John 14:15-21
John 14:15-21
Jesus said to his disciples, "If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever. This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you.
"I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you. In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me; because I live, you also will live. On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. They who have my commandments and keep them are those who love me; and those who love me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to them."
What does it take to be a "real baseball fan?" Some would say a "real fan" regularly watches tv broadcasts of the games; they try to attend their team's games as often as possible, maybe they even have season tickets. Even when they are not at the games they wear their team's jersey and cap; at the games, some go as far as painting their faces in the team's colors. A "real fan" rushes to the internet, or daily sports pages, to see how their team did the day before and to check the batting averages of their favorite players. Some even name their pets after their team -- "Come here Dodger!" "Roll over Ranger!" Would the above qualify as the marks of a "real fan?"
Let's apply that opening question to our faith. What would qualify a person as a "real Christian?" What daily practices would they have to observe? What basic knowledge must they have? These questions, and others like them, would make interesting discussion topics for an information class or a gathering of new members. Of course, there are basic criteria and beliefs we Christians must have. But there is one hallmark that each Christian must have to be a "real Christian" and Jesus names it for us in today's gospel. "If you love me, you will keep my commandments."
There is our faith neatly summarized by Jesus so that anyone can use it and be guided by it. What's a "real Christian?" It's someone who loves Jesus and how he taught us to live in the world and are willing to put what he taught us into practice.
Jesus is admired by many people who never come and join us for worship. We know them well, some are our family members and friends. They admire Jesus, even celebrate the major events of his life on Christmas and Easter. But admiring someone is not the same as loving them and adapting our lives to reflect that love. And the "adaption" Jesus asks of us is total: that we keep his commandments. From his example and words we have come to know that his "commandments" are commandments of love.
Jesus isn't speaking about how we feel towards others. How could he command us to "feel" love for another? How could we maintain such a feeling for those we barely know; people not in our family? It's a life time effort to act lovingly towards those we do feel love for, so how could we possibly have and convey those feelings toward others who are strangers? Even enemies? Jesus' teaching is not merely about liking a person. Rather, he wants us to make an act of our will and do what is for another's good. It's not about liking everyone because, I don't know about you, I don't!
How can we mere humans, who have a mental list of those we love, those we like, and those we dislike, ever live up to Jesus' commandment of love? We already know the answer to that: on our own, we can't. But Jesus makes some promises to us today that make what he asks of us possible.
In John's gospel Pentecost occurs when the resurrected Jesus breathes the Holy Spirit into the community of believers locked away behind closed doors (20: 19-23). The Spirit Jesus promises and gives will provide the powers the disciples need to continue Jesus' ministry, particularly the mission to love the world as Jesus loved it. The Spirit will come from God at Jesus' request ("I will ask the Father") and will replace him as "another Advocate." This Advocate, Jesus' "alter ego," will do what Jesus did for his disciples -- be their companion, comfort and help them. Jesus is soon to depart, but the Spirit he sends back will never leave us on our own, "I will not leave you orphans."
No comments:
Post a Comment