our relationship with jesus

6th Sunday of Easter

            Many of us worshiping together in this sanctuary have something in common.  We are not near some of our loved ones.  It may be that we didn't grow up in the Dallas area, but grew up somewhere else.  We came from a family that lives in another city.  Or it may be that you are native to this area, but your children live in another city.  So, if you're like me, some members of your family live somewhere else.  We keep in touch by phone.  We scribble out some letters.  We pick out just the right card for the right occasion.  Maybe we dash off a quick e-mail.  But it's not like living close to these loved ones.  How do you keep a relationship going when a loved one is absent?  How indeed?

            "If you love me," Jesus says in our gospel lesson.  "If you love me. . . ."  But how can we love an absent Lord?  How is it possible for today's disciples of Jesus to maintain a relationship with him?  It's not hard to read between the lines of our gospel reading.  This gospel was written to a church dealing with the absence of the Lord Jesus.  Jesus' original disciples were with him.  Their eyes focused on his face; they could read the love in his eyes.  Those first disciples not only heard Jesus' words, they heard the modulations of his voice.  They ate the bread Jesus broke, drank the cup he gave.  But later disciples, those who lived in the time of the writing and first reading of John's gospel, never had the opportunity to see Jesus themselves.  They never heard the sound of his voice.  These later disciples never had the opportunity to be in the presence of the Master.  It's the same for us.  We, like the disciples who came along after the original disciples, need to know how we can have a relationship with a Lord we do not see.  How can we today have a relationship with an absent Lord?

            Our gospel answers us.  The church is not without the presence of the Lord.  Although Jesus was crucified, risen and visible, and then ascended to the Father—which means we no longer see him—our gospel claims only what the church experiences:  Our risen Lord is not absent.  The church has the presence of the risen Lord in the Spirit.  When I say that, does it make any sense?  We have the presence of the risen Lord in the Spirit.  Our gospel writer tells us that another Advocate, the Spirit of truth, is coming.  Then our gospel tells us that Jesus himself is coming to the disciples.  Are we being led to understand that the coming of the Spirit is the way the risen Jesus returns to be with his disciples?  I think so.  Our gospel writer doesn't seem to care that he is not differentiating between Son and Spirit as two distinct members of the Trinity, when he talks about the coming of another Advocate and at the same time says Jesus is also coming to his disciples himself.  How do we understand this?  Here’s what it means, based on the experience of the church:  We are not left orphaned.  The church is not left without our beloved Master.  We are not a spiritual ship without a Captain.  Our risen Lord is present in the church, present in the Spirit.  He is with us.  You don’t need to work out in your mind today the doctrine of the Trinity.  All you need to remember today is that the risen Lord is present in the church in the Spirit.

            You know what this means?  We can love Jesus.  Because the risen Jesus is present in the church in the Spirit, we can enter into a relationship with him.  There is no good reason for us not to.  The church can have a true relationship with him.  A relationship is more than knowing about someone.  Many people have studied the teaching of Jesus and are very impressed with him.  Jesus may be the answer to our theological question, "What is God like?" because we believe that Jesus is the self-revelation of God.  On the foundation of that belief, we may build a theology on the nature of God.  But our gospel tells us that the church can do more than just know about Jesus.  The church may know Jesus.  We may have a relationship with him.  We may be loved by Jesus, and we may return his love with our own.  Because Jesus is present in the church in the Spirit, you and I can love him.  Not just worship him.  Not just admire him.  You and I can love him.

            But how?  "If you love me," Jesus says, "If you love me, you will keep my commandments."  This kind of love is active.  This is love in action.  The Greek word used for "love" in our gospel lesson denotes an active kind of love.  The same word is used elsewhere in the gospel, when the writer says, "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life."  This kind of love seeks the welfare of the other.  So how do we love Jesus that way?  By doing his commandments.  Love equals obedience.  And what is the commandment Jesus gives us?  To love one another.  Sometimes that love is not only active, it is downright self-giving, sometimes even self-giving, suffering love.  What would self-giving, active love look like?  Image:  You're a volunteer at the Lancaster Outreach Center.  People who are facing a sudden crisis—the loss of a marriage, the loss of a job, or both, or more—come to you for help through this crisis.  They don’t know how they are going to make it.  You are the one helping them to make it by supplying them with the gifts the community has provided.  That’s active love.  Image:  You’re a parent of an adult daughter.  She has yet to grow up and take responsibility for herself.  You decide you must say, "I've taught you what I know about making it in life, now you must try."  That’s active love.  Image:  You are a member of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).  Others in the denomination make decisions you can neither understand nor accept.  But you decide to remain connected with these brothers and sisters with whom you disagree.  You become engaged in seeking to understand the other's point of view so completely that you may come to the place where will be able to articulate the biblical bases for that opposing point of view.  That is active love!  Image:  You are a Christian in the community.  Others in the community become intolerant of people who are different.  You decide to speak out for neighbor love, taking a great risk.  Taking your stand may result in your neighbors having nothing more to do with you.  That’s active love!  Image:  You are a member of the church family here.  You learn of people in the congregation who are lonely or sick or who are going through a difficult time.  You decide to visit some of these people.  You send cards.  You give up some of your valuable time to be with a brother or a sister who needs a loving friend.  That’s active love.  You see it?  Self-giving love takes on many forms.  Sometimes self-giving love is also suffering love.  Jesus commands us to love one another with an active love.  Obeying Jesus' command to love one another is loving Jesus.  The way we love Jesus is to love one another.