John 15: 9-17

A man stood in his front yard accessing the damage to his front porch after a storm came through the night before. It didn’t appear severe, but he knew he didn’t have all the tools he needed to remove the damage and begin the work of repairing his house. Before long, several neighbors came to assist his efforts, but they didn’t have the tools nor expertise to do all that was necessary. A man approached the group who was new on the block with an elaborate toolbox full of what the man in need hoped his old neighbors had but didn’t. Before the afternoon was over, the new neighbor brought over all the tools, resources and experience the first man needed to get his porch almost as good as new. As the original group congratulated themselves on coming to the rescue of their neighbor, they asked their new neighbor what he made with such elaborate and fancy tools. Looking at the group, he smiled and answered, “Friends, mostly.”

The last few Sundays we listened to and considered Jesus teaching his disciples about the Kingdom of God, as Luke wrote in his gospel, in the days prior to his ascension into heaven. Next Sunday, we’ll share in that story and its significance for us today. I want us to recall for a moment what we’ve shared from the gospel of John these Sundays.

The good shepherd calls us by name, leads us out. We follow him because we know his voice. And he willingly lays down his life for his sheep. It is in him we can trust. Jesus is our gate. It is only through that gate do we transition from one world to the next, from one degree of revelation to the next, from one opportunity of ministry or service to the next. If not for that passage of transition that only Jesus provides, we would remain stationary and stagnant. Jesus is our gate for life and life more abundant.

Jesus wants us so connected to him that when we see a need or when we’re moved with compassion for someone and we ask for his help, he moves instinctively through us to make all the difference. He so loves us he wants to live through us to the world he still loves like a vine through a branch.

Now, as the Father as loved the Son, the Son loves us, and we can abide, live in his love. A young woman had been seeing a psychiatrist. The doctor learned she was a wife and mother of three children, and he asked, “Which of your three children do you love the most?” She answered instantly, “I love all three of my children the same.” He paused. The answer was almost too quick, too glib. He decided to probe a bit, “Come, now, you love all three of your children the same?” “Yes, that’s right,” she said, “I love all of them the same.” He said, “Come off it now! It is psychologically impossible for anyone to regard any three human beings exactly the same. If you’re not willing to level with me, we’ll have to terminate this session.” With this the young woman broke down, cried a bit, and said, “All right, I do not love all three of my children the same. When one of my children is sick, I love that child more. When one of my children is in pain, or lost, I love that child more. When one of my children is confused, I love that child more. And when one of my children is bad – I don’t mean naughty, I mean really bad – I love that child more.” Then she added, “Except for those exceptions I do love all three of my children about the same.”

Love is a commandment, and commandments are meant to be observed and outlive the human that brought them to you. This language of commandment here in John 15 is supposed to cause us to recall the commandments (the words) given to Moses by God at Mount Sinai, but conditions have changed. We’re not referred to as servants of God but friends of God if we do as he commanded us, and the commandment is to love one another as he as loved us. This is a mutually beneficial relationship. We love because we are loved. We do not love because there are ramifications if we don’t. We love because we are loved. In the context of immediate ascension by Jesus from this world, he emphasized we will not be thought of by Jesus and the Father as mere servants but as friends because we are first of all loved. We’re then suppose to carry on the business of the Father and the Son which is to love by declaring and showing what that love is to all the world. Jesus is the example of love. He beckons his friends, not servants but friends, to follow him. We recognize his voice and follow. We willingly transition through a gate from one condition or season to the next. If not for the gate, we’d remain stagnant and without growth. When connected to the vine of Christ we grow in healthy ways and produce fruit that others feed from and grow strong because of the life of Christ in and through us. The love of Christ leads us, provides points of transition, sustains us and fills us with life and joy that others in this world benefit from because he abides, lives in us and us in him.

A good many years ago, I was preparing a sermon. I’m not sure it was on this text. It was probably on one of the many lessons in the gospel or one of the epistles of the apostle John. I say that because it included the referencing to love. As I prepared the sermon, it dawned on me it was a recent occurrence in my spiritual life that I would pray or say spontaneously, “I love you, Lord.” I hadn’t always thought that or certainly expressed that. If I didn’t express that, it wasn’t part of my relationship with the Lord. In coming to that revelation, I knew without a doubt I loved the Lord, and I was not ashamed to express it. Since then, I’ve come across too many men (I know this is Mother’s Day, but just the same) who would say they were uncomfortable with saying or praying or singing that they love the Lord. I’ve come to the point of asking without hesitation why. They just couldn’t tell another man they loved them. This leads me to think what some people, particularly some Christians, think of love. They think, or dare I say believe, love is weak, frail and effeminate. Scripture doesn’t say that.

Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends.
— 1 Corinthians 13: 4-8a

Love is strong and endures forever. It is so much more than an emotion. Like for the mother of three, it comes into play when the ones we know are hurting or suffering or troubled. Love is always in the context of relationship. If you can’t express your love for the Lord, you may never have allowed yourself to be captured by his love for you. The Lord will affirm his relationship through love for you. Can you do the same?

One day Winnie the Pooh is about to go for a walk in the Hundred Acre wood. It’s about 11:30 in the morning. It’s a fine time to go calling – just before lunch. So, Pooh sets out across the stream, stepping on the stones, and when he gets right in the middle of the stream he sits down on a warm stone and thinks about just where would be the best place of all to make a call. He says to himself, “I think I’ll go see Tigger.” No, he dismisses that idea. Then he says, “Owl!” Then, “No, Owl uses big words, hard-to-understand words.” At last, he brightens up! “I know! I think I’ll go see Rabbit. I like Rabbit. Rabbit uses encouraging words like ‘How’s about lunch?’ and ‘Help yourself, Pooh!’ Yes, I think I’ll go see Rabbit.”

There are those we go see when we need encouraging words, joyful words like, “You’re loved” and “I always like your company” and “You’re my friend, not a slave or a servant.” When we long for grace, mercy and truth because we’ve been in a season of harsh, painful experiences and deceptions and the breaking of trust, there is one we can seek and find who will bring to us what we need. He’s not hard to find. In fact, as if we were hungry for his comfort and his presence and we turned to begin our search, he is right there beside us. He abides in us and us in him. Though we’ll commemorate his ascension to sit beside his Father in the heavens next week, his promise then and now is that he lives in us and gives us what we need and how we need it. It is truly good news his love and passion for us all is that close and that certain.

Preached at Lincoln UMC in Lincoln, AL, May 9, 2021