Sixth Sunday of Easter
John 14:22-29
4/13/2007
Rev. Philip A. BouknightJudas, one of the followers of Jesus, asks a question.
"Lord, how is it that you will reveal yourself to us, and not to the world?"
John 14: 22
and this is Jesus’ answer,
"Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.”
John 14:23
A connection is made between discipleship and keeping His Word. A further link is made reminding the disciples that keeping His Word brings the Father’s love. This love isn’t some intangible reality. Love is expressed in relationship and that relationship is based on a mutual understanding of a love for God and for one another. It is significant that John chooses to include Judas’ question in his gospel. In doing so, he broadens the understanding of discipleship beyond the twelve to every person who keeps His commandment. Jesus gave this commandment earlier in John
I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another."
John 13:34-35
So in an indirect way, Jesus is addressing the question posed by Judas to say that when you love one another, the world will see it and they will know that you are my disciples. Part of a disciple’s task is to learn what it means to follow Jesus and another is to teach what it means to love as Jesus loves. God reveals himself to us so that we might reveal Him to the world.
I love the passage “We will come to them and make our home with them.” This newly formed community of faith is to take the form of relationships as it is expressed in the home. A home is not a structure. Rather, it is the interconnectedness of people who live within the structure. Likewise, the Church is not a building. Rather, it is the gathering of people who share the love of Christ. These persons simply enter the building to worship their God. We are to be a family. The church is a home where all of us are simultaneously learning and teaching. Today as on all Sundays, we celebrate that God has called us together into this place as a family of faith. Since today is Mother’s Day, we also celebrate the gifts that God has given to us through our immediate family. The two share a strong connection. If you were to ask members of a church “Who was the greatest influence upon your faith?” you would get a variety of answers. However, we have noticed that a great majority cite the same person as the single most important influence upon their life in the Church; mom.
When we stray away from the Church, it is usually mom’s voice that haunts us, reminding us that we should return. The general understanding of mom is a person who is gentle, nurturing and loving. We see mom as one who forgives. She is a teacher and a listener. When we are hurt, we run to mom. When we are troubled, we run to mom. When we seek guidance for our lives, we run to mom. Mom picks us up, dusts us off, and reminds us that we should not have been doing those things that caused us harm. Then she tends to the wound. Mom listens to our troubles and then helps us to gain a deeper prospective on where we stand in the midst of them. She allows us to see that there is a way out of that trouble and that things are not as bleak as we might believe they are. Mom is there at those periods of our lives where we experience transition. She gives gentle guidance so that we might see where we have been and therefore discern we are going. She gives us freedom to grow, grounding us in our identity and yet freeing us to become what we are to be.
Lest you think that I am putting to much of an emphasis on mom, take a look at the holy family. Much more time is spent on Mary’s role in Jesus’ life. She gives birth to Him. She nourishes Him. She allows Him to grow into what He would become for the world. She is there when He is beaten. She is there at the cross. She follows Him all the way through His life gently loving Her Son. At the moment of His death, Jesus hands her over to one of His disciples.
When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing beside her, he said to his mother, "Woman, here is your son." Then he said to the disciple, "Here is your mother." And from that hour the disciple took her into his own home. John 19:26-27
Do you notice the connection between this text and the one for today? Jesus cared for His mother by commending her to a new family whereby His disciples would now tend to her. This act drew out of His love for her and His love for His disciple John and the disciple took her into his own home. When it was all done, He bowed His head and gave up His Spirit.
Jesus in this passage for today; a passage redefining love and family announces the promise of a gift. The Holy Spirit will come. It will teach you and remind you of all that I have said to you. The Holy Spirit is the bearer of love. She bears the love of the Father to the Son and the Son’s love to the Father. When we receive the Spirit, It is She that bears God’s love to us and our love to God. Love is defined in relationship. When we look at our mother’s love, the love of Mary for her Son, and the love of God expressed through the feminine gift of the Spirit, do we dare express shock that the early Christians spoke of the Church in the feminine? They called it Mother Church.
We have chosen to make our home together and this home is united in our love for one another in Christ. It is here in the Church family that we see the love of God. It is revealed to us through the lives of others who share our faith in Christ. When we love one another as Christ commanded us to love, the world will see it. Indeed, it will be drawn to it. It will know that we are His disciples. Part of our responsibility is to learn of this love. The other part of our duty is to teach this love. You do not need to look beyond the news headlines to know that the world is somewhat ignorant to the kind of love that is expressed in the Church.
In many ways, the Church is a mother. When we stray away, it reminds us that we should return. It is gentle, nurturing and loving. In it we experience forgiveness. It is a good teacher and a good listener. When we are hurt, we run to her. When we are troubled, we run to her. When we seek guidance for our lives, we run to the Church because the Church represents Christ’s presence on earth. She picks us up, dusts us off, and reminds us that we should not have been doing those things that caused us harm. Then she tends to the wound. She listens to our troubles and then helps us to gain a deeper prospective on where we stand in the midst of them. She allows us to see that there is a way out of that trouble and that things are not as bleak as we might have believed they were. She is there at those periods of our lives where we experience transition. She gives gentle guidance so that we might see where we have been and discern we are going. She gives us freedom to grow, grounding us in our identity in Christ and yet freeing us to become what we are yet to be.
This gathered community is all of these things to us, because of the love of Christ. His Spirit Guides us so that we might love one another as Christ loves us. When he had finished that which he came to do, He redefined family to include every single person who follows him. We all become mothers and fathers to one another. Likewise, we are all children. It is our relationship to one another that defines us, not the building. It is the Spirit of God pumping through our veins which calls us to love one another with a love that is foreign to this world.
Love one another as Christ loves you. Make your home in this love. Continue to learn of it so that you may teach it. In doing so, Christ will reveal Himself to you and through you, He will be revealed to the world.
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