EDITOR'S NOTE: On Oct. 23, 2021, I was ordained as a minister of word and sacrament in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and installed as pastor at Faith Lutheran Church in Wolverton, Minn. I also served the same church for four years from October 2017 to October 2021 a synodical authorized minister. The journey together these past seven years has been an amazing one, full of learning, growing and a deepening of my theological mind. This sermon took place on the Sixth Sunday of Easter, May 5, 2024.
This week's gospel: John 15:9-17
9 As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. 10 If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. 11 I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.
12 “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 13 No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command you. 15 I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing, but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father. 16 You did not choose me, but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name. 17 I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another.
The message:
Faith Family if I were to ask you what is one set of verses that sum up all of the Bible for you … What would they be?
I bet I could name a few of the verses you're thinking of … probably topped by John 3:16, right? … Anyone got another you’d share?
Ok … now today’s gospel … is one more that I would put into contention as a set of verses that can sum up the entire Bible … especially verses 12 through 17.
For instance, if someone comes up to me at a food truck event here in Wolverton this summer and says, “Hey Pastor … the Bible is a big book with a lot of ideas, but what doesn’t mean?”
Well I think verses 12-17 do a pretty fair job of boiling it down. And the Bible means this …
Jesus commands us to love one another as Jesus loved us, and in doing so commands us to lay our lives down for our friends.
And two, you are Jesus’ friend if you love others.
Even more importantly we are Jesus’ friends through no actions of our own, but rather he CHOOSES us! … How remarkable is that, right? … Despite however each of us falls short, Jesus still chooses each of us as his friend!
Finally, Jesus appoints us to “go and bear fruit that will last.” … Not me Jesus, I’m too shy, unworthy, not knowledgeable enough. I can’t do that in this big, scary world … Pish-posh, Jesus says. … “Go” each of you. ... Go bear fruit!
And that, Faith Family, is the Bible summed up in today’s gospel.
Ok, go forth … we’re done here. … Naw, just kidding! … There’s maybe a bit more to unpack here.
So, you might be thinking to yourselves right now. … That’s all fine and good pastor, but what does Jesus mean? … What does it mean to love one another? … And just exactly who is this … “other?”
And those two questions, Faith Family, are really, really dangerous. … Why? … Because sometimes we don’t really want to know the answer, do we? … And why is that? … Because it would radically alter how each of us lives.
And that is exactly Jesus’ point in this message today.
I didn’t touch on this when I read today’s gospel, but did you read the short explainer text preceding the gospel today?
Jesus is giving this message -- today’s gospel -- to his disciples on the night before he will be arrested. … In fact, the explainer text calls this his “final testimony” … meant to “help” the disciples in the days ahead.
Friends, in theological circles, they call this Jesus’ “Farewell discourse” … In other words, he knows he is leaving his beloved disciples and he’s entrusting in them his final orders.
As the explainer text in the bulletin says: “Here, he repeats the most important of all his commands, that they love one another.”
Well, if this message … the message to love one another is his MOST important of all Jesus’ commands … then how are we doing as church?
I’m not specifically referring to Faith Lutheran only, but think bigger. The whole church? … How has the church performed over the last 2,000 years?
What about society? … How have we done? Can we say we’ve loved one another like Christ loves each of us?
What about in our community? … And in this church specifically? … And even how about individually?
Faith Family, can we with our whole hearts honestly say that we heard Jesus’ message over the last 2,000 years?
Remember, this message is so important … that Jesus gathers his disciples on the night before he will be put to death … and says: Love one another. … His most important commandment! … But don’t take my word for it! Read the gospel! … “This is my commandment …”
Well, if we’re honest with ourselves … it seems that as faithful people we may have been failing the test for a long time. … But not just specifically us, Faith Family. … I think that we faithful people have blundered this commandment from the day after Jesus’ crucifixion.
Is it true that we as a church, and other faithful people around the world don’t do good? … No, this isn’t an unequivocal wholesale indictment of faithful people since the first century.
But by and large, if we are truly honest with ourselves, the faithful people of this world haven’t done what Jesus asked of us. … If that were true, we wouldn’t have a society filled with those who hunger, those who thirst, those who are naked or without shelter or are imprisoned or are enslaved.
If we truly were living according to Jesus’ commandment … the world and the communities in which we live would look radically different. … Wouldn’t they?
Well, but it’s such a big ask to love everyone as Jesus did! … Faith Family, if I’m honest with you, I know this thought runs through my head all … the … time. … Right? … Such a big, big ask. … The world is a big place, Jesus, and I’m not sure I have it in me to love them all. … That’s an easy out, isn’t it?
But Jesus gives us the answer how to love, Faith Family, right here in today’s text. … You want to know what the key is? … “Abide in my love.” … Jesus says: “If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love.”
Abide … That’s the secret sauce, Faith Family! … Nothing mystical about it. … Our directive is plainly laid out for us.
But what does it mean to “abide” in Jesus’ love? … Because abiding is the key to the entire Gospel of John. … In fact, John uses the word “abide” 40 times in his gospel. … 40 times! … And I would think that if someone uses a word 40 times in the same text, we should take note.
In the Greek that the gospel of John was written in, the word “abide” means to … “dwell,” “remain,” “be present,” and to “be held and kept.”
And that’s it, Faith Family … Jesus commands us to dwell and remain and be present with and to keep each other … just as he dwells and remains and is present with and keeps each of us. … That’s it folks; that is the greatest commandment.
But, again, you might be thinking: “Ok, but what does it mean to dwell and remain and be present with and to keep others.”
It means, Faith Family, that being faithful to Jesus’ commandment is an action. … It means that faith isn’t about gathering here for an hour or two every week.
To be faithful to Jesus’ commandment to love one another, we have to dwell and remain and be present with and keep all of those others -- those friends, as Jesus calls them -- out there.
In other words … faith isn’t passive, Faith Family. While what we think and believe in our hearts and minds is important, it’s meaningless if we are not actively abiding in others.
And you know why that is a radical message? … Because it removes the selfish excuse to focus only on ourselves, or only to focus on just the people in this church, or only to focus only on the people of Wolverton … or this region, or those who vote like me or look like me or understand the world like me. … And, and, and … It makes all of those excuses moot!
The radical message about Jesus’ commandment today, Faith Family, is that if we are honestly living into it … if we are abiding in Jesus’ love then we have no recourse available to us but to love the “other” … and I mean every “other.”
Jesus’ love is action, Faith Family. It means that we can’t sit here for an hour on Sundays and call it good. … Jesus’ love is action, and we are called into a similar love … a love that means we will abide with others. We will remain with them, keep them and dwell with them and be present with them.
That is love Faith Family … and it’s the kind of love that brings us here today to celebrate the loving and faithful ministry by Pastor Peterson and his family who abided with this community for 27 years. Now that was dwelling with, being present with and keeping … wasn’t it? Amen?
And it’s the kind of love that inspires a church through its “Faith Forward” initiative to look outside these walls to find new life … to dwell with and be present with and keep the community that surrounds us. Amen?
Faith Family … I do not say in jest that the Bible can be summed up in just today’s gospel text … because these few verses tell us everything we need about being faithful. … Most importantly … that faith is a very and not a noun.
So go forth from today and abide in all of those around you: Remain with them, dwell with them, be present with them and keep them … just as Jesus does the same for you.
And that is the Good News for this Sunday, May 5, the Sixth Sunday of Easter and Pastor Peterson Cross Dedication Sunday. Amen.