Easter 6A, 2014 – Acts 17:22-31; Psalm 66:7-18; 1 Peter 3:13-22; John 14:15-21
“If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” John 14:15
“If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” When I hear this verse, I am tempted to begin to measure my love for God against my success rate in keeping commandments, that is, those commandments which I presume to be placed on me as a Christian. Some conscious reflection of this nearly automated response reveals two things. The first is that the commandments which I am striving to keep are often personally concocted according to what I think will please God, in secret hopes of authenticating my love for him; and, secondly, this way of thinking causes me to fall for the oldest trick in our enemy’s book; that being, that I can muster the strength to love God enough to merit his love for me, and that that is how I should proceed. Simply put, I begin to set myself to do better through trying harder in hopes of earning His favour. Before I know it, God is paradoxically out of my field of view as I attempt myself with a feeble capacity to love and serve him better.
Of course, this is not the message or response that the Christian Gospel offers or calls us to. For we know that love always begins with God, not our own determination to love.
Recall the Apostle John’s words in his first epistle, “for we love, because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19). Likewise, the verse in question, “if you love me, you will keep my commandments,” is not to revolve around the idea of commandment keeping as a kind of ultimatum that God exacts of us in order to qualify our love for him. Rather, this verse is front-end loaded with a gracious invitation to, first and foremost, participate in the love of God, from which everything else will have its source, including both our ability to love and to keep his commandments.
A respected commentator (Frederick Bruner) has noted that the Greek word for ‘if’ can also mean ‘when’, making the verse read: “When you [disciples] love me, you will be keeping my commandments.” This rendering emphasizes that the keeping of Jesus’ commandments naturally flows as a result of loving him, as opposed to our love for him being conditioned upon commandments being met, as though we must qualify to love or even be loved.
So then, how are we to love God? Quite simply, we are to always begin by receiving him and the love that he offers.
This means, allowing him to perform his work of salvation and sanctification in and through us. The Christian life and community is built primarily on a foundation of reception. Christians are those who let themselves be loved, by receiving God’s love. God is the initiator, we are the receivers. This is so accurately displayed in Jesus’ washing of the disciple’s feet, just a chapter prior to our Gospel reading. Notably, upon Peter’s refusal to let Jesus wash his feet, Peter is told that he will have no share with Jesus unless he receives the work of being washed. Peter immediately transitions from a state of refusal to reception, and that is precisely what we are to do ourselves. Simply receive the loving work of God, and then, and only then, are we to return love to him and others. That is what we are clearly called and commanded to do. That is our blueprint. To let our reception of God’s love empower our response in the giving of love.
Again, this order is clearly modelled in the example of Jesus washing the disciple’s feet. Jesus instructs them to go and do likewise according to the example that he has set for them. The point being that they have now received and have been established on the basis and example of Jesus’ initiatory love for them. Therefore, anything they do thereafter should be a reflection of this love first received, and should find its inspiration therein. The same is true for us today.
Even after being established in God’s source of love for us, we do not carry out our reflective roles perfectly. Thus, we are at all times dependent on his grace to aid us in our efforts and forgive us when we fall short. Ultimately, the example of God’s love for us sets a standard so high that we will never attain to it. After all, consider that through his abundance of love for us, such things as sin and death have been conquered. However, what he does ask of us, and actually expects of us in return is to love him and others, and to never give up in this task. And every day we have the opportunity to live this out according to our abundance of thanksgiving in what he has done for us. It may be through planned service or spontaneous opportunity. Whatever the case, there is no shortage of opportunities.
There was a video that I saw recently that showed a homeless man collapsing in a very public centre while people passed by paying little to no regard at all. At most, a few people lent a glance as they walked on. After laying there a while, still with no one stopping to check on the man or help in any way, the video cut to another scene showing the same location and the same event, except this time the man who was collapsing was dressed nicely and appeared more socially acceptable. As you might expect, no more than his knees had hit the ground before several people came rushing in to offer their assistance and care. Clearly this was an experiment, though, what if it had not been? And what if Jesus had been there – what do you think he would have done in such a situation? We have been instructed to go and do likewise according to our ability. Amen.
