The readings this morning convey a very consistent message: love.
The Apostles act in love when the Gentiles wish to be baptised.
The psalmist invites a rousing love song to God for the multitude of good things.
John’s letter reinforces that love of God is love of Jesus – and all things ought be done in love.
And the Gospel today – Jesus reminds folks over and over to love, as they have been loved.
And it’s helpful for us to recognise the nuance, subtlety, and subtext.
The Gospel passage itself is a part of a much longer, pre-Easter section, often referred to as the Farewell Discourse. The theme is clear: love. Love one another, act in love, live in love. Love.
And Jesus emphasizes the source of all love: it comes from God. Love does not exist without God. And it has been made manifestly known to us, through the demonstration of Jesus.
It’s no wonder then that we all hear the invitation to abide in that love.
This sounds a bit like there’s a giant pool of love and we’re welcome to dive right in and stay there. Abide… it’s rather passive, describing not so much an action as a state of being. Existing. Living. Abide.
And this is not the way that folks in Jesus’ time used the word.
Jesus’ call to receive love, to share love, to abide in love – was anything BUT passive. It’s a call to action – a call to engagement – a call to DO something.
Being a child of God, a follower of Christ, is not a spectator sport. It’s not a bystander’s place.
It’s active.
And as Jesus’ next statement so aptly clarifies, it calls for us to act in accordance with the commandments. And, just as this is a family affair for Jesus and His Father – so too it is a shared responsibility for us as members of the family of God.
When we keep the commandments of Jesus, we will abide in God’s love. So keeping the commandments means we will both passively abide – dwell, live, and BE – in the pool of God’s love, but also that we are agreeing to actively abide – to act in accordance – within that great pool.
Whew! Dive in – because God’s love is amazing!
So we get a quick reminder: God’s commandments were many – there are 613 in the Mosaic books. And the Summary of the Law puts those into a nice neat list of Ten Commandments. And Jesus makes it even easier for us to remember, with the Great commission: Love God – and love your neighbour.
So this amplifies the notion of love for us then… Keep my commandments and you will abide in the love of God.
So… love, and you will dwell and participate in love.
What an ideal opportunity for us all!
AND – the icing on the cake as it were – Jesus has said these things that our joy may be complete!
No partial joy here; live in love, and everything’s fantastic.
So let’s think about that love...
We have one word in English that covers four distinct types of love in the biblical Greek,
This can challenge us, because we get all these loves kinda jumbled together, and unless we’re careful, we can miss out on some of the importance of what was really being said.
(Add to that our casual and too-frequent use of the word, for things – like cheese and sunshine – and we water down the message of love even more.)
But very important – those biblical Greek LOVEs are all expressions of relationship.
There’s Eros: an intimate, physical love. Erotic – eros. You get it.
There’s Philia: a friendly love. Best buds, people we choose to spend time with because they enhance our lives.
There’s storgé – this is an empathetic connection, a natural affiliation – bonded by chance like family.
And then there’s agape love – this is an unconditional and unchanging love, a love that will not dissolve or disperse regardless of what may be happening. This is Godly love.
Given that love is the theme of our scriptures today, it’s important for us to know which one we’re at.
And: you’ve guessed it: agape.
That selfless, virtuous, aspirational love that God has for us.
And the invitation to abide IN that love.
Imagine what it might be like to dwell there: in the perfect, all-encompassing, love of God.
To accept the perfect love of Jesus, exactly as you are: to hold that dearly and firmly in your heart.
How ideal to dwell in that type of love where pain, fear, anger – anything negative that we carry with us – would all be washed away. There is no place for grudges or crankiness or any of that when we are abiding in the love of God.
And to know that in that space, in that love, our actions reflect love - we would behave according to the astonishing grace that was being so freely given to us. No long burdened with the earthly and negative weights that we all carry, we’d carry on that perfect love of God – to live fully, abiding in the presence of the Christ in our midst.
And that’s the active invitation of abide that we get from Jesus.
To receive agape love, and to extend agape love.
And… that’s where it gets hard. Because life isn’t always the circumstances that elicit an agape-love kind of response from us. There’s conflict, there’s confusion, there’s consternation. We get tired, we get frustrated, we get anxious… and that’s when we aren’t feeling the joy. We aren’t feeling Jesus. We aren’t feeling the love.
And yet: the joy of the Lord returns to us when we recognise that the love has never stopped flowing towards us.
It’s just that we have, for a moment, stopped acting from that space.
From that space of God’s grace, compassion, and kindness.
Because: we’re human.
And we all have bad days.
And we all have stress.
And we all react to those external, earthly realities.
We’re human.
And Godly love is challenging.
But Agape love – the love of God – is putting our own self second, to benefit the loved one standing in front of us. It’s putting aside our awkwardness, or our discomfort, or our preferences – agape love can be hard work.
It’s standing in solidarity with the oppressed.
It’s advocating for those whose voices are not being heard.
It’s honouring justice for those denied equality.
It’s striving for peace for God’s children who are in pain.
It’s giving of our selves – for the welfare of someone else – even if (especially if?) we don’t agree with them.
Agape love is hard work.
Because we’re more familiar with storge – or familial – love.
And we’re more comfortable with philia – or friendly – love.
Especially when we’re called into agape action.
And perhaps this is exactly why Jesus brings up those types of connections.
He calls his disciples brothers - siblings – shared heirs. People who would understand the storge love.
And he calls his disciples friends – companions – trusted - collegial. People who would understand the philia love.
And he calls his disciples chosen - selected – wanted. People who would understand the depth of the invitation into the agape.
And – in the proclamation of this Gospel, Jesus reminds us – today’s disciples - that we are chosen.
We are chosen: to be loved. Because we are worthy of that gift of God.
We are chosen: to love. Because we are commissioned by Christ himself.
We are chosen: to act in love. Because we have been inspired by the Holy Spirit.
We are chosen: to love one another. Because we are chosen.
So this week, let us live in love. When we are at home; when we have to venture out; when we interact; when we pray.
Let us love: love God – and love each other. Proactively, reactively – Actively. Let us live and LOVE fully in the abiding love of God.
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