Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ + Amen.
According to the ancient tradition of the church, Saint John the evangelist lived to be very old, but was still part of the community of the church in Ephesus even in his old age. As he got older, he would have to be carried to church by his students, and barely spoke. Of course, because he was a disciple of Jesus, a great teacher, and an eyewitness to the resurrection, you can imagine that the people at the Church of Ephesus would be eager to hear him say something. When asked to speak, John would often simply say “little children, love one another.” And that was it.
I was tempted to stop my sermon right there, but decided you all might want a bit more than that.
Our Epistle reading for today is in agreement with this sentiment. It begins with an exhortation to love. “Let brotherly love continue…” But what is love? This word, which means so much in the Scriptures and in our understanding of the world, has been twisted and changed to mean so many different things.
These days, when people hear the word “love,” it’s most often associated with modern romance, the kind of special feelings you get when you find someone you really like and who makes you feel really good. This love is self-serving: it searches for what love can provide for them. TV shows, books, and movies imply that love is a feeling, known by the butterflies you get in your stomach. This type of “love” seeks only what makes one feel good. This same idea of love is applied in the world’s fascination with the LGBT movement. When those who support homosexuality and other unbiblical relationships say “love is love,” they seek affirmation of their desires and of what they feel makes them happy. People defy the Lord’s institution of marriage in open relationships as well, where partners agree to have more than one romantic or sexual relationship in their lives for the sake of “making each other happier.” To stand against any sort of worldly love, no matter the reason, is seen by the world as not “wanting what’s best for someone,” when what they consider to be the best for someone is simply whatever they want in their lives, no matter how selfish.
Love, even in a non-romantic meaning, is still seen by the world as “acceptance.” In our modern society, parents are expected to allow their children to do whatever they want out of love, “accepting them for who they are.” To the world, familial love should always allow the individual to do what makes them happiest. Churches like ours are seen as “hateful” and “bigoted” because we will not call something good that we know to be sinful. We are not seen as loving because we refuse to affirm what God calls evil.
Even in the world of mental health, the concept of love has taken new meaning in our modern day. There is a constant push for people to practice “self-love.” While caring for yourself is important, as God gave you a body and mind as a gift that you should treasure, it continues the thought that the modern view of love is self-serving. Think about how many speeches, movies, and commercials urge people to “follow their hearts!” A warm and fuzzy feeling in your heart seems to be enough for the world to categorize as love.
But for us, for those who know Christ and His love, we know of a very different kind of love. This love given to us by God is more than a feeling. Love, in God’s sense, is unconditional, undeserved, sacrificial, and freely given. God’s love does not see our sinful, broken state and “accept” it. He does not affirm our brokenness and leave us to consume ourselves in our own desires. Even though we as sinful people often seek out a different kind of love, God in His mercy models it for us Himself.
In Christ, we know that true love is sacrificial. The Lord God’s love for His creation was so great that when it fell into sin, He did not destroy it, but instead promised to fix all that had been broken. Throughout history God continually showed love to His people, culminating fully when He sent His Son, Jesus, to save all the world from its sin. This love was so great that Christ gave up His life, dying on the cross and enduring that excruciating pain so that we might have the hope of eternal life.
Christ’s love drags us, often kicking and screaming, out of the depths of our sinfulness and despair and into the hope and light of the life that He brings. His love shows us the cost of our selfishness and self-idolatry, but still invites us to receive Himself in full. This love is restorative, bringing us closer to Him even as our sinful hearts would seek to move away. All this is done so that through the cross, we may live in His love throughout our whole life, until He leads us into eternal life.
We, as Christians, are called to love others. The writer of the book of Hebrews encourages the church to “continue in brotherly love.” As people who know the love of Christ, you would think this should be an easy task, to love one another as Christ first loved us, but anyone who has spent time in any church knows that it is unfortunately easier said than done. Like a biological family, we in a church family know each other better than most. We know the best parts about each other, but we also have seen the depths of each other’s sinfulness. The church is not some place where all the righteous people gather together and live in peace and harmony, even if it ought to be. The church, in actuality, is more like a hospital than a paradise. Every single one of us here and at any church across the world is a sick, sinful person. We are patients, receiving healing from our Lord. We are all broken, and gathered together in our brokenness, we often hurt one another. We see the sins of one another up-close and judge one another. Yet, we are called to love one another as Christ loves us. We are called to show mercy to one another, to forgive one another continually, and care for one another. While we fail at this often, we must strive to grow in our love for one another, out of thankfulness for the love God has for us and that he has for all of His children.
While the world’s understanding of love is continually changing, looking to serve the self above all else, the love that Jesus teaches to us and gives us directly through His suffering and death on the cross is unchanging, selfless, and abounding. Christ love is delivered to us, even as we are still sinners, and He calls us His own, even though He knows the very worst of our thoughts, words, and deeds. For those who have been united with Him in faith, He does not look at us and see sin, but instead sees a beloved child of God for whom He died.
Our love for one another should be modeled after this love that Christ has for us. We ought to strive to love one another, even though we will often fail, out of thankfulness to the one who loved us enough to bring us redemption and out of love for those who are also deemed by Christ worthy of that sacrifice.
According to the tradition I mentioned earlier, when Saint John would tell the people of the Church of Ephesus “little children, love one another,” the people would often get annoyed with him. One spoke up and said to John: “Teacher, why do you always say this?” According to the tradition, John replied: “because it is the Lord’s commandment and if it alone is kept, it is sufficient.” Love is central to our faith, both in Christ’s love for us and in the love we have for each other. Dear brothers and sisters, love one another. Love one another even when it may seem hard. Love one another even when our sinful natures rear their ugly heads, so that forgiveness and reconciliation may abound. Christ has given us His abounding, eternal love, and so we can go forward in faith and love, sharing that love with one another.
In the Holy Name of Jesus + Amen.