Chosen and Choosing – sermon on May 10, 2015
John 15: 9-17 Jesus said, “Just as the father loved me, so also I loved you; abide in my love. If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my father’s commands and remain in his love. These things I have spoken to you in order that my joy may be in you and your joy may be fulfilled. This is my command, in order that you may love one another just as I loved you; greater love than this nobody has, that one would lay down his life for his friends.
You are my friends if you do the things which I command you. I no longer call you servants, because the servant has not known what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because all the things which I heard from my father I made known to you.
You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you in order that you may go and may bear fruit and your fruit may remain, in order that whatever you may ask the father in my name may be given to you. I command these things to you, in order that you may love one another.
Chosen and Choosing by Rev. Doreen Oughton
Now many of you know that when Quentin and I married about 5 years ago, I not only got a husband and 2 beautiful step-daughters, I also got a step-dog. Yes, Mikey became part of my family. Now some of you may have heard me say that I am not a pet person, this despite the 3, yes 3, step-cats that Quentin married into. But Quentin is a pet person. Me, I don’t really see the point of it. I have enough to do in my life, enough things to take care of without dealing with the needs of an animal, and cleaning up their messes. I only got the cats because the kids begged, and I didn’t really think through how the kids would be gone long before the cats. The kids would have loved a dog, but I knew a dog would require even more care, and I just wasn’t up for it.
But then I got Mikey, who had barked madly at me every time I went to visit Quentin when we were dating – who even bit me on the leg once! Mikey, who barked madly at my kids every time they came to stay with us after we got married. Mikey, who hogged the bed, who marked everything he could when loose in the house, who at age 19 now, has only occasional control over bodily functions. And Mikey is a one-man dog. He likes me alright, but he really only loves Quentin. No matter what I do for him – how much I let him lick my breakfast plate, fetch him water, give him treats, play with him, take him for walks, I get only a mild tag wag when he sees me rather than the full-body excitement that Quentin gets. And yet I notice that as I have shared my breakfast, fetched him water, played with him and even cleaned up after him, my love for him has grown. Yes, you heard me right. For all my tough talk about what a pain he is, I truly do love him. And I suspect that my love for him would be less, not more, if I never had to do anything for him.
Our Gospel passage this morning picks up right where last week’s left off. We are in the Gospel of John, and the time is the evening of Jesus’ arrest. As John tells it, it is not a Passover dinner, but the day before it, just a regular meal with his followers. This is part of what is referred to as the Farewell Discourse – the words Jesus speaks to and for his followers to prepare them for his departure, for his arrest and trial, his death and entombment. He touches on his resurrection also in this discourse – “In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me,” or “I am going away, but I am coming to you.” But the main focus is what it means for them that he is leaving. He emphasizes his ongoing presence with them – his abiding. “Abide in me, abide in my love” he says several times in this discourse that runs for three full chapters. Several times he talks about following his commands, and our reading today is one of those times. Now it is a nuanced passage, and its meaning is not obvious.
Many translations make it seem that the command Jesus wants them to follow is to love one another. I have expounded on this myself – talking about how we are commanded to love one another the way that Jesus loved. I will usually wonder about the notion of commanding love. Can love really be commanded? Is it really love if it is “commanded?” Is that the kind of love anybody would want – even God? Do I want help someone is forced to give me under threat of punishment, or the gift someone feels obliged to give, though they may resent doing so? I don’t know.
So I was intrigued to come across an analysis of this passage by a scholar of the Greek language who asserted that love is not the command here, but the fruit of following other commands of Jesus. I used his translation for deacon Ken to read. It says, “This is my command, in order that you may love one another..” The command is given to facilitate the love. So what is the command that facilitates such love? Now that part is not clear. This discourse begins right after Jesus washes the feet of the disciples, and tells them to wash one another’s feet. He says, “I have set you an example, and you should do as I have done to you.” So perhaps his command is to wash one another’s feet. Or perhaps his statement looks forward – to the part where he talks about laying down one’s life for one’s friends. Or where he emphasizes that he calls them friends, and shares with them everything he received from his father.
It strikes me that his emphasis here is on his group of followers. He seeks to increase the love between them by telling them how to see and treat each other. Do kindnesses, share insights and knowledge. Don’t worry about who will be in charge, who will sit at the right hand, who has the most rigorous prayer life or who fasts or tithes the most. Jesus wants them to live as he lived with them. Love grows through caring behaviors, and not just in the one on the receiving end. Just as I grew to love Mikey more by tending to him, so our love for each other grows when we send cards or flowers to people who are sick, make a meal for someone, babysit, give a ride.
And as easy as it is to talk about the ways we can help others, it is important to see how graciously letting others help you also keeps the love flowing. I have become closer to people both when I have responded to their requests for help, and when they have responded to mine. Could this be the way we abide in Jesus? We give as we are able, and we ask and receive when we are in need?
I was also struck by the line in this reading where Jesus says, “You did not choose me, but I chose you, and appointed you.” Now maybe this is also just a message from Jesus to the twelve. But I don’t hear it that way. I hear that Jesus chose me, and you, and you, and you. He appointed us to go and bear fruit, the fruit of love that results from following his commands. But again, I don’t believe this is about obeying a law, not about obligation, but in a profound way about our freedom.
I think Jesus chose us, if you will, by giving us each eyes and ears and hearts for different things. Maybe you would call them gifts. And they vary and differ person to person. Bob and Cindy have hearts for music. Others have hearts for teaching, or for nursing or for inspiring healthy living, or for justice, or for protecting freedoms. I don’t know why I have such a heart for reparation of race relations. I think I was chosen for this work. I think to a large degree we do not have a choice about what calls to us. Why some are passionate about protecting the unborn, and others about protecting the environment? I think it is about call, about God / Jesus choosing us for particular purposes.
