Easter is not complete until the Last Day. I don’t mean that there is anything left to do. No, when Christ declared on the cross “It is finished!” He wasn’t lying. It is finished; the resurrection is the seal and guarantee that indeed all has been done. But yet, Easter is still not complete. The victory has been won, but the fullness of that victory will not come to pass until the Last trumpet sounds. On that final Day, what was begun on Easter morning will be brought to its culmination. Christ was raised up as the first-fruits; on that Day we will be raised as the full harvest. On that Day death will be no more; God will wipe away all tears. The victory will be complete.
“When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: ‘Death is swallowed up in victory.’” When we are raised up with glorified bodies, never to die again, then death will truly be swallowed up in the victory Christ won through the cross and empty tomb; Easter’s triumph will be complete. But even now, as death still seems to reign, Paul reminds us that it is already conquered: “‘O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?’ The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” The Last Day is the culmination and completion of Easter, but the victory has already been won. And so, for now we wait. We wait knowing that victory is ours, that death is already a defeated enemy, that nothing can change the outcome of that strange and dreadful strife, where life and death contended. Even as we place our loved ones into the ground, we do so knowing that their victory has already been won. And we wait. Whether we dwell with Christ in heaven or still walk this earth, we wait. We wait singing ‘Alleluia,’ we wait in confident hope, and we wait with the urgent prayer of the Bible’s last verses upon our lips: “Amen. Come Lord Jesus!”
Saturday, May 19, 2012
Reflections on 1 Corinthians 15 (Part 5)
We believe in the resurrection of the body. We do not believe in an eternity spent in the clouds. We believe in the resurrection of the body. We do not believe in harps and halos. We believe in an eternity that is physical, not simply spiritual, more real and vivid than anything our sinful senses experience in this world of sin. Christ wasn’t raised up as a phantom or a spirit; He said Himself, “A spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.”
The Christian’s hope and goal is the resurrection of the body. That is what we yearn for, and that is what Saint Paul proclaims: “Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.” On that last, glorious day, we will be changed in a moment. For those who are joined to Christ in faith, this is the day of glory that they have been looking toward from the hour that they first believed. Those who have died, from Adam on, will be raised out of their graves, and they will be changed. Even that last generation, those living on the Last Day, will be changed as well. Saint Paul tells us why: “For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality.” The bodies we inherited from Adam are perishable, they are mortal. On the Last Day, these bodies will be changed to be like Christ’s glorious body, the body that the disciples saw and touched. Then we will dwell, body and soul, with Christ Himself and all the saints in the new heavens and the new earth. That is our destination, our hope; we yearn for an eternity where death and corruption is no more. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, because Christ Himself was raised imperishable. Alleluia!
The Christian’s hope and goal is the resurrection of the body. That is what we yearn for, and that is what Saint Paul proclaims: “Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.” On that last, glorious day, we will be changed in a moment. For those who are joined to Christ in faith, this is the day of glory that they have been looking toward from the hour that they first believed. Those who have died, from Adam on, will be raised out of their graves, and they will be changed. Even that last generation, those living on the Last Day, will be changed as well. Saint Paul tells us why: “For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality.” The bodies we inherited from Adam are perishable, they are mortal. On the Last Day, these bodies will be changed to be like Christ’s glorious body, the body that the disciples saw and touched. Then we will dwell, body and soul, with Christ Himself and all the saints in the new heavens and the new earth. That is our destination, our hope; we yearn for an eternity where death and corruption is no more. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, because Christ Himself was raised imperishable. Alleluia!
Thursday, May 17, 2012
Reflections on 1 Corinthians 15 (Part 4)
God loves
the material world; He created it, and at the end of each day He saw that it
was good. God loves the human body; He
created it, and at the end of the sixth day, He saw that it was very good. Creation was completed with His greatest
work, the masterpiece that is our body.
But what God created very good soon became very bad. Our bodies were ruined by sin; they are now
subjected to corruption and decay.
Disease attacks our organs; our bones deteriorate, our muscles wear
out. But the greatest dishonor to what God created
very good is death itself, which returns this body to the dust from which it
came.
But God
loves the material world; He loves the human body. And so He entered into that material world;
He took upon Himself a human body. He
assumed a body to redeem our bodies; He walked this earth to free it from the
corruption that had filled it since the Fall into sin. He didn’t redeem only our souls, but our
bodies as well. “So
is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable; what is raised is
imperishable. It is sown in dishonor; it
is raised in glory. It is sown in
weakness; it is raised in power. It is
sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body.” Through sin, the body we received from our
parents, indeed from our first parents, is a body tainted, corrupted, doomed to
death. Through Christ, that body is
redeemed, delivered from its bondage. We
will follow Jesus’ resurrection victory with our own, as Saint Paul declares: “Just
as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of
the man of heaven.” Our natural birth is
in the image of Adam; our rebirth is in the image of Christ. As Adam died, so we were doomed to death; as
Christ was raised in victory over the grave, so we too will one day rise. Alleluia!
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
Reflections on 1 Corinthians 15 (Part 3)
Salvation history is not haphazard or random. Everything that occurred for our deliverance from sin, death, and the power of the devil did so only because of God’s meticulous planning. Not only did He speak through His prophets to declare how He would bring deliverance, but He gave examples of salvation in His actions throughout the Old Testament. Therefore, when Jesus came, He died and rose again in accordance with the Scriptures, following the pattern set and established long ago. Easter is all about patterns.
“For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.” The pattern Adam set was one of death. In him all humanity sinned, and all humanity therefore bears the penalty of that sin. All born in Adam are doomed to die. Our birth of flesh has only one end, death. The answer could only be a new Adam, who would become the source of life as Adam was the source of death. Adam was overcome by a tree; Christ overcame by the tree of the cross. Adam brought death; Christ brings life; all born of Christ are made alive. He was obedient where Adam was disobedient; He reversed the curse that Adam introduced. Adam set the pattern of death; Christ has come to establish the pattern of life: “As in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at His coming those who belong to Christ.” Christ has reversed the pattern of Adam, setting forth His own. That is the pattern that we now follow. Easter is all about patterns; Christ rises first, and then when He returns in glory, all those who belong to Him will rise just as He did. Easter is the picture of your future, it is the guarantee that the grave will not be your end. As the grave could not hold Christ, so it will not hold you and me. Through Adam came the pattern of death, through Christ comes the pattern of eternal life.
“For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.” The pattern Adam set was one of death. In him all humanity sinned, and all humanity therefore bears the penalty of that sin. All born in Adam are doomed to die. Our birth of flesh has only one end, death. The answer could only be a new Adam, who would become the source of life as Adam was the source of death. Adam was overcome by a tree; Christ overcame by the tree of the cross. Adam brought death; Christ brings life; all born of Christ are made alive. He was obedient where Adam was disobedient; He reversed the curse that Adam introduced. Adam set the pattern of death; Christ has come to establish the pattern of life: “As in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at His coming those who belong to Christ.” Christ has reversed the pattern of Adam, setting forth His own. That is the pattern that we now follow. Easter is all about patterns; Christ rises first, and then when He returns in glory, all those who belong to Him will rise just as He did. Easter is the picture of your future, it is the guarantee that the grave will not be your end. As the grave could not hold Christ, so it will not hold you and me. Through Adam came the pattern of death, through Christ comes the pattern of eternal life.
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
Reflections on 1 Corinthians 15 (Part 2)
Does the resurrection really matter? There are literally thousands of ancient tombs in Palestine. What difference would it make if one of them contains the bones of Jesus? For much of the world, it wouldn’t change much, just a confirmation of what they suspected. For Christians, it changes everything.
“And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain.” Without the resurrection, don’t bother going to church. If Jesus is still dead, then the Divine Service is worthless, your pastor is worthless, your faith is worthless. It’s simply a waste of time. But it’s even worse, as Paul continues, “We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised.” If the body of Jesus remains in the grave, then we are not just wasting our time, we are telling lies about God. We are actually sinning by our worship, by our faith, by our confession. And the worst is yet to come: “And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.” Without the resurrection, all we have is a dead rabbi hanging on a cross. You are still in your sins. Salvation hasn’t come; you are going to hell. The Law declares eternal condemnation. And so Paul concludes: “If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.” If Jesus is simply a good guy who gives you tips for living, then you are of all people most to be pitied. The resurrection is essential, the resurrection matters. Nothing in this world is more important than the fact that the one who died on Good Friday rose on Easter morning, as Saint Paul proclaims so boldly in response to this dire picture he has painted: “In fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.” Alleluia!
“And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain.” Without the resurrection, don’t bother going to church. If Jesus is still dead, then the Divine Service is worthless, your pastor is worthless, your faith is worthless. It’s simply a waste of time. But it’s even worse, as Paul continues, “We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised.” If the body of Jesus remains in the grave, then we are not just wasting our time, we are telling lies about God. We are actually sinning by our worship, by our faith, by our confession. And the worst is yet to come: “And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.” Without the resurrection, all we have is a dead rabbi hanging on a cross. You are still in your sins. Salvation hasn’t come; you are going to hell. The Law declares eternal condemnation. And so Paul concludes: “If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.” If Jesus is simply a good guy who gives you tips for living, then you are of all people most to be pitied. The resurrection is essential, the resurrection matters. Nothing in this world is more important than the fact that the one who died on Good Friday rose on Easter morning, as Saint Paul proclaims so boldly in response to this dire picture he has painted: “In fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.” Alleluia!
Monday, May 14, 2012
Reflections on 1 Corinthians 15 (Part 1)
The resurrection matters. Together with Calvary’s cross, the empty tomb is the fulcrum of history; nothing will ever be the same. No wonder the Church spends seven weeks in celebration—the world is ready to discard Easter after one day, but in the Church the greeting continues for fifty days: Alleluia, Christ is risen! He is risen indeed, Alleluia!
Your eyes have not seen the risen Christ; your ears have not heard His voice. Your hands have not been placed into His side, nor have your fingers felt the holes from the nails. You are not an eyewitness of the resurrection. But others were. They saw, they heard, they touched, and they believed. Then they proclaimed what they saw, heard, and touched to you. Their testimony is preserved in the living voice of the Scriptures. St. Paul writes: “For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.” From one to another, an unbroken chain has passed down this witness to us. Each generation believed because their fathers and grandfathers in the faith passed this witness to them. The Holy Spirit watches over this tradition as an ever vigilant sentinel, working faith through this testimony. St. Paul continues: “Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.” We believe not because we have seen, but because others have seen and have told it to us. We believe because the Holy Spirit has preserved this testimony, because He has used it to work faith within our sinful hearts. Others saw, others heard, others touched, and we believe.
Your eyes have not seen the risen Christ; your ears have not heard His voice. Your hands have not been placed into His side, nor have your fingers felt the holes from the nails. You are not an eyewitness of the resurrection. But others were. They saw, they heard, they touched, and they believed. Then they proclaimed what they saw, heard, and touched to you. Their testimony is preserved in the living voice of the Scriptures. St. Paul writes: “For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.” From one to another, an unbroken chain has passed down this witness to us. Each generation believed because their fathers and grandfathers in the faith passed this witness to them. The Holy Spirit watches over this tradition as an ever vigilant sentinel, working faith through this testimony. St. Paul continues: “Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.” We believe not because we have seen, but because others have seen and have told it to us. We believe because the Holy Spirit has preserved this testimony, because He has used it to work faith within our sinful hearts. Others saw, others heard, others touched, and we believe.
Easter 6 of Series B (John 15:9-17)
“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love.” Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and our Savior Jesus Christ, Amen. The text for our sermon this sixth Sunday of Easter comes from the Gospel lesson read a few moments ago from the fifteenth chapter of the Gospel according to Saint John. Dear friends in Christ: God is love. Love defines Him, it is His essential quality. But love never exists alone. By its very definition, love is turned toward an object. The Father’s love is turned toward His Son. God is love, and He loves His Son. The Son is eternally begotten of the Father, linked together in this highest expression of love. And when the Son took on flesh and became man, God’s love wasn’t diminished. Instead, humanity was given the privilege to see this love expressed in our world. At the Jordan River, on the mountain of Transfiguration, the disciples heard, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well-pleased.” This love is deeper than the many ways we use the word ‘love’ today. In many situations, it is almost a throwaway word that describes a liking for a baseball team, a new car, or an ice cream cone. Too often it is simply an expression of our quickly changing feelings. But when husbands love their wives, when parents love their children, that love mirrors the relationship of our Heavenly Father to His Son. The greatest love that we show to others is a dim and shadowy reflection of the love of the Father for His Son. God is love, love which links together Father and Son.
Jesus is love. The Father shows the Son love, and then the Son shows love to us. “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love.” Love overflows, it pours from the Father to His Son, then from the Son to you and to me. This is the same love; the inexpressible love that links together the members of the Holy Trinity, which was manifested before our very eyes at Jordan’s stream and the mountain of Christ’s glorification, is turned now to us. This love isn’t static, it isn’t stationary; it moves Jesus to action. “I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in His love.” Jesus shows love to His Father by holding to His commands and humbling Himself to walk this earth as a dirt-poor rabbi, harried and persecuted by the very ones He created. Jesus abides in His Father’s love by showing love to you and me. That is the Father’s command: that love would find its fullest expression in bringing salvation.
“Greater love has no one than this, that someone lays down His life for His friends.” Jesus is love, and this love will be expressed in sacrifice. In love He became man to walk the way of the cross. In love, He will submit to betrayal and trial. In love, He will feel the whip and the scourge. In love, He will carry His cross the last steps toward Golgotha. In love, He will offer up His hands to be nailed, His side to be pierced. The cross is love; the love of the Father for His Son, the love of the Son for you and for me. Love doesn’t exist by itself; it always has an object. Jesus didn’t love His own life, He loves you. Love moved Him to lay down His life for you. He set down His life in your place; His perfection for you sin, His death for your life. Jesus is love, and “greater love has no one than this, that someone lays down His life for His friends.”
We are now His friends, for we have been shown this love, the love of the cross. Love makes us friends of God. When Jesus stood before Pilate, the crowd shouted at the Roman governor, “If you release this man, you are not Caesar's friend.” Pilate was one of ‘Caesar’s friends,’ a powerful, influential, and exclusive group of Roman leaders who were in the good graces of the emperor. For fear of being cast out of that group, Pilate handed Jesus over to be crucified. Ironically, when he sent Jesus to the cross, an even more important group was established: the ‘friends of God.’ In the Old Testament, only Abraham and Moses are described as ‘friends of God,’ but now, thorough the love of the cross, we too are called friends of God. Jesus brings us into the relationship of love, the love that existed from eternity between Father and Son, the love that the Son showed to us by laying down His life for us. We are brought into the very relationship of the Trinity, a relationship defined by love.
“No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.” The friends of God know the things of God, they know how the love of the Father for His Son was made manifest in this world through the love of the Son for you and me. They know the secret of salvation, they know how God is working, hidden behind the horror of the cross. They see God hidden in the preaching of the apostles, in water, bread and wine. You are no longer a servant, subject only to orders, you are a friend, one who has been shown love by the Son. The love of Christ has come to you and made you a friend; you dwell, you abide in the love of the Trinity.
God is love, love turned toward His Son. Jesus is love, love turned toward us, even in suffering and death. We are His friends, in relationship with God, and therefore we are love, love shown to those around us. “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.” Our love proclaims to the world that we abide in the love of Jesus, that we have been shown love by the One who laid down His life for His friends. His love leads to our love; we cannot give what we haven’t first received. We can only show love for others because we have first been shown love, the love of the cross. If we have no love for others, then we demonstrate that we do not abide in His love. “If you keep my commandments then you will abide in my love… These things I have commanded you, so that you will love one another.”
Jesus loves us as the Father loves Him; we are to love others with that same love. Our love is to be turned outside of ourselves to the ones around us, especially those placed closest to us. “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lays down his life for his friends.” Love to our neighbor means placing their needs ahead of our own, seeking to serve them in any situation. Love is self-giving, it is sacrificial, it doesn’t look for reward or payment. Love in marriage means that the husband lays down his life for his bride. Saint Paul writes, “Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.” Love in the family means that parents lay down their lives for their children. Today we celebrate mothers, those who have shown the love that Jesus first showed to them by sacrificing for their children and grandchildren. Today we give thanks for their love, love that doesn’t have its source in them, but in God Himself.
Jesus creates a community characterized by such sacrificial, self-giving love; a Church founded in His love for you and me, a Church that expresses this love to all people. This Church is chosen out of this world for this purpose, that it may show love to the world. “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, He may give it to you.” Love doesn’t have its origin in us, but in God. God is love. Jesus is love. This love flows from the cross to sinners like you and me. It claims us, grabs hold of us, creating faith within our hearts of stone. We didn’t choose God, we didn’t choose Jesus. We were born not only indifferent to His love, but violently opposed to it. But this love broke into our hearts and Jesus claimed us as His own. He showed love to us so that we would go forth and bear fruit in this world, fruit that endures.
Love abides, it remains. All of the other stuff of this world will fade away, but love will last for eternity. That is why we bear fruit, not on our own strength, but only through the love of Jesus flowing through us. Martin Luther puts it this way: “Oh, faith is a living, busy, active, mighty thing, so that it is impossible for it not to be constantly doing what is good. Likewise, faith does not ask if good works are to be done, but before one can ask, faith has already done them and is constantly active.” A tree made good by the love of Jesus will bear good fruit. That’s simply what good trees do. The fruit doesn’t make a tree good; a good tree makes good fruit. That’s just the way it is. Your fruit demonstrates that you abide in the love of Jesus. Your fruit doesn’t make you or keep you a Christian, but a Christian isn’t without good fruit.
We don’t always bear the fruit that we ought as trees made good through the love of Jesus, those called out of this world in order to show love to it. Quite often, we look like the other trees that do not have the love of Jesus flowing through them. For us today, these words of Jesus—“This is my commandment, that you love one another, as I have loved you”—are stern, condemning Law. It should move us to sorrow and repentance. We have not lived in love toward others, we have not borne the good fruit that Jesus has called on us to produce. We need forgiveness, we need redemption. Thanks be to God that Christ’s love is more powerful than our sin! “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lays down His life for His friends.” Jesus pours out His love upon sinners, upon you and me, by giving up His life in our place. Today’s text is one of joy, for it tells you of the love of Jesus for you! “These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.” We can have fullness of joy because the love of Jesus that we abide in covers over all of our sins, even our lack of love.
Jesus spoke these words on Maundy Thursday, just hours before He would be betrayed, just hours before He would lay His life down for His friends. Jesus and His disciples had much sorrow ahead of them, but here He promises them joy. This joy is revealed on Easter, when Christ rose in love for you and me. This is the joy that fills our lives as Christians, as we abide in the love of Jesus and then joyfully show that love to those around us. This is the joy that will characterize eternity; heaven and earth will pass away, but love and joy will endure, for they both have their source in God Himself and Christ’s victory on our behalf. And so, let our voices ring out once again with joy: Alleluia, Christ is risen! He is risen indeed, Alleluia! Amen.
Jesus is love. The Father shows the Son love, and then the Son shows love to us. “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love.” Love overflows, it pours from the Father to His Son, then from the Son to you and to me. This is the same love; the inexpressible love that links together the members of the Holy Trinity, which was manifested before our very eyes at Jordan’s stream and the mountain of Christ’s glorification, is turned now to us. This love isn’t static, it isn’t stationary; it moves Jesus to action. “I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in His love.” Jesus shows love to His Father by holding to His commands and humbling Himself to walk this earth as a dirt-poor rabbi, harried and persecuted by the very ones He created. Jesus abides in His Father’s love by showing love to you and me. That is the Father’s command: that love would find its fullest expression in bringing salvation.
“Greater love has no one than this, that someone lays down His life for His friends.” Jesus is love, and this love will be expressed in sacrifice. In love He became man to walk the way of the cross. In love, He will submit to betrayal and trial. In love, He will feel the whip and the scourge. In love, He will carry His cross the last steps toward Golgotha. In love, He will offer up His hands to be nailed, His side to be pierced. The cross is love; the love of the Father for His Son, the love of the Son for you and for me. Love doesn’t exist by itself; it always has an object. Jesus didn’t love His own life, He loves you. Love moved Him to lay down His life for you. He set down His life in your place; His perfection for you sin, His death for your life. Jesus is love, and “greater love has no one than this, that someone lays down His life for His friends.”
We are now His friends, for we have been shown this love, the love of the cross. Love makes us friends of God. When Jesus stood before Pilate, the crowd shouted at the Roman governor, “If you release this man, you are not Caesar's friend.” Pilate was one of ‘Caesar’s friends,’ a powerful, influential, and exclusive group of Roman leaders who were in the good graces of the emperor. For fear of being cast out of that group, Pilate handed Jesus over to be crucified. Ironically, when he sent Jesus to the cross, an even more important group was established: the ‘friends of God.’ In the Old Testament, only Abraham and Moses are described as ‘friends of God,’ but now, thorough the love of the cross, we too are called friends of God. Jesus brings us into the relationship of love, the love that existed from eternity between Father and Son, the love that the Son showed to us by laying down His life for us. We are brought into the very relationship of the Trinity, a relationship defined by love.
“No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.” The friends of God know the things of God, they know how the love of the Father for His Son was made manifest in this world through the love of the Son for you and me. They know the secret of salvation, they know how God is working, hidden behind the horror of the cross. They see God hidden in the preaching of the apostles, in water, bread and wine. You are no longer a servant, subject only to orders, you are a friend, one who has been shown love by the Son. The love of Christ has come to you and made you a friend; you dwell, you abide in the love of the Trinity.
God is love, love turned toward His Son. Jesus is love, love turned toward us, even in suffering and death. We are His friends, in relationship with God, and therefore we are love, love shown to those around us. “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.” Our love proclaims to the world that we abide in the love of Jesus, that we have been shown love by the One who laid down His life for His friends. His love leads to our love; we cannot give what we haven’t first received. We can only show love for others because we have first been shown love, the love of the cross. If we have no love for others, then we demonstrate that we do not abide in His love. “If you keep my commandments then you will abide in my love… These things I have commanded you, so that you will love one another.”
Jesus loves us as the Father loves Him; we are to love others with that same love. Our love is to be turned outside of ourselves to the ones around us, especially those placed closest to us. “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lays down his life for his friends.” Love to our neighbor means placing their needs ahead of our own, seeking to serve them in any situation. Love is self-giving, it is sacrificial, it doesn’t look for reward or payment. Love in marriage means that the husband lays down his life for his bride. Saint Paul writes, “Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.” Love in the family means that parents lay down their lives for their children. Today we celebrate mothers, those who have shown the love that Jesus first showed to them by sacrificing for their children and grandchildren. Today we give thanks for their love, love that doesn’t have its source in them, but in God Himself.
Jesus creates a community characterized by such sacrificial, self-giving love; a Church founded in His love for you and me, a Church that expresses this love to all people. This Church is chosen out of this world for this purpose, that it may show love to the world. “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, He may give it to you.” Love doesn’t have its origin in us, but in God. God is love. Jesus is love. This love flows from the cross to sinners like you and me. It claims us, grabs hold of us, creating faith within our hearts of stone. We didn’t choose God, we didn’t choose Jesus. We were born not only indifferent to His love, but violently opposed to it. But this love broke into our hearts and Jesus claimed us as His own. He showed love to us so that we would go forth and bear fruit in this world, fruit that endures.
Love abides, it remains. All of the other stuff of this world will fade away, but love will last for eternity. That is why we bear fruit, not on our own strength, but only through the love of Jesus flowing through us. Martin Luther puts it this way: “Oh, faith is a living, busy, active, mighty thing, so that it is impossible for it not to be constantly doing what is good. Likewise, faith does not ask if good works are to be done, but before one can ask, faith has already done them and is constantly active.” A tree made good by the love of Jesus will bear good fruit. That’s simply what good trees do. The fruit doesn’t make a tree good; a good tree makes good fruit. That’s just the way it is. Your fruit demonstrates that you abide in the love of Jesus. Your fruit doesn’t make you or keep you a Christian, but a Christian isn’t without good fruit.
We don’t always bear the fruit that we ought as trees made good through the love of Jesus, those called out of this world in order to show love to it. Quite often, we look like the other trees that do not have the love of Jesus flowing through them. For us today, these words of Jesus—“This is my commandment, that you love one another, as I have loved you”—are stern, condemning Law. It should move us to sorrow and repentance. We have not lived in love toward others, we have not borne the good fruit that Jesus has called on us to produce. We need forgiveness, we need redemption. Thanks be to God that Christ’s love is more powerful than our sin! “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lays down His life for His friends.” Jesus pours out His love upon sinners, upon you and me, by giving up His life in our place. Today’s text is one of joy, for it tells you of the love of Jesus for you! “These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.” We can have fullness of joy because the love of Jesus that we abide in covers over all of our sins, even our lack of love.
Jesus spoke these words on Maundy Thursday, just hours before He would be betrayed, just hours before He would lay His life down for His friends. Jesus and His disciples had much sorrow ahead of them, but here He promises them joy. This joy is revealed on Easter, when Christ rose in love for you and me. This is the joy that fills our lives as Christians, as we abide in the love of Jesus and then joyfully show that love to those around us. This is the joy that will characterize eternity; heaven and earth will pass away, but love and joy will endure, for they both have their source in God Himself and Christ’s victory on our behalf. And so, let our voices ring out once again with joy: Alleluia, Christ is risen! He is risen indeed, Alleluia! Amen.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)