Fifth Sunday After Easter – Year C May 19, 2019John 13:31-35 & Acts 11:1-18 Panzer Liturgical Chapel
Have
you seen my favorite commercial? A teenage boy, in normal fashion, opens the
refrigerator, pulls out the OJ, and drinks the whole thing down, right on the
spot. And in the background, you hear a mother’s voice, coming from another
room, and saying, “You’re not drinking from the pitcher, are you? And don’t put
it back empty.” Which, of course, he has already done. Our parents know us
well.
After
all, they’ve had a lot of practice. We’ve been their children for a long time. And
since the beginning, they have recording our behavior, deciding what to expect
from us and what will be a surprise. Some parents even believe they can predict
their children’s behavior, not matter how old they both get. Whether we’re
married with children, stranded in that weirdness called adolescence, or
toddling through life, our parents think they know us better than anyone else,
and as much as we hate to admit it, in many ways, they’re right.
In
a roundabout way, today’s gospel talks about that kind of predictability. Having
been in ministry with disciples, having shared in the Lord’s Supper and washed
the disciples’ feet, Jesus begins to talk to those gathered about what it would
be like when he was gone. In this beginning passage from the “Farewell
Discourse” in chapter 13 all the way through chapter 17, Jesus gives his final
words of love and direction, knowing they would soon be parted by the
crucifixion and death.
The
disciples were pretty much like us. They were predictable, too. Jesus knew the
Peter would deny him. He knew that Judas would betray him. He knew that the
other disciples would stay at arm’s length through the coming hours and days,
even though they did not know it themselves. He knew these things because he
had spent lots of time with these people. He had seen them react to the good
and the bad. And he loved them in spite of what he knew.
Jesus
was the glue that held them all together. He called them from different walks
of life to become itinerant preachers. For years, they followed him from place
to place, being who he needed them to be. Whatever you call them --disciples –
students – followers – witnesses – in all of those roles they were learning
more and more about who Jesus was. But it wasn’t until after this night that
they really began to put the pieces together. It took the shared meal, the
arrest, the execution, and finally, the resurrection to help them see the whole
picture.
Love
held them together from the beginning. Love gave them the courage to follow
when he called. Love gave them the vision to see a new future. Love kept them
together when it seemed that things could not get any worse. And love called
them from their grief to begin a new life as the Christian church. It’s this
love that guides and directs us here today, calling us to be the love of Christ
in the world.
Many
of us think that the call to a life of faith means we have to change the way we
behave. But if we want lasting change, we have to first change the way we see and
think about the world. The Christian life, a life infused with God’s love, is
lived out in our relationships with others. It is defined by every moment of
our being, not just when we have important decisions to make. As people of
faith, the love of Christ must be woven into the fabric of our being, the
foundation on which all other choices are made.
Love
is a word that is used too readily in our society. We use it to mean physical
attraction, deep affection, common courtesy, or mutual affection. But that’s
not all there is to love.
Because
of Jesus’ promise, love is communication by the Holy Spirit with us and through
us. It is the conversation which feeds and nurtures us and, at some point,
gives us the courage to reach out so that we can be the hands of Christ. Love
is about sacrifice. Love is about holding one another accountable. Love is
about putting other’s needs above our own. Love is giving praise and
encouragement when it is needed, but also the willingness to be grabbed up by
the collar and hear, “I love you… How can we pull this all back together?”
In
short, if we are willing to reduce Christ’s commandment of love to merely a
reciprocal mutual admiration society, we are not doing a very good job of
following Christ. Love is hard work. It takes a lifetime to do it well and with
the right intentions. Sometimes it seems that we get nothing for it… except the
satisfaction of knowing that we have done what Jesus asks of us. And ultimately,
the love of Christ will always keep us connected to one another and to him.
There
are many amazing stories about unending, unswerving, unbelievable love that are
told every day, but you have to really look for them. Read the newspaper, watch TV, listen to the
radio, and you will get a taste for some of the horror that fills the
world. Nobody has to remind us of our
predicaments. But if we listen well
enough, we can hear stories that amaze us.
These stories remind us that given the opportunity, we can indeed follow
the new commandment that Jesus gave – “love one another, just as I have loved
you.”
I
can think of many such stories and people.
But it would be too simple to lift up the life of Mother Teresa of
India, or Bishop Oscar Romero of El Salvador, or Desmond Tutu of South
Africa. Their experiences are so
different from our own that we might put them in a class by themselves. Instead I lift up to you a woman like you or
me, who went with her fiancé to the Hyatt Hotel in Boston to arrange their
wedding banquet. They poured over the
menus, choosing foods, china, crystal and flowers to reflect such a joyful
day. The bill totaled over $13,000. Leaving a check for half, the couple went home,
anxiously awaiting the happy day.
Well,
as it turns out the groom was more than a little anxious. And the day the announcements were supposed
to be mailed, he called the bride-to-be to call it off. In her pain and anger, she went to the hotel
to cancel the reservations. The events
manager could not have been more understanding, but about the refund, she said,
there was bad news. “The contract is binding
- you are entitled to $1,300 back. You
have two options – forfeit the rest of the down payment or go ahead with a
banquet that utilizes the money you’ve already paid.”
Now
here is the part about love. It seemed
crazy, but the more the jilted bride considered it, the better she liked the
idea of having the party anyway. And in
the midst of her ill fortune, she decided to treat the people of Boston to a
night they would never forget. And so it
was that in June a party was held. The
hostess changed only one thing – the main course was now boneless chicken – “in
honor of the groom,” and she sent invitations to homeless shelters and rescue
missions all over town. And that night
people who were used to something very different dined in style. Waiters in tuxedos served senior citizens
propped up on crutches and aluminum walkers.
And bag ladies, vagrants and addicts took one night away from life on the
streets to sip champagne, eat wedding cake and dance to the sound of big-band
tunes late into the night.
The
reading from Acts displays a scene that was a big Turning Point in the life of
this new church. It was the next step forward for the Church and for us. The
early church leaders were wrestling with the question of whether or not it was
necessary for Gentiles to become Jewish before they could become Christian. As
this dream repeats three times, Peter recognized a community open to everyone, including
those who had been shunned and deemed unacceptable. No longer second-class
members, they were recognized as complete members of the household of God.[i]
After
WWII, a young Canadian Naval officer left the service of Her Majesty’s Royal
Navy and thought about pursuing the Catholic priesthood. Somewhere along the
way, his ministry took a turn, and the L’Arche community[ii]
was born, an intentional community where able-bodied and mentally disabled
people live as a family, intentionally serving one another. The Greek
philosopher, Aristotle, presumed that those without full mental faculties were
unable to form deep friendships because of their limited capabilities. Over 50
years of ministry, Jean Vanier proved that to be incorrect.
Theologian
Stanley Hauerwas wrote of Vanier on his death in early May:
I sensed that Jean was a person of holiness, and
holy people frighten me. I am, after all, a theologian -- which means I know
just enough about God to know that God sends people like Jean Vanier to make us
think more deeply about God’s being present in Jesus Christ… I could not help
but recognize the challenge he put before us… to see the gifts that differently
abled people bring to the world… He had been made different by living into that
challenge -- being present with differently abled people that loved him and
that he loved. For if Jean was different, it was because of his ability to see
the disabled as human beings…He understood that the mentally disabled feared
that they could not be loved because of their difference, and this deep insight
made all the difference. Many of Jean’s friends knew that their very existence
may have disappointed their parents. Jean overwhelmed their fears by not only
loving his friends but loving being loved by them.
Jean
Vanier did not just imagine a community where everyone was equally loved and
valued – he made that a reality. L’Arche communities live under this motto: “I
THINK LIKE YOU, BUT DIFFERENTLY!” With or without an intellectual disability every
person has unique value. Whatever one’s intelligence, EVERY PERSON HAS TALENTS
TO SHARE WITH OTHERS.”
Operating
on 5 continents in 38 countries, 158 communities and 21 special projects
involve over 10,000 people, both abled and disabled, L’Arche International is making
known the gifts of people with intellectual disabilities, and working together
toward a more humane society.
You
may have dreamed a particular future for yourself, but I speak from experience
when I tell you that God’s dreams are so much bigger than yours – and if you
are brave enough, together you will change the world for everyone. Jesus said, “I
give you a new commandment: love one another…and if you do this, people will
know that you belong to me.” And so we go on… wanting and needing to know and
love the world as well as God knows and loves us. Knowing – living – loving,
that’s what it’s all about. Amen.
[i] Brian
Peterson, Preach This Week, “Commentary on Acts 11:1-18, May 19, 2019, http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=4061
[iii]
Stanley Hauerwas, “Jean Vanier was a dear friend to me and many others,” Faith and
Leadership, May 14, 2019, https://www.faithandleadership.com/stanley-hauerwas-jean-vanier-was-dear-friend-me-and-many-others?fbclid=IwAR3enUPLn2cFlUibJaZrZNEC4Wmn2CUQBKBm0-M20jVhN47INN2sTYyi2-0
See also Bruce Epperly, The Adventurous Lectionary, Fifth
Sunday of Easter – May 19, 2019, https://www.patheos.com/blogs/livingaholyadventure/2019/05/the-adventurous-lectionary-fifth-sunday-of-easter-may-19-2019/
David Lose, Easter 5C, “Questions about love,” In the
Meantime, April 22, 2016. http://www.davidlose.net/2016/04/easter-5-c-questions-about-love/
Philip Yancey, What's so Amazing About Grace?
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