Something New
a sermon based on John 13:1-17, 31b-35
By Rev. Dr. David Rogne

A female friend showed me a Valentine card she had received from a boy friend.  On the front of the card were printed the words: “I love you terribly.”  When she opened it she found printed the words: “But I’ll improve with practice.”  Perhaps most of us are not “terrible lovers,” but I suspect that all of us could use some practice in the art of loving.  It is not an easy task to be a loving person.  So much keeps getting in the way.  Sometimes the person with whom we have to deal are unlovable.  Yet, Jesus taught us that love is foundational to his style of life.

At the last supper he shared with his disciples Jesus said: “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another.  Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.”  As we gather in remembrance of that last supper, it is appropriate that we spend a few minutes considering that new commandment.

The first thing I want to say is that the essence of that commandment was not new.  The Old Testament taught about it.  In Leviticus 9 it is written: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” (Leviticus 19:18)  The problem was that that commandment had become narrowly defined.  “Neighbor” had come to mean “Jew.”  And beyond that, it had come to mean “only the Jew who is near to you”.  The people of the Old Testament, who believed that they had experienced the love of God, did not acknowledge that that love was for all people.  By the time of Jesus, the commandment had been corrupted to read  “You shall love your friends and hate your enemies”.

The Gentiles also knew about love.  In fact, they had many words for it.   The Greeks had the word “Phileo”, from which we get the idea of filial or brotherly love.  They had the word “eros”, from which we get the idea of erotic or romantic love.  There was “agape”, a little-used form of self-giving love or good will, much used by Christian writers.  Unfortunately, even though the Gentiles had this word in their vocabulary, they didn’t distribute their love very widely either.

We have some experience with love, too, even apart from any paticularly Christian understanding.  Most of us have experienced love in the family -- something that we feel for close relations and something they feel for us -- fondness, affection, obligation.  This is what we mean when we say, "Blood is thicker than water". We also use the word in a sexual sense, as when we speak of "making love " -- a term  which has become so corrupted that it has little to do with love, but only satisfaction. We use the word to describe romantic attraction, as when we say we are “in love!"  We speak of "loving" other persons in the sense that we have a high regard for them.  Perhaps that is what we mean when we speak of loyalty or dedication.  All these things we can experience quite apart from anything we have learned from Christ.  Whatever Jesus meant by calling this a new commandment, it was not new in the sense of not having been known before.

The second thing I would like to point out is that though the essence of love was not new, the example that Jesus offered was new: "Love one another as I have loved you”.  This is not love that is based on feelings of affection for the recipient.  We can't be commanded to feel something toward another person, but we can be required to act in certain ways.  This "love" of which Jesus speaks is an attitude -- an attitude that culminates in action.  It is most especially illustrated by doing something for person that he cannot do for himself.  The good Samaritan didn’t have to like the fellow that he helped, but he became an example of love by doing the humane, the just, the compassionate thing.  In this congregation, we provide shelter for homeless people, not because we feel regard for, or closeness to, the people we help, but because, at the moment, they need help, and we take our lesson in love from Jesus, who had compassion on the people among whom he walked 

By his example, Jesus also indicates that our expressions of love are not dependent upon the worthiness of the recipient, either.  In the night in which Jesus spoke of his love for his followers, Peter, who out of fear later denied him, was there.  Thomas, who was always pessimistic, and whose faith wavered, was there.  Typically, we love those who are worthy of our love, and are in a position to return it, because for us, love is dependent upon feelings of affection.  The love inspired by Christ, however, causes us to do right by a person, not because the person is worthy of our effort, but because the person is a child of God.

Because of the context in which these words are found, we cannot overlook the lesson that the kind of love Jesus is speaking about is love that is shown by service.  Jesus took a bowl and a towel, and washed his disciples’ feet.  "This is what I mean by love", he was saying.  People who love, submit themselves in service.  It wasn’t a compassionate act in the sense that life and limb depended on it.  The disciples would have gotten along all right without it. Rather, it was a way of showing that the one who loves must be ready to serve.

Some years ago, Albert Schweitzer, who served Christ by bringing medical skills to Africa, visited Chicago.  A group of reporters cornered him on a railroad platform, seeking an interview about his self-efacing work in Africa. As they spoke, an elderly lady walked by, struggling with a heavy suitcase.  Schweitzer excused himself for a moment, gently took the woman’s suitcase and accompanied her to her railway car.  When Schweitzer returned to where he had left the reporters, not a single one of them was still standing there.  They were each trying to find some elderly lady whose suitcase they could carry.

When Jesus washed the feet of his disciples, he was demonstrating a menial service that few persons in his time would think to offer.  Yet, if Jesus, whom we call Lord, can do this with dignity, who are we to say that any worthwhile service is beneath us?  His example of love is new and refreshing.

Not only do we see in Jesus an example of love, we also see something of its extent.  Jesus left that upper room and went out to a cross.  At the beginning of this passage, John says of Jesus that "having love his own,... he loved them to the end."(John 13:1)  But "his own" were not simply those who loved him in return, or those who were obedient, or worthy.  "God so loved the world.", John says, "that he sent his only son, so that everyone who believes in him, may not perish...”(John 3:16) "God proves his love for us", says Paul, “in that, while we were still sinners, Christ died for us."(Romans 5:8)  That sounds very noble, and very pious.  It is the kind of thing we might expect God to do, but what has that to do with us?  "Love one another, as I have loved you," said Jesus . That's what it has to do with us.  He showed how far love will go.

In one of his books, Keith Miller tries to describe what he thinks is meant by Christian love.  Sitting in his study, he could see his daughter riding her tricycle in the front driveway of his home.  Far away he heard the squealing brakes of a garbage truck.  In his mind's eye he saw his daughter go whizzing down the driveway and into the street and into the path of that truck.  He could see himself spring  from his seat and rush to push the child out of the way, even though he knew the truck would crush him.  He thought to itself, "That is love."  Then he thought of the mean little kid with a runny nose, who called him names and threw rocks at his car. In his mind’s eye he saw that child rushing into the path of the truck, and again he saw himself springing to push that child out of the way too, while the truck rolled over his body.  It occurred to him that that is Christian love: love that costs something to give.

This passage calls us to demonstrate a kind of love that is not sentimental, romantic, self- satisfying or tied to the lovableness of the recipient.  We are given a new commandment to love as Christ loved, which is what we do when we render service, whether great or small.