The challenge of loving one another. 15th May 2022
Once again this morning we have seen in Revelation a vision of the new heaven and the new earth, a time and place where love will ultimately lead us. In John’s vision of the new earth God will dwell with us, and we are told that there will be no more tears, no more death, no more mourning, or crying, and no more pain. A few weeks ago you may remember I described God as ‘all loving’ and introduced you to a new word ‘omniamity’ which defines God as the biggest, greatest, unfathomable force of love that exists. The omniamity, this great love of God will bring about the fulfilment of John’s vision but where does the love of God, the love of Christ in our hearts and minds lead us right here and right now? This morning I am going to suggest that divine love leads us to some very challenging places, and I am going to illustrate that by telling you three stories. Your task will be to figure out if the love of Christ is either visible or absent within each story. We will then dig into today’s gospel reading to try and understand exactly what Jesus is getting at when he gives his disciples the new commandment to love one another.
The first story is an urban myth, a story that is retold many times in many ways and cannot be verified. Despite this like all myths, it does have a ring of truth about it. So the story goes like this, a lovely congregation of very nice people are looking forward to welcoming their new minister who is due to start in about four weeks. One Sunday morning just before worship a homeless man walks in the door. His clothes are dirty he has no shoes, and he smells really bad. Unlike a regular new attendee this man walks straight up to the front of the church and takes a seat in the front row. The very nice people of the congregation are looking at each other and although they’re not saying it they’re all thinking ‘oh my goodness what are we going to do, this isn’t normal’. Nobody approaches him, and the greeters are flustered. Many of the people are thinking that it’s a good thing the new minister hasn’t arrived yet, because the dirty smelly man would certainly make a bad impression. Fortunately the stranger does behave himself, he listens to the sermon, sings the hymns, closes his eyes, and bows his head during the prayers, and everybody starts to relax. Then one of the very nice people gets up to do the announcements. After going through the regular activities of the church and noting things of interest the person doing announcements tells the congregation that their new minister is due to start in four weeks’ time and the congregation cheer and clap. Just at that moment the homeless man stands up and says, “actually you don’t have to wait four weeks to meet your new minister here I am”. I just wanted to get a feel for how much love is in this place”.
Now I hope that this story is not based on fact, because the minister acts in a very sneaky and manipulative way. The poor congregation would be constantly on their toes and there would be little trust between the minister and the people, however the point of the story is to make us wonder about our own reactions to the homeless stranger. Is the love of Christ present or absent in this urban myth?
My second story is a story that a friend of mine tells. This colourful friend is loud and vivacious, and buxom. Across the top of one breast she has an interesting tattoo and if she wears a low-cut top it’s on display for all to see. The tattoo has deep spiritual significance for her, it is a testament to the way God has walked with her though some very difficult stages of her life journey. Many years ago a church invited my friend to come and speak to the ladies fellowship. Much like the minister in my first story my friend decided to dress up, to look like a certain type of person in order to teach the ladies about love over judgement. My friend wore a low-cut top, tattoo on show, a short skirt, and high heels; she kind of looked like a hooker. Well you can imagine that the lovely women of the ladies fellowship were shocked this wasn’t what they were expecting however they begrudgingly invited my friend to the stage, gave her a chair and offered her the microphone. My friend then told them the story of Jesus and the Samaritan woman. A woman who if she were alive today would probably be dressed in a low-cut top, short skirt, and high heels. We know from the gospel that she was a woman who had had a difficult life and had gone through five husbands none of whom were her own. She was a woman shunned by her own community, a woman who had to come out at midday instead of collecting water in the cool of the evening. And she encounters Jesus, she encounters love.
I am not sure if the ladies of the fellowship learned a lesson about love that day or just swore to one another never to invite my friend back, however the story does give us a chance to think about the quality and depth of love we are commanded to show one another. As I said at the start our Lord’s command can be challenging.
My third story is a personal story. When I was a teenager I attended Youth Group and Sunday school every week at the local Anglican church. Each year the Youth Leader, whom I adored, arranged a special event for all the kids in the local neighbourhood. The one I remember most vividly is when he invited a Christian rock band to come and play. I and all the youth group kids were really excited about the rock concert, and it was a great success. Kids came from all over the place and the church hall was packed. A gang of local boys got up really close to the stage, they had possibly been drinking and began carrying on, swearing and generally being obnoxious. I turned my Youth Leader and said, “oh it’s such a shame that those boys are here, they are spoiling it” My Youth Leader just smiled at me gently and said that the boys were the people that Jesus came to save, that they were kids he had hope and prayed would be there. I feel so ashamed and so crushed but clearly the fact that I can remember that moment so well many years later is a sign that it was a great lesson in what it means to be truly loving, to love as Christ commands us. Later today when you have a quiet moment I encourage you to reflect on these stories and think about you own live and experiences.
The stories I have told you today are quite obvious lessons in what it means to love as Christ loves but there are many more less obvious ways in which we fail to follow Jesus commandment. How many times do you find yourself saying things like “I love him dearly but…” and then we go on to qualify why that person is hard to love and in a way we kind of justify our feelings towards that person. Are there any buts, are there any clauses in Jesus command to love one another? If we go we love leads us we will be challenged, we will be called to truly love that person who pushes our buttons, who makes at times our blood boil.
Did you notice that Jesus’ command to love one another is directed to his small community of followers? So if the person who we just can’t stand is someone within the community of faith, whether they be in this one or in the church across the way or in the wider church we are doubly challenged. Jesus however is just being realistic when he give us this new commandment, just like those first disciples, he knows that we too are merely human and that we are prone to being judgemental, jealous, petty, and mean. We naturally form cliques, small groups of people who are just like us instead of learning how to be open, inclusive, and inviting.
To truly love one another is challenging yet we do not do this by trusting our own goodness or inner strength, we must rely on God within us. The good news is we are blessed to have God’s Holy Spirit journey with us, to prompt us and prod us, the One who searches all things and teaches us all things. With spiritual insight we can go deep inside ourselves in order to conquer our tendency to judge and to make qualifications about who we should love and how we should love.
Let us pray,
Holy Spirit fill us with the love of Christ. Show us our failings and teach us to love as Jesus commands.
Amen.