What Jesus says to us in this passage is not difficult to interpret. There
is no confusion about the meaning of His words. As He teaches His disciples
(including us), He is now "in your face" direct. He's not talking
holy suggestions or sanctified ought-tos. This is a command: "Love each
other as I have loved you" (v. 12). Doesn't that mean "in the same
way"? Like laying down your life.
The challenge of this text is not only Jesus' command to love but also to
realize who we are called to love. He talks about "friends." Sounds
safe enough. But in the broader context of these few chapters in John it's
clear that Jesus does not have only in mind those disciples standing in front
of Him at the moment. He has in mind all who will respond to the drawing of
the Holy Spirit to live a God life in the midst of a godless generation. The
truth is, He laid down His life for us way before our friendship ever became
a reality. He poured out His life for us when we were going our own way with
no thought or concern for how much He loved us. Not really very good friends.
And yet Christ died. This is the One who today says to us, "Love each
other as I have loved you."
When have you witnessed an act of self-giving love? When have you been the
recipient of a love that lays its life down? When have you loved someone else
in that way?
Most of us can imagine it when the object of the love is someone we care deeply
about. We can imagine giving up our lives for our children, for example. But
as someone once said, "The real test of love is in how one relates not
to saints and scholars but to rascals."
How is this command of Jesus to be lived out in our everyday lives? We might
someday have the opportunity of literally laying our life down for the sake
of another, but probably not. More likely, this kind of sacrificial love will
be demonstrated in the ways we treat each other that begin to bear the "fruit
that will last" that Jesus speaks of here (v. 16).
You lay down your life when you refuse to entertain gossip about another person,
even when it would be so interesting to talk about it. You lay down your life
when you encourage someone in his or her ministry, even though you know you
could do it better. You lay down your life when you go out of your way to
engage another in loving conversation and careful listening, even when inside
you're thinking, "Boy, this person wears me out!"
You lay down your life when you serve people in ways that no one ever notices.
You lay down your life when you make a choice to do the right thing, even
when no one will ever know the difference. The source of it all is Jesus.
I can only love like this if I am fully open to His love filling me and enabling
me to do what I never imagined I could do. It's not an option but a direct
command of Jesus.
(For a full manuscript of this sermon, go to www.preachersmagazine.org.)
It could be that the greatest challenge for the preacher here is to help the
congregation see Jesus' admonition to love in broader terms than loving those
I happen to love and like. Jesus' call is much broader than that. He calls
us to love the unlovely and the outsider.
A true story illustrates the power of love. On a sultry evening in 1993, a
31-year-old woman suddenly burst into the hospital nursery at the USC Medical
Center in Los Angeles, wielding a .38 caliber handgun. She had come gunning
for one of the nurses whom she accused of stealing her husband. Before anybody
could react, she fired six shots, hitting her intended target in the wrist
and abdomen.
The wounded nurse fled, but the shooter pursued her into the emergency department,
firing once more. There with blood on her clothes and a hot pistol in her
hand, the attacker was met by another nurse, Joan Black, who did the unthinkable.
Black calmly walked up to the gun-toting woman and embraced her. She spoke
comforting words to her. The assailant said she didn't have anything to live
for. Nurse Black continued to embrace her as she poured out her pain and anger.
As they talked, the invader kept her finger on the trigger. After what seemed
an eternity, the distraught woman gave the gun to the nurse. She was disarmed
by a hug, by love, by understanding and compassion. When asked later why she
risked her life that way, nurse Black said, "I saw a sick person and
had to take care of her."
