keep from forgetting?  I mean, I’m sure they would try, but after all, people are people.  We all forget things over time.  How long were they going to remember all the things Jesus told them?

Jesus may have sensed how they were feeling.  Because he then says this:  My command is this:  “love each other as I have loved you”.  And then, just a little while later, Jesus says it again:  “this is my command:  love each other.”

            In effect, Jesus tells them, don’t worry about remembering everything.  Just remember the love I have for you, and give that same love to each other.  If you ever have any doubt about what I’d want you to do in a given situation, just think of the best way you can show love in that situation.  If you do that, if you act in loving ways, if you think loving thoughts, if you speak loving words, you’ll be doing what I want you to do.  You’ll be keeping my commands.  

            And that’s what Jesus says to us, too.  If we want to stay with Jesus, if we want to be fed by Jesus, if we want to be healthy, fruitful branches, staying on the vine, we need to love each other.  If we don’t remember what Jesus said, if we can’t remember what all his commands were, we can always fall back on this.  Love each other.  Love people as Jesus loved them.  Act in loving ways, think loving thoughts, speak loving words.  We’ll always be doing it right if we do that.

            It’s simple.  But simple is not the same as easy.  And sometimes this is not easy.  Because Jesus’ command is not that we love each other once in a while.  Jesus’ command is not that we love each other when we feel like it.  Jesus’ command is not that we love each other as long as it’s not too big of an inconvenience to us.  Because Jesus goes on to say this:  “Greater love has no one than this:  to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”

            That’s a tough standard.  That’s a complete, total love.  That’s extreme love.  That’s the kind of love Jesus wants us to have for others.  And for Jesus, that was not just big talk.  Jesus lived that out.  And he died that out.  Jesus laid down his life for all of us.

            Now, in one sense, that’s awesome.  Because what Jesus said he was doing was laying down his life for his friends.  That means that you, and I, and everyone else who believes is Jesus’ friend.  

            Now, I know that’s not a brand new thought--after all, one of our favorite old hymns is “What a Friend We Have in Jesus”.  But I don’t think we stop and consider what an incredible thing that really is.  That Jesus Christ, the Savior, the Messiah, the Holy One, the Divine Son of God, that he truly considers us friends.  That knowing everything about us, knowing all the mistakes we make and all the flaws we have and all the sins we commit, knowing how selfish and arrogant and uncaring we can be, Jesus still considers us his friends.  And he loves us with such an extreme love that he laid down his life for us.

            But in another sense, this is scary.  Because I don’t know that I could do that.  I’d like to think so.  I’d like to think there are at least a few people I’d be willing to lay down my life for.  But would I, really?  I don’t know.  I’m not sure it’s possible to know unless you’re actually in the situation.  And the thing is, I don’t really expect to ever be in that situation.  I could be--none of us ever knows what life may hold for us--but I don’t expect it.  So I cannot say that I know whether I would be able to lay down my life for someone or not.  I don’t know whether I have that kind of extreme love.

            But as I thought about it, I wondered if there could be another way that we lay down our lives for others.  Not literally, maybe.  But at least to a certain extent.

            Here’s what I mean.  How do we measure our lives?  By units of time, right?  Minutes.  Hours.  Days.  Weeks.  Months.  Years.  Those are the things by which we measure our time on earth.  Those are the units by which we measure our lives.  And those things are something we can never get back.  When a minute, when an hour, when a day is gone, it’s gone.  We can move on to the next one, but we can never go back and re-live the last one.  It’s behind us.  Forever.

So it seems to me that, when we give up some of those units of time for others, we are, in effect, laying down a little bit of our life for them.  Not our entire life, obviously, but a part of it.  Because we’ve given them a part of our lives that we can never get back

            So, wherever we give something selflessly, with no thought of getting anything in retire, we lay down a little bit of our life for someone.  Whenever we make time for someone who needs us, even though we think we’re too busy, we lay down a little bit of our life for them.  Whenever we make time to get involved in a project that helps someone, even though we can think of a lot of other things we’d rather be doing, we lay down a little bit of our life for someone.  Whenever we give to a worthy cause that helps people, even though there are lots of other things we could do with our money, we lay down a little bit of our life for others.

Those things are not always easy to do, either.  They may not be the same as physically giving up our entire life for others, but they’re still often not easy.  And again, they’re not things Jesus told us to do once in a while.  They’re not things Jesus told us to do when we feel like it.  They’re not things Jesus told us to do as long as it was not too much of an inconvenience.  These are things Jesus told us to do all the time.  These are not supposed to be occasional things in our lives.  They’re supposed to be our lifestyle.

I don’t know about you, but I cannot do that on my own.  Maybe you can.  If so, that’s great.  But I cannot.  I can do them once in a while, but not all the time.  My selfishness, my self-centeredness, my arrogance, and all sorts of other things get in the way.

So if you’re like me, then during this period of Lent, let’s ask God to come into our hearts.  Let’s ask God to help us make this our lifestyle.  Let’s ask God to help us get rid of our selfishness, our self-centeredness, our arrogance, and all the other things that are stopping us from laying down our lives for others.  Let’s ask God’s Holy Spirit to come into our hearts and show us all the ways we can give up our time for others.  And then, let’s ask God to help us actually do all those things God has shown us to do.

It’s not an easy thing.  But it’s what Jesus tells us to do.  And Jesus will help us do it.  He is the vine.  We are the branches.  Let’s allow Jesus to feed us with his love.  And then, let’s let our lives reflect Jesus’ love.  Let’s lay down our lives for others, the way Jesus did.  If we’re asked to lay them down all at once, may God give us the courage to lay them down all at once.  But if we’re asked to lay them down a little bit at a time, may God give us the courage to lay them down a little bit at a time.  If we do, we will keep Jesus’ command that we love each other.