John 14.15-21

Easter Six |  John 14:15-21 | May 14, 2023 | Rev. Dr. Judson F Merrell, STS |

¹⁵ „If you love me, you will keep my commandments.

 ¹⁶ And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever,

 ¹⁷ even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.

 ¹⁸ „I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.

 ¹⁹ Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live.

 ²⁰ In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.

 ²¹ Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.“ (John 14:15-21 ESV)

Brothers and sisters in Christ, grace and peace to you from God the Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Amen.

It has been just over a month since we celebrated Easter.  But it seems as though it has been much longer than that. Doesn’t it?  We have just had so much going on, Easter just seems like a distant memory now.  But the reality is that Easter is not over yet.  Pentecost Sunday is still 2 weeks away.  And we continue to move through the “week of weeks” that separates the Passover from Pentecost.  Jews celebrate 7 weeks of 7 days that are to be a continual celebration of the Passover, alongside the first harvest of the year, and also a remembrance of God giving the 10 commandments on top of Mt Sinai.  Christians though seem to get lost in this week of weeks.  For the first few weeks after Easter we heard about the post-resurrection stories, and then a shift happens where we start preparing for Pentecost.  But it almost seems as though there is a disconnect.  So this morning I want you to think like a disciple.  Jesus has been crucified.  He showed himself to you in that first week, along with other appearances.  However, you have been locking yourself in at home, fearful that you too might be crucified.  Your brain is trying to make sense of all that has happened, and in the midst of it all there is just this big disconnect.  None of the Gospels record the disciples trying to rationalize the events of that Easter weekend.  No text records them as really even believing all the things Jesus had told them, until Jesus himself comes and appears to them.  Maybe that is what is causing our disconnect as well.

Our Gospel this morning clearly says that Jesus is coming, that he will send the Advocate, the Holy Spirit ahead of himself, and that he will reveal himself to those that love him and keep his commandments.  But do we believe it?  Do we see Jesus in the world?  Or perhaps I should ask:  Do we actively search for Jesus in the world?  There are times I have to say no.  Even as I was writing this sermon this past week I found my thoughts drifting to other things going on.  I thought about meetings, visits, and all the “business” side of things with the church.  I thought about family obligations, work schedules, and school schedules.  In other words, life gets in the way.  Life causes us to forget about Jesus.  It causes us to have a disconnect.  But it shouldn’t.  Jesus didn’t leave us with some long list of unobtainable items to check off.  He said to keep his commandments and to love him.  In terms of his commandments, Jesus told his disciples a lot, but it really can be broken down into a few items, such as repent, believe, and love one another.  When asked what the greatest commandment was, Jesus even replied that we should “Love the Lord your God, and a second is like it, love your neighbor as yourself.”  So we are to keep his commandments, which is to love, and then just to make sure we get it, he says we should love him.  Life should not get in the way of love.  The truth is life doesn’t, but we do.  We cause our own disconnect because we refuse to love.  We look for things to get upset about.  We refuse to be reconciled because how dare we admit we are wrong.  We get in the way of love, and when that happens, we have a disconnect.

“Keep my commandments and love me.”  Jesus goes on to say that those who love him are loved by the Father, and that he will love them and reveal himself to them.”  So we come full circle.  We are challenged to love, not only Jesus, but everyone, and in doing so, Jesus reveals himself.  If we are loving, we don’t have to actively search for Jesus, because Jesus makes himself known.  We see him in family, friends, neighbors, strangers.  We look through the lens of love, not hate, not life, not busyness…and we see Jesus.  It is then that we also don’t see a disconnect.  Instead, we see the power of the resurrection all around us.  This week of week doesn’t seem to just drone on, but becomes a stepping stone for what is coming next.  As we prepare for the Pentecost celebration, we see the Spirit abiding in those around us, and we see the world on fire through the love of God.  This is what carries us from day to day.  This is what sustains us as Christians.  It is the basis for our very life, or should I say our baptized life, because that is where we receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.  And that is the point that we also see a dramatic positive shift in our life….the dullness, the disconnect…those are gone.  And in its place we find grace and peace, given by the God who loved the world so much that he sent his Son to the cross.  A selfless act, so that love could abound, in you, in me, in the world.  In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.