How to Love - Prince of Peace Lutheran Church

John 13:31-35

³¹When he had gone out, Jesus said, “Now the Son of Man has been glorified, and God has been glorified in him. ³²If God has been glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself and will glorify him at once.³³Little 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.’ ³⁴I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. ³⁵By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

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This sermon was originally preached by me, Rev. Sarah Locke, at Prince of Peace Lutheran Church on May 19, 2019. To listen to the sermon (with infusions from the Spirit), click here. 

It is a joy to be with you this morning. I am the pastor for Jacksonville Campus Ministry, which is an ecumenical ministry that serves University of North Florida and soon Jacksonville University through the partnerships of seven denominations and over a dozen congregations in Jacksonville. 

I have the extreme privilege of working with young people and students on a regular basis and I love it. I love it most especially because young people ask all the good questions.

Recently, a student asked, “what is the most important part of Christian life?” As any good pastor or teacher would do, I asked it right back. Well what do you think? 

“I suppose it’s important to believe in Jesus and follow his example,” she replied. What does that look like? I prompted. 

“Well, doing what Jesus did. Loving people. That’s what he tells the disciples to do. We’re supposed to love people.” 

She seemed satisfied with that small answer to her big question, and the subject changed to something else. But I kept thinking about it for weeks afterwards. 

We’re supposed to love people. And this was stuck in my head and it was like a pebble in my shoe, or an itchy tag in the collar of my shirt. I couldn’t figure out why it didn’t sit quite right with me. It seemed too simple, too elementary of an answer. 

As I read the text for this week, it wasn’t the simplicity of Jesus’ example and command that struck me, it is the difficulty. 

The gospel text for this morning is one of the shortest gospel texts we get in our whole three year lectionary cycle. And it is possibly the most important. It is certainly the text that best sums up, not just the four gospels, but the entire Bible. God loves you, so love other people. “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. ³⁵By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

And that sounds awfully nice, right? It’s nice to be loved, and it’s nice to love others. But often times I don’t think we take this seriously enough. Within the context of when Jesus tells his disciples, he is not just saying to be nice or kind to folks. He had just humbled himself to the point of humiliation by washing the disciples feet. And right after this, he will be betrayed, stripped, beaten, and hanged on a cross for everyone to witness as they come in and out of the bustling city. Love is not just a good feeling. Jesus is not simply commanding his disciples to play nice with others. 

What would the world look like if we erred on the side of this kind of love? 

Love that sacrifices itself for others. 

Love that is without fear of the unknown or the other. 

Love that forfeits power and privilege. 

Love that believes people’s experiences of injustice.

Love that breaks down walls and crosses borders. 

Love that cares more about the health and wholeness of God’s people than profit. 

Love that risks upsetting the religious elite because it is the way of love. 

Love that honors women’s bodies and the lives of minorities and vulnerable communities. 

Love that not only feeds the hungry and homeless, but fights against the powers that create the hungry and homeless. 

Love that cares more about the wellness of God’s people than church or state politics. 

Love that is more than justice or fairness, more than friendliness or politeness. 

What would the world look like if we, as Jesus’ followers, loved people in the same way that Jesus did? In the same way that God does: 

Without wondering if they deserve it. Or the color of their skin, or their country of origin, or if they have the right paperwork. Or even if they’ve broken the law. We love them. Period. Because that is what Jesus has done and that is what Jesus commands us to do. Period. No exceptions. Not when it is convenient. Not when it benefits us the most. Not when we think folks deserve it. No, we love because God loves us. And God gave Godself for us in Christ Jesus to live among us, minister to us, and be God incarnate among God’s people. 

And because this life of love, this way of love, was too much for us, was too radical and too intense, God’s people hung God on a cross and killed him. So that’s the risk we take when we follow this command. We risk losing our power and our privilege and possibly our lives. 

And we know when we are loving in this way… because our community and our lives begin to look like the passage from Revelation. We begin to live into the reality of a new heaven and a new earth. We see God among us, in one another— in every person we encounter. Death will be no more, mourning and crying and pain will be no more. All things will be made new and beautiful and good. Christ has started this work in his life, death, and resurrection, but we are called into that work as resurrection people. We are called and commanded to love. 

And if that sounds like too much for you, if it sounds like too much for us as a community, then I’d agree with you. It is too much. But it is not impossible. We have been equipped for this love in the Holy Spirit that was gifted to us in Holy Baptism. 

We dip our fingers in the water of the font and remember that we are sealed with the Holy Spirit to do this word. 

We come to the table to taste the body and blood of our Lord Christ Jesus and remember God’s love for us.

We confess that we have not loved with our whole hearts, we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. 

We hear the words of forgiveness and acknowledge that we do not have to love perfectly to love powerfully. 

Finally, we remember and affirm that love and the power to love are gifts from God. There is not and never will be a shortage of love. 

So we love. And love. And love. And love and love and love. Until the Kingdom of God is fully at hand and Christ’s glorious name is proclaimed by all. And then we love some more. Amen.