The 6th Sunday of Easter - Love and Joy

John 15:9-13, 17

As the Father has loved me,
so I have loved you;
abide in my love.

If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love,
just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love.

I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you,
and that your joy may be complete.

“This is my commandment, that you love one another
as I have loved you.
No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. ...

I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another.

I know that in the Gospels there is a hidden "back story" that involves not Jesus but the community in which the writer of the Gospel lived. The brilliant scholar Raymond Brown had several insightful books on that subject a number of years ago, including The Churches The Apostles Left Behind and The Community of the Beloved Disciple: The Life, Loves and Hates of an Individual Church in New Testament Times. In short the memories of Jesus life and events were often put together in a way that addressed the needs of the communities in which the authors were living. The editing served positive social and theological purposes.

As I pondered the words of today's Gospel I couldn't help but veer off in that direction. The logical argument that Jesus seems to be using in this section, his final discourse to his followers is simply put-

God loves me. I love you. Live in my love. Love each other.

So what was going on in the community of John the Beloved that would need this strong statement found nowhere else in the Gospels with such power and even urgency? Had love been lost?

That wouldn't be too surprising knowing human nature. We all know that the church has always had- and will always have- difficulty with that love one another, especially when that other is different or just plain doesn't agree with me. John, as he put these words together in the way he remembered and felt them, wanted to make the point that Jesus' joy depends on our love for one another.

The way to get that, John reminds us, is to abide in Jesus. Go to him and live in him. Spend time with him. Goof off with him. Enjoy having him around.

Then we will find out what love is. No, not a squishy, gooey, super-sweet emotion, but the powerful awareness that we re willing to give ourselves to the other, just as Jesus did. It is a commitment to our common good and our common support. It is true love.

And with a HT to Mike at Waving or Drowning? I add a PS: "The task of any religion is to teach us whom we're required to love, not whom we're entitled to hate." - Rabbi Harold Kushner