Sunday, May 6, 2007
By pastor John Jorgenson
Text: John 13:31-35
„When Judas had gone out, Jesus said, ‚Now the Son-of-Man has been glorified, and God has been glorified in him. If God has been glorified in him, God will also glorify him in God’s own self and will glorify him at once. Little children, I am with you only a little longer. You will look for me; and as I said to the Judeans so now I say to you. Where I am going, you cannot come. I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.’”
The Gospel of The Lord. Thanks Be To God.
In such a world that is so full of differences of all kinds, whom in the world can a person trust? The phone calls we get are really weird. There seems to be no end to the scams. Who can we believe anymore? The politicians are blamed for being wishy-washy. The advertisers are in it for the money. The media simply want to develop more viewers, listeners, and readers with no regard for honesty or trust. Even our religious leaders are charged with dishonesty and fraud of one sort or another. Who then can we believe?
Well, I find it interesting to read the Book of Job, The Psalms, the Gospels and other biblical materials. If I go beyond the language and the cultural references and consider the relationships described between the people being written about, the similarities between biblical times and today are really uncanny. We human beings have not changed a bit. The same lack of trust existed then as it does now. The abuse of friendships, the greed, the selfishness, and the other expressions of dishonesty was as much a part of life then at that time as it is now.
At the same time, the importance of the relationships we have with God and with one another that God has tried to describe and express through the words and actions of Abraham, of Moses, of Elijah, and of David, as well as the words and actions of Jesus as described by Mark, Matthew, Luke, and John along with Paul, James, and Peter are equally as valuable in terms of our relationship with God and with one another now as they were then. As I said, things have not changed very much over those twenty-five hundred years. We certainly have a lot to do.
To start with then, who are we going to believe? Now I have to admit I am just as skeptical as you are. I have the natural Scandinavian, independent, “show me,” attitude that has been enhanced by graduate studies in journalism and a variety of lived experiences, many of which have reinforced this natural attitude.
I think one of the earliest memories I have of my grandfather is learning from him what is meant by the comment “Yah Shure,” which he used from time to time. While some times it meant that he agreed with what I was saying or what I intended; there were the other times when he saw through me and through my selfishness or my trying to be clever. “Yah Shure,” he said but the difference was in his emphasis of his comment and a raised eyebrow and hint of a smile.
In addition, I suspect that a good part of my definition of God or my attitude toward God comes from this contribution from my grandfather. Perhaps God looks at me and says, “Yah Shure” to express a wide range of feelings toward me and about what I do or say, in terms of how I express my feeling or my relationship with God or about what Jesus said and did.
Now who are we going to believe? If we go back to our Gospel lesson we have several reports of what Jesus did and some interpretation of how important that was. The close relationship between God and Jesus had been presented again and again. Jesus had been glorified by dying on the cross as a common criminal. God expressed love for each one of us through Jesus and God will continue to glorify Jesus as time passes. God expresses love through capital punishment? God’s love for me is shown through someone being executed?
Well, we learn from scripture that Jesus loved his disciples selflessly, Jesus loved his disciples sacrificially. Jesus loved his disciples understandingly. Jesus loved his disciples forgivingly. In our lesson this morning John wrote: “When Judas had gone out, Jesus said, “Now the Son-of-Man has been glorified, and God has been glorified in him. If God has been glorified in him, God will also glorify him in God’s own self and will glorify him at once. Little children, I am with you only a little longer. You will look for me; and as I said to the Judeans so now I say to you. Where I am going, you cannot come. I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
Now “Yah Shure” who are we going to believe? If God is so wonderful, so powerful, so all knowing, why in this world did Jesus have to die as an innocent person, who did nothing to harm anyone? I have heard many people question why God permitted Katrina to destroy New Orleans. I also have heard the reply that it was because of our thoughts about homosexuality, abortion, and a wide range of other actions that made God angry and as a result we experienced Katrina and other natural disasters. God is not mocked.
But does that explain why so many of the levies were washed away because of age and poor construction in the past? Did God tell the builders to save money and to skimp on concrete, or to put in fewer rocks than what was called for because the plans were far more detailed what was really needed? Did God tell people to build close to the water where they were in danger or because that was all they could afford because of poverty in the community? Or that conditions that extreme in our country were not possible to survive? Who do we believe? Do we blame God because do not want the accountability or responsibility for what we do or what was done?
I suspect that ultimately it is our ability to trust, our ability to hope, our ability to believe finally comes from our ability to love and our experience of being loved. This is what Jesus did to demonstrate God’s love for us. Do we understand that? Do we believe it?
As I said earlier, first of all, Jesus loves us selflessly. Jesus never was concerned about himself. Jesus always responded to those who came for help and trusted him to give them what they needed. We enjoy helping others and maybe sometimes we help others because of the good feeling we get from helping thinking unconsciously what this does to make me feel good. Jesus did not do that. Jesus helped because that is what He said we are to do and He demonstrated that.
Secondly, Jesus loves us sacrificially. Jesus did not limit his expression of love for us. This included His going to the cross to give up His life that we might live. It is helpful for us to remember that love sometimes includes our giving up something, even life itself to show how much we love and are committed. Our military personnel do that every day. So do the police, the firemen and other volunteers who risk their lives for the sake of our community.
Third, Jesus loves us understandingly. Jesus knows us very intimately. There is nothing in our minds or hearts that Jesus is not aware of. When we love someone else we get to know that person very well and understand who they are, what their values are and why they do what they do. By and through our love we are committed to helping them and we demonstrate love by being there for them no matter what it costs us.
Finally, Jesus loves us forgivingly. As we love others there are times when what happens results in our being hurt for one reason or another. Our love and our expression of that love for others, includes forgiveness when that hurt occurs. Jesus has been hurt by our indifference and lack of care more than once, I am sure. Yet his forgiveness for us never ends. His love for you and for me never ends.
Now the question remains, “Then Who Do We Believe?” I suggest that love defines that belief. The expression of love in its most direct and defining manner is what determines the basis for our belief. Now tell me, who loves us more than God does as Jesus demonstrated by being hung on the cross? I suspect my grandfather would insist as an Old Norwegian curmudgeon Lutheran, “Yah Shure, You Betcha. God Shure Does. Never you forget it!” Amen and Amen!