May 15, 2019, Easter 5C

“My children, I will be with you only a little longer. You will look for me, and just as I told the Jews, so I tell you now: Where I am going, you cannot come. “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

We all know the story of how God gave the Ten Commandments to Moses on Mt. Sinai. They were written on two tablets of stone. These were placed in the Ark of the Covenant. They were placed in the Ark of the “Covenant” because they were not just rules; they were the words of a covenant which is another word for contract or a solemn promise. In a contract two people make a promise, for example, I will wash you car and you will give me money. I will work for you and you will pay my salary. The Ten Commandments are a contract between God and the People of Israel.

EX 20:2 "I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. 20:3 "You shall have no other gods before me.

DT 5:6 "I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. 5:7 "You shall have no other gods before me.

The Lord God would be their god and they would be his people. God promises to be their god and they promise to be his people. The Lord God’s responsibilities as god, in Exodus 20, are to free the people from slavery and bring them to the Promised Land. And so God promises to guide and protect and love them. The responsibilities of the people are spelled out in the Ten Commandments. One might say that the second table of the Law, Commandments #4 to #10, are the work of the People. That work is the same as God’s work, because in this way the protection and love of God is brought to the people of God. One might say that the People of Israel were to love one another as God had loved them.

At one time, when Jesus was asked what the greatest Commandment in the Law was, he summarized the Law by quoting from the Book of Deuteronomy.

MK 12:29 "The most important one," answered Jesus, "is this: `Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.' 31 The second is this: `Love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these."

Those two love commandments are summaries of the First and Second Tables of the Law. But the words of Jesus in today’s Gospel reading are different, it is truly a new Commandment. Jesus said, “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

It is new and different because it is based on, or measured differently. The previous two were based on your own heart and soul and mind and strength. If I am weak do I need only love God just a little? If I am sad and depressed and hate myself, is it okay to treat others the same? And that is the danger with all the Law. We are sinners. We are weak. We think we can get away with loving God, not with all our heart, but maybe 10% is enough. And we sinners who really do love ourselves 100% think that we can treat others to our advantage and even cheat them if we are loving ourselves when we do it. We sinners know how to get around the Law and make it work for ourselves! We are clever!

But the new commandment of Jesus is not based on our heart or feelings or self-love. It is based on the love of Jesus. “Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” Yikes! Do you realize what that means?? We are to love one another as Christ loved us. And how did he love us? He died on the cross for us! He healed the sick. He comforted those who grieved. He gave relief to people who were worried about life. He fed the hungry. He taught his disciples about the Kingdom of God. He was friendly to the social outcasts. He forgave sins. He gave people a new chance in life. He gave hope. He gave peace. And he continues to give us forgiveness, hope, love, salvation, and eternal life.

As we Christians live together and interact with each other, we know how to love one another because we know the love of Jesus. We know that love from the Bible stories. And we know how to love because we have seen it in the love of others. And when we see their love, we know that they are Christians. As Jesus said, “By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

As we live according to the New Commandment, it will seem that we are just keeping the first ten Commandments. We are loving others as God has loved us. God loves us sinners, and we love the other sinners who break the commandments and harm us. That is called “forgiveness.” That is the way that Jesus loved us, by dying on the cross to forgive us. Perhaps if we really keep the New Commandment as Jesus did, then we will die for one another. But before we do that, we need to practice how to live for one another. We will be taught by the Holy Spirit. And that means the fruit of the Holy Spirit: “GAL 5:22 love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.”

Amen.

Michael Nearhood, Pastor
Okinawa Lutheran Church

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