BIBLE READINGS: Revelation 21:1-4 John 13:31-35

SERMON

When Margaret died, I was left wondering what we could have said to each other if only we had known what was about to happen. But we didn’t - it was an ordinary day, and we shared in our ordinary conversation, before she left and never came back. But as I look back on it now - I remember that our ordinary conversation ended with a verbal “love you” and a hug and a kiss. And that comforts me - great last words!

When I read again these familiar words of Jesus offering his disciples this new commandment, I read them as the words of a dying man. He knows that pain is close at hand but also that so much possibility will spring forth from what follows. The words and actions of Jesus in John 13 are those of a man who knows that he is not long for this world but is filled with energy and excitement about what lies on the other side.

In this week’s reading, we find Jesus speaking in language both mystical and matter of fact. Having demonstrated the loving act of foot washing, Jesus now speaks about his own nature and his entwined relationship with God. Even as death approaches, he presents his painful reality as a picture framed in glory. God is being glorified through Christ’s earthly demonstration of love, compassion, peace, and justice.

I can only imagine what the disciples are thinking. Jesus sounds as if he is looking to the skies and contemplating the meaning of life as God in the flesh. I can imagine him almost talking out loud to himself as he considers the mystery of his existence and his relationship with his heavenly parent.

And then, in this moment of veiled theological self-dialogue, Jesus seems to realise that he has an opportunity to offer some practical advice to his most intimate followers. Jesus prepares them for a life that will no longer be the same, because he has to leave them. Yet he leaves them with a command and a charge that will have the power to transform the world. Jesus leaves the disciples with a legacy of love.

These words are not exactly new. The command to love God and neighbour echoes from the Shema to the law and the prophets to Christ’s own teachings. But these words here are the sweet and sincere words of a man who knows he is going to die. Jesus wants his most intimate followers to understand what is most important. Jesus is leaving a legacy for his children to lift up and carry forward in his name.

He is calling on them to love. It is this love among themselves that will be unleashed on the world. It is this love that will be the greatest declaration of their identity as disciples. This dying man imagines his followers turning the world on its head by loving one another in the face of denial and betrayal. He knows how they will behave at the time of his arrest, conviction, and crucifixion. Yet he can see them loving each other even as they scatter and are filled with fear. Jesus dreams of leaving a legacy that invites them to love each other in the midst of conflict, name-calling, and deep division. He draws them close like a dying man’s last inhalation and gives them this timeless command as his last exhalation.

The tender words of Jesus speak to us loud and clear. Love has always been and will always be the answer for the followers of Christ. Jesus loved us enough to lay down his life, and he loved us enough to leave us a legacy that will lead us to hope in the midst of the brokenness we see.

Will we carry on the legacy that Christ commands, or will we fall into the temptation to do things our own way? It is easy to rationalise our way out of loving one another. We want to qualify love. We want to complicate it by adding stipulations as to who is worthy to receive it and who is not. We want to pat ourselves on the back for tolerating the unlovable and loving those we tolerate. It is not easy to live out a dying man’s legacy or uphold the wishes of the dying.

The good news is that Christ’s dying words were not his last words or actions with us. God raised Jesus from the dead, and the risen Christ walks with us, talks with us, reveals our rough spots, and cleanses us. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, Christ shows us how to love each other each new day.

Acknowledgement: Aisha Brooks-Lytle