"What I Command"

Christ is Risen! Alleluia!

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

“This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.” This is the command Jesus gives to His disciples. The second greatest command of the Law is to love your neighbor as yourself. So here, Jesus ups the ante, saying that you are to love one another not just as you love yourself, but as He has loved you.

On its face, this seems like a simple, rather straightforward command. You know how Jesus demonstrated His love. He died for you, to take away your sins and make you holy before God. He says in today's lesson that “greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.” So the way to love one another like Jesus does is to be willing to die for your friends. This is the true test of friendship, of love.

You probably think yourself a noble sort of person. You probably would like to think that, if required, you would willingly lay down your life for a friend. In many ways, people do this every day. A man donates a kidney or part of his liver for his brother. A mother risks her life to bring her child into this world. A soldier goes off to war to put his life on the line in place of yours. It is not difficult to watch the evening news and find some story of such altruism.

Perhaps you even think yourself noble enough that you would die for Jesus. Just like St. Peter, you say in your heart, I will die rather than deny you, Lord. You might read the accounts of the martyrs of the ancient Church, and fortify yourself with the ideal that you would do the same.

But then you are forced to pray “Lead us not into temptation.” For there are a great number of temptations which are common to man, which seize upon every opportunity to disrupt this supposed great nobility of character and fidelity of faith, and turn you away from such great love of God and man. These temptations fall into three classes: your flesh, the world, and the devil.

Your flesh works against even your best intentions by hindering your wishes and desires to live a godly life. You desire to be diligent and dutiful in the vocations to which God has called you, in love and service toward your brethren, but your own flesh is lazy and does not want to work. When pressed, your sin-riddled body may even give out and limit you from the good you wish to do. You wish to fast and pray and wrestle, but, like the disciples, you end up full-bellied and asleep in your wine. You wish to read the Scriptures, but your eyes fail you. You wish to hear the proclamation of the Gospel, but your ears deceive and fail.

Secondly, the world and its corruption fight to keep you from hallowing God's name or doing His will. You desire to love your brother, but he aggravates you and incites anger and hatred. You want to serve the poor and needy, but the ungodly defraud you of your resources and the rich take what you would give to the poor. You want to give generously in support of your neighbor, but you look at the insecurity and insolubility of the world, and are wont to close your purse in fear and greed.

Thirdly, the devil himself works against even the best desires of your heart. If you think you have a handle on your physical and temporal temptations, Satan will attack your spiritual concerns. He may try to press you toward doubt, which leads to despair. Is the Good News really for you? Can God really forgive that sin? Or Satan may try to lead you toward false security. Your sins cannot really be that bad, can they? You have not killed anyone or stolen anything. Why do you really need to go to church every Sunday? God is everywhere; so why can you not just talk to Him from your deer stand or the cab of your tractor? All these sinners hang around at church; you have your act together, so you just need a little touch-up every now and then. Why are there so many kinds of Christians? Is anybody really right about everything? Why can't we all just get along? We have the same Jesus, don't we?

These three, your flesh, the world, and the devil, all militate against you loving one another as our Lord Christ commands. You do not want to. You are not able to. You think you do not have to. You just simply don't do it. And Satan traps you in the circle of sin, guilt, and despair. Because you know that you have failed to love as Christ has loved you.

Despite all this, despite your failings and sin and unworthiness, Jesus says to you, “You did not choose Me, but I chose you.” Although your flesh, the world, and the devil work hard to separate you from Christ, He has chosen you to be His own. He has chosen to die for you. It is you for whom Christ died. It is your sins for which He atoned. You belong to Him – and to no other – because He has chosen you to be His own. He has the power to lay down His life and to take it up again, and He laid down His life for you, that you might be His friend, that you might know the all-surpassing greatness of His love and grace for you.

Our Lord God has chosen you to put His Name upon you. He has chosen to drown you in the blessed font and to engrave upon you the holy cross, marking you as one redeemed by Christ the Crucified. He has chosen to call you up out of your watery grave and into newness of life hidden in Christ. He has chosen to speak His Word over you: “You are My beloved son, with whom I am well-pleased.” He has chosen to put His garments of righteousness and salvation upon you. He has chosen to hold you in the palm of His hand, where none may snatch you away. He has chosen to make you a new creation, pouring His Holy Spirit into your heart.

And our Lord Christ has chosen you, that He might keep you abiding in Him. He has chosen to love you with the same love He has received from the Father. He has chosen to die so that you may live. He has chosen to incorporate you into His Body, to feed you with His own Body and Blood. He has chosen to hide you within Himself, so that you need no longer fear the devil's assaults. He has brought you to stand upon His Word, the firm foundation, which shall never pass away.

Jesus Christ our Lord loves you, and He loves your brothers and your friends and your neighbors. He loves, even when you cannot, even when you do not. He loves the unlovable. He loves unselfishly, so much that He gave Himself over into death to secure your life and the life of your friends, and even of your enemies. He loves, to show you how to love.

Jesus has chosen you to be His own and live under Him in His Kingdom, so that “you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in [His] Name, He may give it to you.” Because He has chosen you to be His own, He has filled you with His Holy Spirit, and He pumps you full of His life-blood, so that you can go forth and produce fruit. You can now love your neighbor. You can serve those in need. You can discipline your flesh. You can thumb your nose at the devil and dwell in safety in the house of the Lord.

Furthermore, you can pray to God our Father and ask for the things He has promised to give you – daily bread, forgiveness of sins, and help in temptation – and you can be sure that He will give you what you need. To pray in Jesus' name is to pray with His Word, that is, to pray according to the Scriptures. And when you repeat God's Word back to Him, He has promised to hear and to give you what He knows that you need. And you will join with all creation in singing a new song to the God of creation.

Oh sing to the LORD a new song,
for he has done marvelous things!
His right hand and his holy arm
have worked salvation for him.
The LORD has made known his salvation;
he has revealed his righteousness

in the sight of the nations.
He has remembered his steadfast love and faithfulness
to the house of Israel.
All the ends of the earth have seen
the salvation of our God. (Psalm 98:1-3)

In the Name of Jesus. Amen.

Christ is Risen! Alleluia!