THE WORK OF LOVE                                                                                                                                                                                       

It’s pretty impossible to overemphasize the importance of love in the teachings of Jesus. And these words of Jesus from John’s Gospel are one of our Lord’s most important lessons about love. “I GIVE YOU A NEW COMMANDMENT; LOVE ONE ANOTHER AS I HAVE LOVED YOU. BY THIS EVERYONE WILL KNOW THAT YOU ARE MY DISCIPLES, IF YOU LOVE ONE ANOTHER.”

A myth in our culture is that love comes naturally, that it’s easy, just like in the movies. But that’s not very realistic. Successful relationships involve  continual work and devotion.

Not many years ago, the Harry S. Truman public library in Independence, MO made public 1300 recently discovered letters that the late president and written to his wife, Bess, over the course of 50 years. Truman had a lifelong rule of writing to his wife every day they were apart. It apparently didn’t matter to him if he arrived home before the letter in some cases. He followed this rule whenever he was away from her on official business or if she left Washington on occasion to return home to Missouri. Historians were thrilled to study these letters for any light they might shed on history. But think of it. Every day, even when he was busy with powerful world leaders, Truman would sit down and write a letter to his wife. Love requires attention and devotion. Love needs to be nurtured.

There’s a story about a carnival director who was interviewing a young magician for his first professional job with the carnival. “WHAT’S YOUR BEST TRICK?” “Oh, that’s easy. Sawing a woman in half.” “REALLY? THAT’S A PRETTY DIFFICULT TRICK.” “Oh, not for me. I’ve been practicing it since I was a kid. I used to practice on my sisters.” “OH, DID YOU COME FROM A LARGE FAMILY?” “Oh yeah, in fact, I have 8 half-sisters!”

With more and more second marriages and more and more half-sisters and half-brothers under one roof, more “yours – mine – and ours” families brought together by love, many families are learning to give extra effort and dedication to love. So the first thing we learn from Jesus’ command to love one another is that love requires work. The second is that love is the distinguishing characteristic of a Christian.

When Jesus re- establishes the great love connection between Himself and us, and between ourselves and others, He specifies “LOVE EACH OTHER AS I HAVE LOVED YOU.” BECAUSE Jesus says, “THIS IS HOW PEOPLE WILL KNOW YOU ARE MY DISCIPLES – IF YOU LOVE ONE ANOTHER.”

These words LOVE ONE ANOTHER without anything backing them up, they tend to be just words. Pious platitudes that pass away, like a beautiful sunset. But “LOVE ONE ANOTHER AS I HAVE LOVED YOU”…coming from Jesus, that’s a whole different request, isn’t it? Coming from our Lord, who loved enough to lay down His own life, well, we are talking an active, participating love – and really, is there any other kind? What person accepts an I LOVE YOU from their spouse at face value, without expecting to see some evidence of that pledge? What child, aware of the devoted love of his parents doesn’t continually test the limits of that love.

Jesus’ command to love as He loves us has often been misrepresented in the church as a command to love as it best serves our own needs; to love selectively; to love only those we find lovable. But did you know that in the book of Proverbs there is a list called The 7 things God hates? You know what the 7^th thing is, what He doesn’t just hate but God calls an abomination? It isn’t adultery or murder or homosexuality. It is Causing dissension among believers. Churches have traditionally been more vocal and urgent about our own traditions and about protecting our own little homogeneous communities and about all those things that separate God’s people than about loving in such a way that there is no doubt we are His disciples.

There’s a story about a guy who happened to find this deserted island in the Bahamas. He was so excited to find it had a water supply, plenty of food sources, everything he needed to survive. So he moved there to live the rest of his life in seclusion. One day a boat came by. A guy called out to him from the boat, “HEY DO YOU LIVE ON THIS ISLAND?” “Yep, all by myself.” “REALLY? WHAT’S THAT BUILDING OVER THERE.” “That’s my house”. “OH YEAH? WHAT ABOUT THE BUILDING NEXT TO IT?” “That’s my church!” “YOU LIVE ALONE AND YOU HAVE YOUR OWN CHURCH?” ” WHAT ABOUT THAT THIRD BUILDING OVER THERE?” “Oh, that’s the church I used to belong to.” We have some interesting notions as to what makes a church appealing to us. Just maybe, though, God didn’t intend for churches to be so protective of their own traditions or their homogeneity.

There is a story about Rabbi Feldman, who was having trouble with his congregation. It seems they couldn’t agree on anything. The president of the congregation said “RABBI, THIS CANNOT CONTINUE. COME, THERE MUST BE A CONFERENCE SO THAT WE CAN SETTLE ALL AREAS OF DISPUTE ONCE AND FOR ALL.” So, the rabbi, the president and ten elders met in the conference room of the synagogue around a huge mahogany table. As each issue was dealt with, it became more obvious that the rabbi was all alone like a lonely voice in the wilderness. Finally, the president said, “ENOUGH. LET’S VOTE AND LET THE MAJORITY RULE.” Well, the vote came back as expected. The president said “YOU CAN EXAMINE THE VOTING SLIPS, RABBI. 11-1 AGAINST YOU. WE HAVE THE MAJORITY.”

At that point the rabbi stood and said “YOU THINK BECAUSE OF THE VOTE YOU ARE RIGHT AND I AM WRONG? WELL, THAT IS NOT SO. I STAND AND CALL UPON THE HOLY ONE OF ISRAEL TO GIVE US A SIGN THAT I AM RIGHT AND YOU ARE WRONG.” As he said this, there was a crack of thunder and flash of lightning. The mahogany table was split in two. The room was smoky and the elders and the president were thrown to the floor. Only the rabbi remained standing and untouched, with a grim smile on his face. Finally, the president was able to regain his composure and stand up and speak. “ALL RIGHT he said 11-2. BUT WE STILL HAVE THE MAJORITY!”

The majority. The church exists because Jesus laid down His life for all of God’s creation. He became God’s love in the flesh. He became God’s love connection when it became obvious that we could never come to God on our own, no matter how many prophets were sent into the world to show us the way. We could not come to God, so God, in the flesh of His Son Jesus Christ, came to us, and He completed the greatest act of love ever. The church exists primarily to carry out His command to LET EVERYONE KNOW WE ARE HIS DISCIPLES. LOVE ONE ANOTHER LIKE JESUS LOVES US.

We need that reminder every time God’s people come together for worship. Connected by God’s love in Jesus Christ, we have the power from on high – even at those times when it seems like it is 11-1 against us, or maybe worse. Remember, because Jesus has connected us by His own body and His own sacrifice, it’s not 1 but 2, and that makes all the difference. AMEN