Easter 7 5/28/06 Text: John 17:6-19 Title: Tag! You are It!

Easter 7
5/28/2006
Text: John 17:6-19
Title: Tag! You are It.

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
This past Thursday marked the celebration of Jesus’ ascension into heaven. If you didn’t know that last Thursday was Ascension Day you are not alone.
It is hardly ever celebrated anymore, because most Christians don’t understand the importance of Jesus’ ascension. It is in his ascension that the theology of our resurrection rests. Jesus didn’t come out of that grave just to die at a later date. He bodily ascended into heaven and because we are united by our baptism into his body we also have the assurance that our bodies will be resurrected and ascend into heaven.
As I read the story of Jesus’ ascension and the Gospel lesson for today I was reminded of the game I use to play as a child. One person would be “It” and he or she would have to tag another person who would then become “It”. They would have to tag someone until all the players were tagged and then the game was over.
Now, for those two texts to remind me of that children’s game might sound kind of silly to you, but let me explain. You see in Jesus’ ascension he was in affect tagging his disciples to carry on his mission of caring for the sick, forgiving people of their sins, and announcing to those without hope the Good News of Jesus’ death, resurrection, and ascension.
This passing on of Jesus’ ministry to his disciples is reinforced by the Gospel text we heard just a few minutes ago that is part of what is commonly called Jesus’ High Priestly Prayer. In the prayer Jesus uses the word given seventeen times. God gives to Jesus, and then Jesus gives to those who call themselves his disciples.
So, what is the importance of all that giving, you might be asking. Well, let’s see. Since God is the source of everything for Jesus and since Jesus gives us what the Father gives him, then it follows that the relationship between the Father and the Son, is the same relationship between Jesus and us of the faith community. That is Good News indeed.
The disciples certainly needed Jesus to pray for them, for he is getting ready to pass on his ministry to them. They were going to hear him say, “Tag! You are It”, for in just a matter of a few days they would become the people of the resurrection.
Jesus’ disciples went out into the known world and were hated for what they were doing. You see, they did not tell people what they wanted to hear, but spoke of the words and actions of Jesus Christ. Their words were words of confirmation to that which they heard and saw.
The Christian Church is to continue the game of tag today as it goes about its business of tagging those who don’t know about Jesus and his saving work. Unfortunately there are way too many churches denominations that seem to be seeking a forum which will make them popular with the world. Doctrines shift based on polls or political correctness. The teachings of the clergy shift and ebb based on popular trends and politics. Pastors watch what they say; least they offend someone.
Churches are watering down their doctrines, and giving people what they want to hear because the world hates the very words, the only words, that can truly offer life and peace. How short-sighted the people of the world are as they reject the message of God given through his Church. Pretty dumb on their part wouldn’t you say. Who in their right mind would reject life and peace and not sit at the feet of Jesus?
We are quick to condemn, but when we get over our, what we consider righteous anger, and look at our own lives, we realize that we who are to be in the world but not of the world are too many times indistinguishable from those of the world.
It is then that it dawns on us just like it did to Pogo, the cartoon character, who once said “We have met the enemy and they are us.” With that realization we are left with nothing. All we can do is cry out with the disciples, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.”
John’s Gospel from which our Gospel lesson comes from this morning describes this same game of tag. God sends Jesus to tag his disciples. Andrew tags his brother Peter for Jesus. Philip tags Nathanael for Jesus. It goes on and on.
John’s entire gospel can be best described as a divine game of tag, whose words are written so that the readers of the Gospel may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God and that through believing they may have life in his name. John’s Gospel leaves no doubt in one’s mind that as much as we would like to say we have something to do with our coming to faith, none of us have come to faith on our own.
We have come to faith because we have been tagged by others that have spoken of, or shown the love of God to us, and through the work of the Holy Spirit we have been brought to faith in Jesus. We who are sitting here today are the ones that have been told, just like those first disciples, “Tag! You are it! Tell others of God’s love and salvation, so that they too can go and tag someone else
Jesus did not just tag his disciples and leave them as we read in verses 11, 12, and 13 of our Gospel reading that Jesus is asking the Father to protect or as it is in the Greek, “keep” them. Generally speaking the words protect, guard, keep, and kept pretty much mean the same thing, but as I thought about the words keep and kept, I began to wonder if our reaction to being kept best describes our natural rebellion toward God and his life giving salvation. I mean we know that God has saved us from ourselves, but do we show it in our daily lives?
We know what God tells us to do is good for us, but even as we recognize the value of God’s commands we firmly believe that they also constrict our freedom. And besides that if we made a really serious attempt at obeying God, people would think we were just plain weird.
Living a life as God want us to live it, is just plain weird to those who are not of the faith. That is why Jesus is praying for us and all those that call him their Savior. He knows that when you live your life as a follower of his you are going to be thought of as being weird by those who don’t know Christ and his saving work.
If you are underage and don’t drink, do drugs, or have premarital sex, you are going to be called weird If you don’t go out and party on Saturday night because you want to be able to go to church on Sunday morning you are going to be called weird. If you don’t shop-lift or steal or vandalize other's property you are going to be called weird. If you love and forgive those who have wronged you, you will be called weird. If you don’t go along with the crowd you will be called weird. If you pray to God before making major life decisions you will be called weird. If you tell others about Jesus and invite them to church you will be called weird.
I could go on and on, but I am sure that by now you realize that once you have been tagged you will be considered weird by those of the world, who truly don’t know Christ. There is no doubt, being a Christian in today’s world is just plain weird.
That is why our Gospel reading for today assures us that Jesus prayer is for us. We can’t do it by ourselves. We don’t want to be weird. We need his help. And we will get it, for God the Father gives his Son what he asks for, and Jesus asks the Father to help us.
We do have help. We can withstand the world’s temptations, we can play the game of Divine Tag, but too many times we don’t want to. We want to be of the world. We may want to stay in our own "safe" areas, rather than to be sent into the world. We may want to keep our individual identities, rather than wanting the unity that becomes our witness to the world. We may want all those things, but we have no choice if we are truly going to call ourselves Christians, for God has touched us in our baptism and said, “Tag! You are it!” “Now go out and be my heart, my voice, my hands, and my feet on earth. You are not alone for I have sent the Holy Spirit to you while I am gone. “
Please join me in prayer. Almighty God, Heavenly Father, you have sent us your Son, the Word made flesh. He has given to us the words of eternal life. He has died, rose from the grave and then ascended into heaven that we might have forgiveness and life in His name. We humbly ask you to help us have the courage to share your words of comfort and salvation to whoever you put in our lives this coming week. Amen

Easter 6 5/21/06 Text: John 15:9-17 Title: Friends

Easter 6
5/21/2006
Text: John 15:9-17
Title: Friends

Grace, mercy and peace to you from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
Today’s Gospel reading is about love. Not just any kind of love, but a type of love that is almost impossible for us to grasp. In fact I am going to go out on a limb and say it is impossible for us to completely understand the love Jesus is talking about, for our understanding of love is corrupted by our sinfulness.
Jesus tells his disciples and us through his Word, “My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command.”
In those two verses Jesus is saying something that he had never said before to his disciples. He is calling them friends and not servants. I am sure that that probably caused some excitement because I would wager they never thought of themselves as being friends of Jesus. After all they were his support staff as they helped him in his preaching and healing ministry. Jesus in those few words is telling them, and us, that those who follow him have entered into a new relationship with him, a relationship of love that is like no other love they have ever known.
Now I am not sure whether they really got it our not, but in his explanation of the kind of love he has for them, he is telling them why he is going to die.
His death is to be the proof of the love that he has for them, and us, his friends. But he doesn’t stop there, for he tells them and all who call themselves followers of Jesus, that they are to have that same kind of love for others. In other words we are to not only love each other, that could be a whole sermon by itself, but also love those who dislike us, those that society considers unlovable, those who disagree with us, those who might wish we didn’t exist. He knows how hard it is for us to love others, unless of course we are getting something back for our love, and so he is giving us a special command to love each other.
That reminds me of an old preacher story that I heard many years ago. There was a new preacher at this particular church. It was his first Sunday and he preached a pretty good sermon on loving each other. The next week, a few people noticed that his sermon he was giving sounded an awful lot like last week’s sermon. The next week, several more people noticed that that week’s sermon seemed to be similar to the sermon of the last two weeks.
The next Sunday by the time the pastor had finished his sermon, almost everyone was in agreement that he had been preaching the same sermon for four weeks.
They were pretty upset, for they didn’t pay him to preach the same sermon each week. They wanted their money’s worth so they sent the head elder to talk to him.
The pastor’s response to their complaint was, “I am going to keep on giving it until you live your life the way God wants you to.” Just as he preached that same sermon on love each week, we too need Jesus’ constant reminder that we are to love each other.
I almost choose not to preach on this text, for no matter how many times I have heard Jesus’ words in verse 12 they are like a kick to the stomach, at least it is to me, for I know how many times I have failed in following his command to “Love each other as I have loved you.”
But if we take God’s inspired Word seriously we need to understand what he means when he tells us to “Love each other as I have loved you.” It is a puzzling statement for two reasons. The first being, how can a person be told to love another, especially if you don’t like them? The second reason that it is puzzling is because in our lives, love is usually considered something expendable, insubstantial, disposable, and yes, even recreational.
Oh, we take it seriously when that new baby is born or when somebody is getting married. We love our kids and sometimes even the kids of others, but as far as other adults are concerned, especially if we know them, or don’t like them, or disagree with them, love really doesn’t even enter the picture.
That is the way we feel, but Jesus is insisting that if we are going to call ourselves followers of his, and take his other commands seriously like, “Thou shall not murder,” or “Thou shall not commit adultery.” Then we must also take seriously his command to, “Love each other, as I have loved you.”
Does that bother you as badly as it bothers me? Because, I have to tell you, I know from experience that to love as Christ would have me love is harder than any of his other commands. Keeping God’s command to love is hard. It is hard because the temptations to not love are great, and the penalties for not loving are, for the most part, pretty light, almost non-existent.
Loving your neighbor, who really cares? The government doesn’t care. The courts don’t care. The news-media doesn’t care. Even the lawyers who advertise on TV don’t care. Your neighbors probably don’t even care. And unfortunately some who call themselves Christians don’t care either.
Besides that, how can you be commanded to love someone? That is going to go over big. It can’t be done so why is it that Jesus is giving us the command to love each other as he has loved us? As complicated as it might sound there really is a pretty simple reason behind Jesus’ command to love each other. It is the only way those who are not followers of Jesus will know of his love.
Oh you can preach it, you can teach it, you can read it, but if you don’t live it, those outside the faith find no meaning in God’s love. I have lost track of the times non-Christians have told me they see no reason to accept Jesus as their Savior, for it has not made any difference in lives of those Christians that they know.
Oh, I always have an answer for them, as I usually say, “That might be true, but can you imagine what they would be like if they didn’t belong to a church. I would rather not have to say that, but statistics show that there really is not much difference between how Christians and non-Christians live their lives.
I know, I know, it is really hard, and sometimes downright impossible to love some people. Jesus can love like he wants us to, but after all, Jesus is Jesus! He is God, so it easy for him to say “Love each other as I have loved you.”
Things are different now. I bet nobody ever cut Jesus off when He was trying to change lanes on Hardy Street during rush hour. Or charged him a late fee because the postal service took too long to deliver the mail.
I bet Jesus never had to put up with a store clerk that was more interested in talking to their friend on a phone than wait on him.
I know Jesus never had to put up with somebody talking on their cell phone during a movie that you paid good money for. Nope it was a different world back then, much easier to love people.
Maybe it was, maybe it wasn’t, but Jesus command still stands today as he tells us, “You are my friends if you do what I command you.” Friends: Does that mean that we are not friends of Jesus if we don’t do what he tells us to do? It kind of sounds like it doesn’t it?
The love that Christ showed toward us is the type of love that we are to show to others and that includes those people who cut us off in traffic, the kid screaming in the next booth over at your favorite restaurant, the officer who caught you speeding, and yes even those who don’t agree with our understanding of God’s Word.
You say, “You can’t love everyone.” Well join the crowd, for you are right. You cannot love everyone. You can’t truly love anyone. That is you can’t do it without Jesus’ help. Living in his love, you are able to love. You will fail at times, but because of Jesus’ love, you are okay, for out of his love he has made it possible for God to forgive you, to love you in spite of your failures.
It is hard to love, but absolutely necessary, for when you look through the Book of Acts you see that Christians make their greatest strides for God’s Kingdom when we overcome our willingness to condemn, and our desire to get back at those who have harmed us.
Jesus got it right; we must love, for as the hymn goes, they will know we are Christians, not by our condemnation, not by our might, not by our savvy; they will know we are Christians by our love. Amen