legacy of love
May 6, 2018
John 15:9-17
In the children’s book “Guess How Much I Love You” Little Nutbrown Hare and Big Nutbrown Hare are having a little conversation about how much each one loves the other. So, Little Nutbrown Hare says “I love you up to the moon.”
“Oh, that’s far,” said Big Nutbrown Hare. “That is very, very far.” Then Big Nutbrown Hare settled Little Nutbrown Hare into his bed leaned over and kissed him goodnight. Then he laid down close by and whispered with a smile, “I love you to the moon and back.”
When my kids were little we played a similar type game with each other. In our version I would say “I love you” and they would reply “I love you too.” And with all things in the Knight house a competition would ensue as I would say “I love you more” and they would reply “No, I love you more.” Now sometimes competition is not good, but not in this instance as we would go back and forth like that for a little while and it would always end with me saying in response to their “I love you more” “well that’s not possible because I’m bigger than you are so I know I love you more.”
Maybe some of you played a similar type game with your children. I look back on it now and can feel the same sense of joy I felt all those years ago going back and forth with my kids about our love for one another. It really was fun and there was also a lot of truth to the things we were saying. At least there was from my end and I trust there was from there end. It was my way of trying to tell them that I love them more than they could ever imagine.
Love, though, is such an interesting word. Or maybe it’s a lot more than just a word… maybe love is better understood as a concept. Or maybe love is a way of life. The fact is, I’m not exactly sure I know what category to place it in, but I do know how important it is, whatever it is and I desperately want to know more about it and I desperately want to extend it to others more freely.
Today I want us to consider a question and my hope is that each of you takes some time to think about how you might answer it. Actually, if I had my druthers we would spend some time in group conversation about the ways we answered or responded to this question, but I know right now is not the time or place for such group conversation. Instead I want us all to think about how we would answer someone who asks us if loving one another is easy or hard. I was shocked when I asked another group this question last week. In that group, every person except one quickly answered that loving others really isn’t that hard and that when you reach the place in your journey where you truly can love others life becomes a lot easier. After listening for a while about how loving others is really easy, another member of our group who had not revealed her answer to that point spoke up and what she had to say pushed back against the others who so quickly reach their collective answer. For her, loving others really isn’t easy at all and she went on to say that she didn’t know many people within her circle of friends who would say it is. Powerfully she said “loving others is hard work ya’ll and even though I agree that once you get to a place where you can love others you feel freer, the journey to get there is hard.”
I am so thankful that the one hold out finally spoke up and pushed back against the collective group think. I am also thankful that this particular group is one in which someone can push back against the groups way of thinking and not be ridiculed for doing so. Just like last week, when someone in the group pushes back, their opinion and feelings are met with appreciation and acceptance. Such groups are rare, it seems, so whenever you are lucky enough to be a part of such a group it is important to recognize that quality. It makes the group better… It makes the group stronger… It makes the group more loving.
***************************************
I personally think both positions are right. Love is both easy and so very hard. As one theologian says, “It’s so simple. And yet so very complicated… Basically, we distrust the truth of love.” The truth of agape love, I believe, is the love she is referring to in that statement. You see, agape love is the type of love Jesus is talking about in this part of his farewell discourse.
Within the stories of our Bible we find numerous types of love. There is Phileo love which is best understood as a brotherly type of love. There is also Eros love which maybe we will talk about on a different day. Then there is agape love. Now Agape is the Greek word for love at its ultimate. Agape love is not like brotherly love or love between committed people. Agape love is the most self-sacrificing love there is. This is the love that God has for God’s own children. Agape love is what Jesus displayed on the cross. This is at least part of what Jesus was foreshadowing for his followers in this part of his farewell discourse. He was letting them know that he would be laying down his life for theirs and he would be doing it because of his love for them. Rob Bell writes, “Agape doesn’t love somebody because they’re worthy. Agape makes them worthy by the strength and power of its love. Agape doesn’t love somebody because they’re beautiful. Agape loves in such a way that it makes them beautiful.”
************************************
Now, most of us have never been asked to die for a friend’s sake, but if we focus only on the death aspect, I wonder if we might lose sight of all the other ways Jesus expressed Agape love. Just think about all the ways Jesus’ followers rejected him and yet Jesus still loved them.
Each and every time they didn’t grasp his teachings Jesus loved them. In fact, I do not believe there is a single instance where Jesus responded to rejection by rejecting.
You see responding to rejection by rejecting is not what agape love does. So, when Jesus says as God has loved me I love you he is speaking a word of profound hope and blessing. It is as though he is saying just as God has never rejected me, or you, or any of God’s beloved children, I have never rejected. There is nothing you can do to be rejected and I want you to know that. In fact, I want you to dwell in that. I want you to abide in that because that is and always will be the truth.
There is something else in this teaching… a command. And it is the command that establishes Jesus’ legacy as one of love. Now, in the text this command is directed at the disciples, but let us be clear that this command is also directed at all followers, including us. It is in this text that we are commanded to do that thing that is so simple, yet so very complicated. It is here that we are commanded to extend agape love to one another. Yes, there are times when it might seem easy and yes there are times when it might seem hard, but this is our calling. This is the calling of the human vocation. Love as we have been loved.
“We need love. We need to be loved. We need to feel love. We need to express love. I believe that is at the heart of what it means to be human. And I believe that’s why God made us, approached us, and chooses to be in relationship with us.
Were it not for love, why would God do what God does? And were it not for love, why do we do what we do? Why do we choose to enter into a relationship? Why do we choose to have children? Why do we maintain friendships? Why do we do everything in our power to take care of our parents?
Were it not for the sake of love, I wonder where we would be.”[1]
******************************************
“I love you up to the moon.”
“That is very far” and I want you to know “I love you to the moon and back.” My prayer is that you dwell in that love. My prayer is that you extend that love to each other for our legacy is also a legacy of love.
Amen!
[1] Lewis, Karoline, Abide in My Love
John 15:9-17
In the children’s book “Guess How Much I Love You” Little Nutbrown Hare and Big Nutbrown Hare are having a little conversation about how much each one loves the other. So, Little Nutbrown Hare says “I love you up to the moon.”
“Oh, that’s far,” said Big Nutbrown Hare. “That is very, very far.” Then Big Nutbrown Hare settled Little Nutbrown Hare into his bed leaned over and kissed him goodnight. Then he laid down close by and whispered with a smile, “I love you to the moon and back.”
When my kids were little we played a similar type game with each other. In our version I would say “I love you” and they would reply “I love you too.” And with all things in the Knight house a competition would ensue as I would say “I love you more” and they would reply “No, I love you more.” Now sometimes competition is not good, but not in this instance as we would go back and forth like that for a little while and it would always end with me saying in response to their “I love you more” “well that’s not possible because I’m bigger than you are so I know I love you more.”
Maybe some of you played a similar type game with your children. I look back on it now and can feel the same sense of joy I felt all those years ago going back and forth with my kids about our love for one another. It really was fun and there was also a lot of truth to the things we were saying. At least there was from my end and I trust there was from there end. It was my way of trying to tell them that I love them more than they could ever imagine.
Love, though, is such an interesting word. Or maybe it’s a lot more than just a word… maybe love is better understood as a concept. Or maybe love is a way of life. The fact is, I’m not exactly sure I know what category to place it in, but I do know how important it is, whatever it is and I desperately want to know more about it and I desperately want to extend it to others more freely.
Today I want us to consider a question and my hope is that each of you takes some time to think about how you might answer it. Actually, if I had my druthers we would spend some time in group conversation about the ways we answered or responded to this question, but I know right now is not the time or place for such group conversation. Instead I want us all to think about how we would answer someone who asks us if loving one another is easy or hard. I was shocked when I asked another group this question last week. In that group, every person except one quickly answered that loving others really isn’t that hard and that when you reach the place in your journey where you truly can love others life becomes a lot easier. After listening for a while about how loving others is really easy, another member of our group who had not revealed her answer to that point spoke up and what she had to say pushed back against the others who so quickly reach their collective answer. For her, loving others really isn’t easy at all and she went on to say that she didn’t know many people within her circle of friends who would say it is. Powerfully she said “loving others is hard work ya’ll and even though I agree that once you get to a place where you can love others you feel freer, the journey to get there is hard.”
I am so thankful that the one hold out finally spoke up and pushed back against the collective group think. I am also thankful that this particular group is one in which someone can push back against the groups way of thinking and not be ridiculed for doing so. Just like last week, when someone in the group pushes back, their opinion and feelings are met with appreciation and acceptance. Such groups are rare, it seems, so whenever you are lucky enough to be a part of such a group it is important to recognize that quality. It makes the group better… It makes the group stronger… It makes the group more loving.
***************************************
I personally think both positions are right. Love is both easy and so very hard. As one theologian says, “It’s so simple. And yet so very complicated… Basically, we distrust the truth of love.” The truth of agape love, I believe, is the love she is referring to in that statement. You see, agape love is the type of love Jesus is talking about in this part of his farewell discourse.
Within the stories of our Bible we find numerous types of love. There is Phileo love which is best understood as a brotherly type of love. There is also Eros love which maybe we will talk about on a different day. Then there is agape love. Now Agape is the Greek word for love at its ultimate. Agape love is not like brotherly love or love between committed people. Agape love is the most self-sacrificing love there is. This is the love that God has for God’s own children. Agape love is what Jesus displayed on the cross. This is at least part of what Jesus was foreshadowing for his followers in this part of his farewell discourse. He was letting them know that he would be laying down his life for theirs and he would be doing it because of his love for them. Rob Bell writes, “Agape doesn’t love somebody because they’re worthy. Agape makes them worthy by the strength and power of its love. Agape doesn’t love somebody because they’re beautiful. Agape loves in such a way that it makes them beautiful.”
************************************
Now, most of us have never been asked to die for a friend’s sake, but if we focus only on the death aspect, I wonder if we might lose sight of all the other ways Jesus expressed Agape love. Just think about all the ways Jesus’ followers rejected him and yet Jesus still loved them.
Each and every time they didn’t grasp his teachings Jesus loved them. In fact, I do not believe there is a single instance where Jesus responded to rejection by rejecting.
You see responding to rejection by rejecting is not what agape love does. So, when Jesus says as God has loved me I love you he is speaking a word of profound hope and blessing. It is as though he is saying just as God has never rejected me, or you, or any of God’s beloved children, I have never rejected. There is nothing you can do to be rejected and I want you to know that. In fact, I want you to dwell in that. I want you to abide in that because that is and always will be the truth.
There is something else in this teaching… a command. And it is the command that establishes Jesus’ legacy as one of love. Now, in the text this command is directed at the disciples, but let us be clear that this command is also directed at all followers, including us. It is in this text that we are commanded to do that thing that is so simple, yet so very complicated. It is here that we are commanded to extend agape love to one another. Yes, there are times when it might seem easy and yes there are times when it might seem hard, but this is our calling. This is the calling of the human vocation. Love as we have been loved.
“We need love. We need to be loved. We need to feel love. We need to express love. I believe that is at the heart of what it means to be human. And I believe that’s why God made us, approached us, and chooses to be in relationship with us.
Were it not for love, why would God do what God does? And were it not for love, why do we do what we do? Why do we choose to enter into a relationship? Why do we choose to have children? Why do we maintain friendships? Why do we do everything in our power to take care of our parents?
Were it not for the sake of love, I wonder where we would be.”[1]
******************************************
“I love you up to the moon.”
“That is very far” and I want you to know “I love you to the moon and back.” My prayer is that you dwell in that love. My prayer is that you extend that love to each other for our legacy is also a legacy of love.
Amen!
[1] Lewis, Karoline, Abide in My Love
