John 15:9-17

2009-05-17
John 15:9-17 - Love one another as I have loved you
James McTyre
Lake Hills Presbyterian Church (USA)

I recently finished reading a book called, The Year of Living Biblically, by A. J. Jacobs. Jacobs is a very secular writer for Esquire magazine. If you've ever read Esquire magazine, you know it's not exactly Focus on the Family. Jacobs took on the project of keeping all the commandments of the Bible as literally as possible for one year. The book is his journal. Jacobs spends most of his time in the Old Testament. Makes sense. He doesn't trim his beard, especially its corners, for the whole year (Leviticus 21). He doesn't wear clothes made from two different fabrics (Leviticus 19). (By the way, Leviticus 19 also prohibits the mating of two kinds of animals. Bad news for the designer dog industry. No more Cockapoos, Labradoodles, or Dorkies). Jacobs comes as close as he can to stoning an unrighteous person. One day, on a bench in Central Park, when he's sitting next to a self-affirming unrighteous guy, he bends down and throws some pea gravel on the man's shoes. Which only made the guy more unrighteous. Jacobs wasn't averse to stoning, in general. He just didn't want anyone to get hurt. He spends a lot of his year finding and keeping the most obscure Biblical laws, which makes for pretty entertaining reading. But Jacobs also learns some positive lessons from the rules of scripture. He starts honoring his mother and father and not taking them so much for granted. He observes the Sabbath. He tithes 10% of his income. He spends a lot of his year investigating why in the world some of these commands are in the Bible in the first place. He talks to Jews, Christians, priests, rabbis, conservatives, liberals. And a few people who defy rational explanation. He hears the liberals criticize the fundamentalists for being too harsh. He hears the fundamentalists criticize the liberals for being flakes. He hears everybody claim their reading of the Bible is the truthiest. And he discovers that everyone - from the most way-out universalist to the most hellfire literalist - everyone picks and chooses the commandments they think are most important.

What commandments do YOU think are most important? By the way, there are way, way more than ten. That's just how many would fit on two stone tablets. There are countless commandments in the Bible. There are rules covering everything from male pattern baldness to caring for illegal aliens. You say, well, the Big 10 are the most important. But nowhere in the Bible does God ever say, "Keep my Ten Commandments." God says, "Keep my commandments." God doesn't differentiate. God doesn't rank. The Bible says, "Do not murder." (Exodus 20:13) (Anyone murder anyone this week?) But the Bible also says, "Do not gossip." (Ephesians 4:31). (Anyone gossiped this week? Anyone glance at People magazine at the checkout line?)

Jesus was a Biblical literalist. He said, "Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law (Matthew 5:18). And Jesus amplified the commandments that said it's not just in your actions that you break the law of God, you break the law of God when you even THINK about breaking the law of God. Not just your actions, but even your thoughts break the commandments of God. If you even THINK evil thoughts about someone, it's as good as committing murder (Matthew 5:22). Jesus didn't say, "Let's brainstorm some healthier ways to channel our anger"; Jesus said, "Nope. You've already killed them in your heart." Jesus didn't discriminate. Unlike we, who get all huffy when someone we don't like breaks one of the commandments we do like... gotcha!... unlike us, Jesus says no commandment is less important than any other.

But Jesus is a complicated man. (Would it be fair to say that Jesus is complicated? Would you agree with that?) Jesus is capable of holding two true, but seemingly contradictory ideas at the same time. So Jesus can say, "Not one jot shall be stricken from the law," as well as the kinds of ideas that bring us to today's scripture lesson. When some experts in keeping the commandments ask him, "What's the greatest commandment?" Jesus didn't say, "All of them." He quoted Deuteronomy 6:5 - "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength." And he also added to it Leviticus 19:18, "Love your neighbor as yourself." So on the one hand, Jesus can say that not one word shall be stricken from the law AND on the other hand he can say that there is one greatest commandment (well, actually two put together), and it's not even in the Big Ten. Jesus knows the laws of the Bible well enough to say that not one is less important than another, BUT that one or two capture the importance of the law more than all the others.

The point of the laws in the Bible isn't to weed out the bad people. Because if God's grading our thoughts as well as our actions, not many of us would be able to throw the first stone.

The point of the laws in the Bible isn't to make us holy. Only God can make us holy.

The point of the laws in the Bible isn't to give God places to check off on our heavenly scorecard. God doesn't keep count of our sins (2 Corinthians 5:19).

The point of all the laws in all the Bible boil down to one sentence in today's scripture. John 15:12. Jesus says, "This - THIS - is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you."

You know how at football stadiums sometimes they'll give everyone on one side a card to hold? They hand it to you and it's just an orange card, or a white card. And you sit next to a row of people who have orange cards or white cards. And you know everybody's card is important, you just don't know exactly why. And then, all at one time, the announcer gives the signal and everyone holds up their card. And if you're looking from the other side of the stadium, or down from above, or up on the Jumbotron, all the cards together spell out a message. Usually it's a message for the opposing team and it's not very Biblical. The individual laws of the Bible are like those individual cards. On their own, they're kind of confusing. On their own, they make us wonder, why is this important? But when you put all those cards together, when you hold up all the commandments and laws of scripture together, they spell out one, giant word. When you put all the words of the Bible together, the word it spells out is: love. Love.

You may not have murdered anyone this week. But have you loved the people you'd like to murder?

You may not have said evil things about anyone this week. But have you said any loving things about those people?

You may not have hurt anyone this week. But have you helped anyone? Especially, have you helped anyone who can't help you back?

Love doesn't mean condoning, or excusing, or mindlessly ignoring other people's meanness.

But love does mean praying for people. And caring for people. And being generally loving to people. Even if we don't like them.

Jesus said, "If you keep my commandments, you will live in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and live in his love." He said, "I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete." And then he said, "This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you."

Love is complicated. Sometimes we sit in the wrong seats, or we refuse to hold up our cards, and so the message gets twisted. The message of love is still there. We've just messed it up through our own confusion or stubborness. God's message of love is still there. Jesus' commandment of love is still there. We won't be able to mess it up forever.

Whoever you are, I'm pretty sure you've got enough pressure on you already. You're worrying about paying your bills. You're worried about your kids. You're worried about your health. You're worried you're not worried enough. You've got deadlines. You've got people expecting things from you. I'm pretty sure the last thing you need from church is a preacher telling you you need to start worrying more. Besides, I don't think that's what Jesus wants from his church in the first place. I think what Jesus wants from his church is a bunch of people who are willing to be friends to their friends. Maybe not take them for granted so much. I think what Jesus wants from his church is people who are willing to be friends to the friendless. I think he wants people who are willing to be friends even to the unfriendly. In short, I think Jesus wants his church to love. Plain and simple: love. Love one another as he loves you. Jesus said these things so his joy would be complete in us, and we would be complete in joy. Not to weigh us down, but to set us free.

Let's pray...