Sunday 2nd May - 5th of Easter (White)

Theme: Spirit, life, love

Readings:         Genesis 22:1-18; 8:6-18; 9:8-13
  Acts 11:1-18     John 13:31-35      Ps 148
Collect:
Risen Christ,
your wounds declare your love for the world
and the wonder of your risen life:
give us compassion and courage
to risk ourselves for those we serve,
to the glory of God the Father.

Comment

The gospel reading begins just after Judas had gone to betray Jesus. The final drama had started. The ‘Son of Man’ referred to in Daniel 7:13,14 was about to fulfil his destiny, ‘coming with the clouds of heaven’ into the presence of ‘the Ancient of Days’ (God) to be given authority, glory and sovereign power, and everlasting dominion.

In the first part of the reading Jesus talks a lot about glory. He knows he is about to receive glory – not just the glory that is his due as the Son of God, but glory as the Son of Man who represents the whole human race and who has singlehandedly done all that humans were meant to do in loving obedience to God and in love for neighbour, culminating at the cross.

Jesus was not only the representative for the human race. He was also God’s representative, God in human form. He frequently said he could do nothing without the Father, and that he was only doing the work he saw his Father doing. What Jesus was doing, God was doing. As Paul put it, ‘God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself.’ When God sent his Son into the world to die for us, he wasn’t sending Jesus to do his dirty work while he sat back in heaven and watched. God was part of everything that Jesus did. So when Jesus is glorified for his love and obedience, God gets the credit as well – he is glorified in Jesus, and Jesus must be dismayed at the dishonour God receives from some who think of God mainly as wrathful and punitive. The working of Father, Son and Holy Spirit as one Holy Trinity is difficult if not impossible for us to understand; but we must never think of them as acting against one another or independently.

While Jesus can look forward to receiving glory, he is also aware of the disciples’ loss. He will tell them about the Holy Spirit who will take his place in their lives; but first he gives them a simple command, to love one another.

This ‘new’ commandment is not the same as the Old Testament ‘Love your neighbour as yourself’. It is given only to disciples. When we love one another, the world will see that we really have learnt something from Jesus – that is what marks us as his disciples.

We are to love one another ‘As I have loved you.’ That could mean, ‘As sacrificially as I have loved you’; or it could mean, ‘Because I have loved you.’ Jesus’ love for us is the basis of our love – we love because he first loved us. It is also the example we have to follow, as his disciples.

The early church found this a difficult lesson to learn. Many Jews rejoiced in their status as God’s chosen people who knew the one true God, and despised the ‘uncircumcised’ people (‘gentiles’) who had not converted to Judaism. Even those who rejected the many gods and goddesses of the Greek and Roman culture and worshipped one God were regarded as outside the pale still. So when God chose to bring gentiles into the church there was a massive barrier to overcome.

Jesus calls us to love one another – however different from us they may be.

Questions

1) How can we ensure that the command to love one another is something we actually put into practice rather than just pay lip service to?

2) Who do we find difficult to love in the church? How can we love them?