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Grace,
mercy and peace be to you from God our Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ.
A
new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved
you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you
are my disciples, if you have love for one another.
Prayer: Lord God, heavenly Father, send down
your Holy Spirit to all of us, to me that I may preach well, and to all of us
that we may hear well. Amen.
Today I would like to give a sermon on the
topic of love. We have a wonderful passage in our gospel reading on this
topic, one of the most famous passages about love, where Jesus commands his
disciples to love one another and he gives this command to his disciples as a new
commandment. A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another.
Now often we read this passage on Maundy
Thursday, which is the day before Jesus died, which we call Good Friday. This
final night which Jesus spends with his disciples is quite an amazing night,
and so many things happen on it. Do you know that we specifically mention
Maundy Thursday in our church service every Sunday, but that we don’t
specifically mention Good Friday? Can you think where it is? Every time we have
the Lord’s Supper, the pastor recites those wonderful words which Jesus spoke
about the Lord’s Supper, and today I as your pastor for this Sunday will recite
these same words, which start like this: Our Lord Jesus Christ, on the night
he was betrayed, took bread.
Did you hear that? On the night he was
betrayed. That’s Maundy Thursday. And that’s the particular day when Jesus
spoke the words which we are meditating upon today. So what happened on Maundy
Thursday? Well, first of all, it was the day of the Passover. Right back in the
Old Testament, we read about where the people of Israel were going to leave
Egypt, and they were commanded to kill a lamb and put the blood of the lamb on
their doorposts, so that the angel of death would “pass over” their houses and
not put to death their firstborn son. With the Egyptians, who didn’t do this
practice, their sons were killed—and God shows that he takes particular notice
of his own people, and blesses them. And so, centuries later, Jesus celebrates
this festival, the Passover. And then, he brings something new to it. He takes
bread and wine, and through these things he gives his disciples his body and
blood to eat and drink. But not only that, he commands them to do this in
remembrance of him. When he has risen again and ascended into heaven, he
wants them to go out into the whole world and have this supper again and again,
and Jesus wants to continually feed his church with his body and blood.
Also, during the supper, Jesus gets up and he
washes the disciples’ feet, and shows them by this example what kind of a king,
what kind of a Saviour, what kind of a master he is. He bends down and he wipes
every last speck of dirt from his disciples’ feet. After this, we read that
Judas goes out, and prepares to betray him. Also, Jesus preaches a wonderful
encouraging sermon to his disciples, which we have written down in John
chapters 13 through to 16, and he prays a wonderful prayer. We often call this
the High Priestly prayer—which is written down in John 17.
Then we read about how Jesus sang a hymn
together with his disciples, and he crosses over the Kidron Brook, and he
enters into the Garden of Gethsemane. There he gathers his disciples together
to be watchful in prayer. But they fall asleep. Then Christ prays, knowing that
he will be killed in a brutal way the next day. He prays, and he sweats blood,
and even an angel comes to support him in his trials. Then he gets up and Judas
comes. Judas betrays him with a kiss and Jesus is bound in chains and arrested.
As you can see, a lot happens on Maundy
Thursday and it is a very significant day in the life of the church, so much so
that it is impossible to talk about everything on the actual day. So today, we
have a little bit-sized chunk, where we read about this wonderful
encouragement, where Jesus says to his disciples: A new commandment I give
to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to
love one another. Bu this all people will know that you are my disciples, if
you have love for one another.
Now, in talking about love, I’d like to go
back to a passage in the Gospel of Luke, where we read about an event where
Jesus goes to the house of a Pharisee and was having a meal. We read: And
behold, a woman of the city, who was a sinner, when she learned that he was
reclining at table in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster flask of
ointment, and standing behind him at his feet, weeping, she began to wet his
feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head and kissed his
feet and anointed them with the ointment.
Can you imagine this event? Here we see Jesus
go to the house of an important Jewish leader, and in the middle of everything
this happens. What do you think that the people thought about this?
We read: Now when the Pharisee who had
invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would
have known who and what sort of woman this is who is touching him, for she is a
sinner.”
What about you? Who are you like in the
passage? Well, let me tell you, first, you are not Jesus. Jesus is Jesus, he is
the true son of the living God, true man and true God—and you are not true God,
you are not Jesus. So, now you have two options: either you are a sinner like
this woman, or you are the Pharisee who tut-tuts at her.
Which one are you? Choose the woman. Remember
that you are a sinner, because Jesus didn’t die for perfect people who tut-tut
at sinners. If you are such a person, Jesus didn’t die for you. Jesus only died
for sinners, so it’s important that you realise that you are one. Jesus has
died for sinners, and now he covers sinners with his blood and he forgives
them, completely and totally freely, and invites you to come to him and to be
with him, and he promises to walk with you and lead you your whole life through
right up to the gates of heaven and in through the gate to be with all the
saints and angels singing praises to him in heaven. That’s what Jesus has done
and still does for sinners.
Now
the Pharisee says: If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and
what sort of woman this is who is touching him, for she is a sinner. Now,
can you see a little window here into Jesus’ love for this woman. Yes, Jesus is
a prophet. He knows everything, and every word he speaks is pure truth, it’s 24
carat gold, and not one thing that he says is a lie. And also, as a prophet he
can see right into people’s hearts and minds, and searches them completely
through, like a laser beam. He doesn’t need to hear people talk to know what
they are thinking—he is true God, and he knows our thoughts, and our minds, and
the very depth of our souls. Yes, Jesus is a wonderful prophet.
And he knows exactly who and what sort of
woman this is who is touching him. We have also come to church today to
place our prayers into his ears, and to let his words come into our ears. And
Jesus knows exactly who each and every single one of us is. He knows who and
what sort of people we are who are touching him. And like the woman in our
reading, we are sinners.
And he loves her. He does not her away. He
loves her. And just as he loved her, he also loves us.
The Pharisee wants Jesus to send the woman
away. But instead of criticising her, Jesus criticises the Pharisee. He says: Do
you see this woman? I entered you house; you have me no water for my feet, but
she has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You gave me no
kiss, but from the time I came in she has not ceased to kiss my feet. You did
not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment.
The Pharisee was polite enough to Jesus. He
was happy to chit-chat. But he showed Jesus no love. Now, understand this well:
There is a difference between politeness, and pleasantries, and love. It’s easy
to be polite, it’s easy not to rock the boat, it’s easy to give Jesus the
superficial Pharisaical treatment—but it is a completely different thing to
love, and this is something that must be learned from our Lord Jesus, and from
our Lord Jesus alone.
St Paul says: Love does not rejoice at
wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. People often think today that
Christians are hateful, because they believe that certain things are true! But
that’s not true. Love comes from truth—and the truth of this situation is that
the woman is a sinner, and yet she is truly forgiven. And this is something to
rejoice in. This is something that only Jesus teaches.
This woman completely bypasses all the rules
of politeness, because she wants to go straight to her Lord, who loves her.
And Jesus says: Therefore I tell you, her
sins, which are many, are forgiven—for she loved much. But he who is forgiven
little, loves little. And he said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.” Then those
who were at table with him began to say among themselves, “Who is this, who
even forgives sins?” And he said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in
peace.”
Can you see here how Jesus shows his love to
her? She is a sinner—what’s he going to about it? Is he going to excuse her?
No. Is he going to brush it under the carpet, and say it doesn’t really matter?
No. Is he going to rub her face in her sin and cause her great public shame?
No. None of these things is love.
Jesus loves her with four simple words: Your
sins are forgiven. This woman had all kinds of things that she done—it has
all been wiped clean, her debt has been completely cancelled. Sometimes, we
might look back at our lives and think, I can’t believe that I even did that! I
can’t believe that I was so hard-hearted, I can’t believe I was such a fool,
that I was so painful to that person, that I was so awful. Can Jesus forgive me
for even that, and that, and that? Then Jesus comes to you, and he shows you
the wounds in his hands and in his side, and he says, “Yes, I died for that
too.” Your sins are forgiven.
Sometimes people come to church and say: Do
we really have to confess our sins every Sunday, and have absolution, the
forgiveness all the time? Wake up! Do you know what your saying? Don’t you know
what wonderful gift you’re rejecting? This is Jesus’ pure love we are talking
about: the forgiveness of every single one of our sins, purchased and won for
us, paid and sealed by his death on the cross.
Now—is the woman saved by faith or by her
love? The reading says: Jesus said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you;
go in peace”. She simply received this forgiveness from Jesus without
having done a thing. Sometimes we might think that there is not a single drop
of love in our hearts—and we think, what a hateful bitter person I am. Even if
we have no love, Jesus have plenty for us. And he says, Your faith has saved
you; go in peace. When you have no love, let me show you my love. You don’t
deserve it, but I am merciful to you. I will love you, and now I will take you
into the school of the Holy Spirit and teach you love.
And here’s the amazing thing: Jesus had
already been teaching this woman about love. And she had so many burdens, so
many sins, so many problems, and Jesus removes them all. And so he says: Her
sins, which are many, are forgiven—for she loved much. But he who is forgiven
little, loves little.
Jesus knows everything about us. And
sometimes he lets us go off into a dark place for a while. He knows that we are
sinners, and he allows us sometimes even to go our own way, and he allows us to
fall into sin. He doesn’t cause the sin, but he knows who we are, and he wants
to show us who we are, so that he can show us who he is and what he has done
for us. And sometimes, we might look at the darkest part of our life, and
think, “Why didn’t Jesus come and prevent me from doing that? Why didn’t he
comes and put his angel on the road to drive me back and prevent me from doing
that completely stupid thing that I did?” He let you fall, because he wanted to
teach you love. He wanted to teach you just what a wonderful Saviour he is,
just what a great price he paid for you, and to show you just how much he loves
you, despite yourself.
And so, we read in our Gospel reading today: A
new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved
you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you
are my disciples, if you have love for one another.
So far in our sermon today, I’ve mostly been
talking about how Jesus loves us, and how he showed his love particularly to
this woman, even though she was a great sinner. He forgives her. Now Jesus
says: Just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.
Love is not a feeling. A few years ago, I
watched a few episodes of the Bachelor on TV. (Don’t tell anyone!) And the
saddest thing about it was that the bachelor was choosing a woman based on what
kind of feeling he had about her. Did he love the woman, or did he love the
feeling of love? If he only loves the feeling of love, he doesn’t really love
the woman at all—he only loves himself.
Sometimes, we think about someone we know too
much about, and they have hurt us very deeply. And Jesus calls us to forgive
them, to love them as he has loved us. And sometimes this hurts us—it’s almost
too hard.
But we have to remember that we are saved by
faith, not by love. Our love is always going to be imperfect, and it is always
going to show us up. If we are Christians, we will always realise just how
loveless we are. Sometimes we need to pray like this: Jesus, I think that such
and such a person is disgusting, and I just can’t find any love in my heart for
them. I’d even rather not pray for them at all, because they make me so angry,
and they’ve hurt me so deeply. So Jesus, I leave them up to you, and you can
love them instead. And when we have prayed like this, acknowledging our anger
and our complete lack of love for them, what have we done? We have given them
over to Jesus, for him to love, when we have no love. And this itself is an act
of love, because we know that Jesus can everything, when we can do nothing.
Love comes from faith… it takes time, it
takes training, it takes patience. And Jesus is patient with us, he will train
us, he will teach us love, one step at a time. We would rather be polite and
not rock the boat—but Jesus will teach us love.
In my ministry, I remember two occasions
where I felt like I cut the atmosphere in the room with a knife. And both of
these occasions were when I read the passage from our reading: By this all
people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. If
only we did! We see so many fights, disputes, power plays in the church, and we
think: no wonder no-one knows that we are Jesus’ disciples.
But we need to trust Jesus in faith that he
will work his love in us. We won’t see our love—we will only see our hatred,
and our failures in love. But others will see the love… when we fail, it’s not
time to look at our love, but it’s time to look at Christ’s, even when we are
loveless. He has baptised you—he has washed you, a loveless person, with his
love-filled word: I baptise you in the name of the Father and the Son and
the Holy Spirit.
St Paul has a
wonderful chapter about love in 1 Corinthians 13, where he says: Faith,
hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love. Faith
is that wonderful thing that trusts in Jesus and his death for us. Hope is that
wonderful thing that looks forward to being risen with him. But when all these
things happen to us, when we have already died, when we have already entered
into Jesus’ wonderful banquet room with all the company of heaven, we won’t
need faith, because we will see Jesus face to face; we won’t need hope, because
we will have what he hoped for. The only thing left will be love, and it will
only be then when it is perfect.
Until then, we keep
on listening to the love-filled words of Jesus, we keep reminding ourselves of
our love-filled baptism, and we keep eating and drinking the love-filled
Supper, and we trust our love-filled Lord to work the fruit of love in our
loveless hearts, even when we can’t see it ourselves. St John says: We love,
not because we are already experts in love and know everything about it, but we
love because he first loved us.
What a wonderful
Saviour we have! Amen.
Dear Jesus, fill us
with your Holy Spirit that we may love another as you have loved us. We pray
that you would work in us the wonderful desire to want to love, and we pray
that you would also bring this desire to perfection, so that by this all people
will know that we are your personal disciples. Help us, dear Jesus, and work
your love, the first fruit of the Holy Spirit, in us. Amen.
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