(I was privileged to celebrate the wedding of two of my friends last weekend! Here is the meditation I gave at the wedding.)
1 John 4:13-17 (4:17) – November 15, 2025
Weddings are wonderful events. Brides and grooms try their best to make them meaningful, personalized, and one-of-a-kind! This is especially true about the music chosen.
I have strong feelings about certain songs that are featured at weddings. I won’t name any specific song, but I think you can recognize them when you hear them. I’m thinking of hearts and flowers, sappy songs that highlight love as a warm and fuzzy, surface-kind-of feeling. What happens when that warm and fuzzy feeling called “love” goes away?
We are here today to celebrate the wedding of our two friends. How wonderful, how fitting that we also talk about celebrating how much we love one another! Not a sappy, fuzzy kind of love, but a kind of love that goes the distance. A deep-down love that endures.
Many people, indeed, many ministers lift up the Bible reading from 1 Corinthians 13, where the Apostle Paul talks all about love. The “Love Chapter” from the New Testament is a wonderful statement about love.
I am a chaplain, and it’s part of my job description to talk about the Bible. How does the Bible describe love? I prefer the Apostle John and his marvelous description, his plain words on the subject of love – God’s love. Our Bible reading from the first letter of John written to his scattered church members describes love – the way God sees love. St. John writes: “Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and God’s love is made complete in us.”
Here in this description, St. John tells his friends all about love – God’s love. And, John raises love to the next level. Or, perhaps another way of describing it: John raises the bar for measuring love. “Since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.”
When I think of the number one example of love, I think of our Lord Jesus, while He was here on this earth. I think of how Jesus lived, how He acted, and how He carried out His ministry. Jesus showed us how to love, by displaying love in action. Jesus truly showed His friends (as well as all the world) a life of love – and caring and compassion for all people.
What better thing to do than to think of our Lord Jesus, when He was here on this earth, and ask ourselves “What would Jesus do?” How would Jesus act? Who would Jesus love?”
In recovery circles, a common saying is “do the next right thing.” I had a friend in recovery, of blessed memory, who is now with the Lord. He always tried his very best to be loving, caring and giving. He knew that common recovery saying very well, except he would change one word. He would often say “do the next loving thing.” That’s how to fulfill John’s definition of love from 1 John chapter 4.
So – what would Jesus do? Do the next loving thing. Go. Do that.
When I worked as a hospital chaplain at Swedish Covenant Hospital (now called Swedish Hospital), more than 10 years ago, one of the points of working there highlighted was the multi-cultural setting of that hospital and that neighborhood.The ZIP code that Swedish is in is one of the most diverse in the country, in all kinds of ways. In terms of languages spoken, various countries of origin, differing faith traditions, and wide economic differences in that ZIP code alone make Swedish Hospital a unique place to work, of great cultural diversity.
In our Scripture reading today, the Rabbi Jesus traveled up north of the Sea of Galilee, on the border of Palestine. It was in an area called the Decapolis, the Ten Cities, which also was a multi-cultural crossing point. Perhaps not as widely diverse as the ZIP code around Swedish Hospital, but with a number of diverse cultures, faith traditions, and languages spoken.
Our Gospel writer Matthew was quite particular about how he presented the information in his Gospel, which was written specifically for a Jewish audience. Let us look at how Matthew begins this vignette in the life of the Rabbi Jesus. “Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. 22 A Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to him, crying out, ‘Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is demon-possessed and suffering terribly.’”
We learn a lot from these two sentences! Matthew wants his readers to know where the Rabbi Jesus had gone – into the area of the Decapolis, on the border of Israel – and that this woman who came to Jesus for help is not Jewish, but instead is a Canaanite woman – what the Gospel writer Mark in his parallel account calls a Syro-Phoenician woman.
The Canaanites were hated by the Jews, and were among those the Jews termed “Gentiles,” since they were polytheists and prayed to various gods like Baal and Asherah.
Up until this point, Jesus had ministered to very few people who were not Jewish. So, here we are, in a cross-cultural situation. Here the spotlight shines ona woman who is not Jewish,asking Jesus for help. And,help not for her, but for her daughter, who is suffering terribly! This request is familiar territory for the Rabbi Jesus, certainly!
I have mentioned the Rev. Janet Hunt before. She tells a heartfelt story, some of which I repeat here. “Mental illness carries all kinds of stigma today. I have known this since I was a child and we experienced it in our own family. Back then it was something whose name you whispered. I’m not sure it is so very different now. When I was young during that time during the prayers of the church where we stood in silence and remembered people in need, I would close my eyes shut tight and silently plead for Aunt Donna’s healing. It didn’t come.” [1] In the case of our Gospel narrative, we are not sure what is the matter with this daughter of the Canaanite woman. Certainly, it could well be mental illness! This was often seen as demon-possession in past centuries. Mental illness carried a huge stigma in the first century, just as now, in the twenty-first.
It is Jesus’s response that is surprising. Or rather, His non-response. “The disciples, obviously aggravated by her persistence, ask Jesus to deal with her request so that they can be on their way. Jesus then explains that his mission (under the authority of God) is to call out the faithful remnant of Israel. This doesn’t deny a future mission to the Gentiles, only that for the present, ‘salvation is from the Jews.’” [2]
The all-important point of this narrative comes from this mother, this neighbor from a different neighborhood. Our summer sermon series this summer is all about Fred Rogers. He met with a lot of different people from many, many different neighborhoods. Diverse cultures, and from foreign shores, or neighborhoods, too. As this Biblical narrative continues, the woman speaks to Jesus again. “The woman came and knelt before him. “Lord, help me!” she said.26 Jesus replied, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.” 27 “Yes it is, Lord,” she said. “Even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.”
28 Then Jesus said to her, “Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted.” And her daughter was healed at that moment.
Did you hear? This woman from a different culture, from a different neighborhood, had great faith! Jesus acknowledges that, and her daughter is miraculously healed at that moment! It is marvelous that this faithful foreign woman – who knew that Jesus was the Chosen One of God, and called Jesus by the Messianic title “Son of David” – did indeed have great faith!
Except, where does that leave us today? What are we supposed to do with this narrative from Matthew’s Gospel? As commentator Karoline Lewis tells us, “A lot of how we talk about faith indeed ends up being about measurement. Life’s consequences are attributed to whether or not someone had enough faith, whatever the circumstance may be. “Just have faith!” Well, how much? It doesn’t seem like a little will do. And how do you get more? Are you stuck with what you have? Are we genetically disposed to a certain level of faith?” [3]
I sometimes wonder whether I would have had even half, even a quarter of the amount of faith this Canaanite woman had! I suspect that these are the kinds of issues about faith with which all of us struggle — and which we may likely hear in the Canaanite woman’s deep, heartbreaking request. “We wonder at the faith that is already working within her. Even though she is a Gentile, somehow she sees Jesus as having come for her as well.” [4]
At the same time, I do not want us to assume that because we do not have great faith that the Lord Jesus turns His back on us, or refuses to do anything for us at all. Which is what false teachers of the Gospel often tell their followers: “Oh, you did not receive that healing – or that answer to prayer – because you just didn’t have enough faith!”
No, Christianity is not a cheap marketplace, or a mercenary vending machine in the sky where we deposit our money and miracles and healings magically come forth. No, this Canaanite woman had faith in the Lord Jesus, the Messiah, the Son of David. She developed a relationship with Jesus. And, it all started with a mother’s willingness not only to speak, but to shout. For the sake of love. For the sake of a much beloved daughter, desperately ill.
Our faith in God – your faith and mine – “lays claim on how you are in the world, how you choose to be, how [each of us] decide to live, in each specific moment of your life…. faith is not a fixed collection of beliefs but a state of being. Your faith is great, not because of what you do, but because of who you are.” [5]
Fred Rogers had a wide variety of diverse neighbors in Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood. These were both real neighbors in the real neighborhood, and the puppets and people of the Neighborhood of Make-Believe. They all interacted with one another with kindness and respect. Fred Rogers tells us, “As different as we are from one another, as unique as each one of us is, we are much more the same than we are different. That may be the most essential message of all, as we help our children grow toward being caring, compassionate, and charitable adults.” [6]
Yes, Jesus healed this daughter of a neighbor from a different neighborhood, a foreign neighborhood. As you and I travel through different neighborhoods in our lives, we can have the same openness, care and compassion that Jesus had. That Fred Rogers had.
Be like Jesus. Be like Fred Rogers. Go into multicultural places with openness and respect, care and compassion. Go, do that.
Welcome to the neighborhood! St. Luke’s Church neighborhood, that is.
I am continuing with our summer sermon series on Mister Rogers. You know, Fred Rogers, of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood. I watched the television show with my small children – all four of them, at various times. I so appreciated Fred’s gentle, caring, loving way of speaking to everyone. Not only the children. He was the real deal. Fred was a genuine, caring, compassionate person, interested in everyone and everything. And, especially in children.
We are looking at a Scripture reading today that highlights a child, this week. Actually, it highlights both a girl child and a sick, unmarried woman, two people who were second-class citizens in the society of Jesus’s day. Women, especially unmarried women, were second-class, as were children. The only people who were of any worth in first-century society were males, and especially free males who owned property.
But, let us leave this social class commentary for another day. I want us to concentrate on, first of all, the man who approaches the Rabbi Jesus, to ask if He could come and heal his daughter who is very sick. Actually, this narrative appears in three of the four Gospels: Matthew, Mark and Luke. There are slight differences in the telling of the narrative. In two accounts, the sick girl is still living, but at the point of death. In Matthew’s account, she has already died. In any of these narratives, it is a terrible tragedy for this father.
We understand that if two individuals are eye-witnesses to a car accident, but see it from the opposite sides of the street, we will have two different perspectives of the same accident. Just so here. Just so with the three writers of the Gospels. We see slightly different accounts of the same incident. With Matthew’s account, the father comes to Jesus, begging Him to come and heal his daughter – his dead daughter.
The father Jairus is the leader of the local synagogue. Not just a common attender or member, but the leader. He comes to the rabbi Jesus for help in a time of severe need. He must have been at the end of his rope, the end of all of his resources. Except – as the leader of his synagogue, leaders are trained to be competent and in control, and not supposed to be in desperate agony or heartbreaking fear of losing a much beloved family member. In fact, Jairus threw himself at Jesus’s feet, begging Him to come and raise his daughter from the dead. “He is desperate; his love for his daughter has left him utterly vulnerable.” [1]
As the rabbi Jesus agrees and starts to go with the distraught father, we meet the second of these three people we are concerned with today. This unmarried woman has been sick for a long, long time. Twelve years. She has no standing in her community, and “apparently has no advocate to beseech this teacher on her behalf….Mark’s [account] doesn’t make a point of her impurity or isolation from the community, but because this was most likely vaginal bleeding it would have rendered her impure and, just as important, likely unable to bear children.” [2]
So, we have two desperate people. Two people at the end of their rope, vulnerable for different reasons. This unnamed woman was brave enough, desperate enough, to try to touch the cloak of this Rabbi. As she said to herself, “If I only touch his cloak, I will be healed.” Both of these people were seriously grieving, and were reaching out for help.
Both of these dear people – dear to our Lord Jesus – displayed tremendous vulnerability. Vulnerability was and is not a trait that is held up to be something that leaders of groups or CEOs of companies or corporations strive to emulate. Actually, Fred Rogers was vulnerable to lots of people, places and things. Willingly so. He considered vulnerability a strength, considering other people and their feelings and emotions. Just like Jesus did, too. Fred Rogers saw the neighbor in people, just like Jesus, too.
Mister Rogers said, “It takes strength to face our sadness and to grieve and to let our grief and our anger flow in tears when they need to. It takes strength to talk about our feelings and to reach out for help and comfort when we need it.” [3]
We are forgetting the third person in this narrative, though. The girl, terribly sick, at the point of death. It is easy to forget about her. She’s twelve years old, utterly helpless and passive, dependent on others, helpless to do anything about anything.
Here are three characters, three people that Jesus touches, heals in different ways. Life-changing ways. Which one do you identify with? “The leader who finds that all the usual advantages and experience that go with his office suddenly avail him nothing? The one who has endured much and isn’t sure she can bear any more? Or the one who is helpless, utterly dependent on others? Which one do you identify with?” [4]
It is only in our admitting our vulnerability that we are able to receive help, and only by admitting our desperation are we willing to try something, anything, that may give us hope. These admissions are not the end of the world! These admissions – these cries for help show that we are not rugged individualists, going it all alone, after all. We can show that we are part of a community, part of a neighborhood. This is a true way of showing courage, leaving behind the false culture of perfection, individualism and stiff upper lip.
This is what being a neighbor is all about, and what both Jesus and Fred Rogers advocate. Can we show mutual respect to others – all others? These three individuals are certainly from three widely different parts of society, and Jesus met them all where they needed Him most. Can we display inter-dependence freely, even call it what it is – the inter-dependence of the Kingdom of God that Jesus keeps preaching about?
Each of us has our own vulnerable, secret (or, not so secret) places inside that call for attention, call for healing and nurture and comfort. All of us have those places and spaces where we grieve and where we wish we could reach out. We all need a nurturing, healing neighborhood of trust, respect and caring.
Can we – can you and I commit to being that caring community for others? That safe space where others who are hurting and need healing feel the trust and openness? Jesus definitely had that safe space and healing presence all around Him. Fred Rogers did, too. I strive to be that safe space and healing presence for others. See if you can be that for others, too. For all others, just like Jesus. Just like Fred Rogers, too.
And, the best part about this is that you and I do not need to have it all “together” and perfect to do this, to be that safe space. We just need to be open, willing and available to welcome all others into the neighborhood. What would Jesus do? What would Fred Rogers do? Go, do that.
I have rubbed elbows with all kinds of people! I grew up in Chicago in a half-and-half, working-class and middle-class neighborhood. I lived in (and worshiped in) two racially mixed areas of Chicago for some years. I’ve had a number of jobs before I went to seminary at 40 years old, in diverse industries, including the ramp, a huge warehouse, and an order fulfillment center. So, when I hear the Rabbi Jesus getting some guff from the crowd for hanging out with the riff-raff and “sinners,” that surely gets my attention!
I think today’s Scripture reading is particularly fascinating since it shows someone who was definitely not well liked in his neighborhood. In fact, no one wanted to call him “friend” or neighbor. Zaccheus was a chief tax-collector for the Roman occupation. Yes, he was Jewish, and yes, he was working for the hated occupying foreign forces. And as if that were not enough to get him disliked by his Jewish neighbors, Zaccheus was officially delegated by the Roman government to collect their taxes for them.
The Roman government was not very particular about how they got their tax money – as long as they got it. So, the local tax collectors could be as demanding or dishonest as they wanted to be, all for the purpose of getting money for the Romans. And, if these tax collectors squeezed a little extra money out of their fellow Jews, the Romans did not care. As long as enough money came into the Roman treasury. That was all the occupying force cared about.
I would imagine that Zaccheus was a pretty lonely man. Until – the Rabbi Jesus came to town. This was several years after Jesus had started to preach, teach and do miracles, so I suspect by this time Jesus had quite a following, and quite the reputation! Let’s pick up right in the middle of the narrative: “3Zaccheus wanted to see who Jesus was, but because he was short he could not see over the crowd. 4 So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way. 5 When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.” 6 So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly.”
We read next that the crowd started to grumble, because the Rabbi Jesus saw and spoke with Zaccheus, truly engaged with him, and even said “I must stay at your house today.”
Can you imagine, being the shortest guy in your high school! Plus, being one of the least popular persons in the town of Jericho! Both of those things must have been painful subjects for Zaccheus. I just imagine that he lived an isolated existence, wanting, hoping that someone would see him, notice him and validate him. This emotional response is only human!
We are currently observing a summer sermon series highlighting the person of Fred Rogers, of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood. Have you ever thought of someone who is meek and gentle as being a strong individual? Someone who is so strong and confident themselves that they do not care what other people think? I think that is exactly the kind of person Fred Rogers was. Plus, Fred Rogers thought everyone was deserving of attention and respect, no matter what! And, that deep emotions were important things.
“Of the many lessons Rogers gently gifted his audience, a chief one was that all emotions are valid, even the sad and angry ones. They need acceptance from friends and family and, often, expression – so long as it’s not violent. Sigmund Freud called this ‘sublimation,’ the channeling of destructive impulses into socially acceptable actions. It was a pillar of Rogers-ism, and [Rogers] often referred to dialogue about emotions and feelings as ‘important talk.’” [1]
The Rabbi Jesus obviously thought that emotions were important – even the emotions of someone hated like Zaccheus. Sure, Zaccheus was seen as a hated tax collector by his Jewish neighbors! But, Zaccheus’s feelings were valid, too! Our Lord Jesus went out of His way to single Zaccheus out, see him, notice him, validate him. And, Jesus invited Himself over for dinner!
Salvation came to Zaccheus’s house that day. Jesus followed him home, and broke bread with him at a lonely table. Salvation comes to all of us when Jesus joins us, has fellowship with us. Even when people do not feel worthy, for whatever reason, to have Jesus join them – it doesn’t matter. Salvation is solidarity, hospitality, and yes, ministry.
Our commentator Karoline Lewis relates a modern (and true) narrative, taken from the column of David Brooks, long time New York Times columnist. Brooks tells the story of Kathy Fletcher and David Simpson. “They have a son named Santi, who went to Washington, D.C. public schools. Santi had a friend who sometimes went to school hungry. So, Santi invited him to occasionally eat and sleep at his house.”
“That friend had a friend and that friend had a friend, and now when you go to dinner at Kathy and David’s house on Thursday night there might be 15 to 20 teenagers crammed around the table, and later there will be groups of them crashing in the basement or in the few small bedrooms upstairs.”
“The kids who show up at Kathy and David’s have endured the ordeals of modern poverty: homelessness, hunger, abuse, sexual assault. Almost all have seen death firsthand — to a sibling, friend or parent.”
“It’s anomalous for them to have a bed at home. One 21-year-old woman came to dinner last week and said this was the first time she’d been around a family table since she was 11… Poverty up close is so much more intricate and unpredictable than the picture of poverty you get from the grand national debates.”
“I started going to dinner there about two years ago,” writes Brooks, “hungry for something beyond food. Each meal we go around the table, and everybody has to say something nobody else knows about them. Each meal we demonstrate our commitment to care for one another. I took my daughter once and on the way out she said, ‘That’s the warmest place I can ever imagine.’”
“The problems facing this country,” says Brooks, “are deeper than the labor participation rate and ISIS. It’s a crisis of solidarity, a crisis of segmentation, spiritual degradation, and [lack of] intimacy.”
“The kids call Kathy and David ‘Momma’ and ‘Dad,’ are unfailingly polite, clear the dishes, turn toward one another’s love like plants toward the sun and burst with big glowing personalities. The gift of Kathy and David is the gift of a complete intolerance of social distance,” insists Brooks.[2]
At church, we speak ‘salvation speech.’ This is speech that sees the other, that regards the overlooked. We speak speech that brings together, and unites across barriers and boundaries, classes and cultures. Speech that creates community and family for everyone. Speech that gives life and says that salvation is here and now, in this world as well as the next. [3]
Jesus said, “Today, salvation has come to this house.” It is salvation to a house, any house. It’s to a neighborhood, each and every neighborhood. This place where Zaccheus lives is where Fred Rogers would welcome, and be welcomed, too.
What would Jesus do? What would Fred Rogers do? Go. Do that.
I’ve had a great respect and fondness for Fred Rogers, for many years. You know, Fred Rogers, of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood. I watched the television show with my small children – all four of them, at various times. I so appreciated Fred’s gentle, caring, loving way of speaking to everyone. Not only the children. He was the real deal. Fred was a genuine, caring, compassionate person, interested in everyone and everything. And, especially in children.
Right now, with bombings and raids and rumors of war on the minds of many people worldwide, right now seems like a strategic time for us to be starting a summer sermon series on Fred Rogers. Today’s uncertain time in history is somewhat similar to the uncertain times in the area where the Rabbi Jesus grew up and was teaching and preaching. Occupied territory. I fear that your typical person on that first-century street in Israel did not have guarantees of security or comfort in their lives, either.
Our reading is from Mark 10, just a few verses before the beginning of chapter 11, where Jesus enters Jerusalem on Palm Sunday for the final Passion week of His life. This is the very end of Rabbi Jesus’s three-year ministry. His disciples had been with Him, and learned from Him for three whole years. At this time just before the Passion week, Jesus calls all the disciples together to give them a short recap on the Gentiles—the Romans—the worldly way of dealing with pre-eminence, greatness, and authority.
I would like us to focus especially on a few verses from our Gospel reading today. “whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, 44 and whoever wants to be first must be servant of all. 45 For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
If we notice, Jesus did not want to be a big shot, strong-man, autocratic leader. Instead, we see the life of Jesus as offering unique insights and inspiration to all of us. Our Lord Jesus shows us how to live as a servant leader. In His life and teachings, Jesus consistently demonstrated the core principles of servant leadership. Our Lord Jesus embodied servant leadership in its purest form. [1]
People in the first century just did not understand. Not even when the Rabbi Jesus explained to the disciples that they needed to become completely of no account, like children, they still did not have any idea of what Jesus was talking about.
What is the overarching disconnect and problem here? “Power has been the perennial problem in human history. The reality of power is complex; its use and misuse in all human, social and political relations and interactions has been a question of utmost importance for all peoples.” [2]
I strongly suspect that Fred Rogers would have objected to have his life compared to the earthly life of our Lord Jesus. However, I see some definite parallels. It is here that Fred Rogers shines. Yes, he totally understood and appreciated becoming like a child. He became vulnerable, totally open, on a daily basis. Fred Rogers turned the power dynamics of the popular world and of politicians and of world leaders on their head. Just exactly like Jesus did.
I’m going to tell you about a church I attended, years back, while I was still at seminary. Smaller church, here in the north suburbs of Chicago. The church was going to have a clean-up day in the nursery and small children’s area, after the morning worship service. The Sunday school and children’s ministry people had been planning it for a number of weeks. A number of people had dressed for church with their cleaning clothes on, blue jeans and t-shirts. The group even sent out for sandwiches for a quick lunch before they began to clean up.
My husband Kevin approved of the clean-up; our children weren’t that far beyond that younger age group. We couldn’t stay after service that day, but said our good-byes to the cleaners. On our way out, we ran into the associate pastor. She had delivered the sermon that morning and worn her clerical robes in church. However, she had transformed; she had changed into blue jeans and a sweatshirt. She had a bucket and a spray bottle of cleanser in her hands, and cheerfully wished us well as my husband and I went off to the next event.
My husband’s opinion of that associate pastor rose by leaps and bounds that day. He told me how impressed and pleased he was to see that she was willing to go to work without blowing her own horn. She was willing to get her hands dirty for the church, not just look pastoral and holy up front in the sanctuary. She was willing to be a servant, as well as a leader!
I know I have mentioned this before, in my past sermons. I’ll mention it again. Fred Rogers was not only the star, puppet performer, writer and producer of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, he was also a Presbyterian minister in the PC(USA) denomination. He was ordained into the ministry of communication to families via the medium of television. “Fred Rogers committed his life to making television programs for the very young because he saw its potential as an instrument for good as a gift. He cared deeply about those on the other side of the screen – their needs, concerns, struggles and joys.” [3]
Years ago, I sensed that deep caring through the television, as my small children watched Mister Rogers. I rejoice that my children – and countless others – had the opportunity and blessing to meet with this television neighbor, who strove to give his absolute best in a way that young children could readily understand.
That is exactly who and what Fred Rogers was, too. Each and every day. He said, “I’d like to be remembered for being a compassionate human being who happened to be fortunate enough to be born at a time when there was a fabulous thing called television that could allow me to use all the talents that I had been given.” [4]
I do not imagine that I have one quarter, even one tenth of the compassionate skills, talents and spiritual gifts that Fred Rogers was blessed with. But, I have the ability to be my honest, caring self in my ministry with others. God has given us all the opportunity and the blessing to be a blessing to others, each and every day.
How can you be a blessing to others, today? Tomorrow? Next month? We don’t need to be television personalities or leaders on the state or national level to follow in the way of Fred Rogers, and of other servant leaders. We can also be faithful in the little things, like clean-up day at the church. How can you and I serve God and serve others, today? We are all called to serve by Jesus. Let us serve in all honesty, caring, and love for others, in our neighborhood today.
May is Mental Health Awareness Month. This month is particularly meaningful to me, since I deal with people who have mental health challenges almost all the time. Both professionally, as a hospice chaplain, and personally, since I have a number of people in my extended family who have mental health challenges.
I have highlighted May and mental health awareness for years, as a hospice chaplain working in the Chicago community. As a friend of mine, the Rev. Kathy MacNair said many times, everyone knows someone. Every single person knows someone who is struggling with mental health issues – and sometimes, they know several someones. Or, are related to several someones. Or, perhaps you are one of these people who have mental health challenges.
Our Lord Jesus was very familiar with mental health challenges. As we can see from all four Gospels, the Rabbi Jesus traveled from place to place, preaching, teaching and healing. Sure, some of these healings were physical healings, but some of these healings were also spiritual, mental, and I believe psychological, too. Our Lord Jesus truly healed these dear folks. His compassionate action and treatment is always truly loving, and infinitely caring.
John chapter 13 comes from the Upper Room Discourse, that last night the Rabbi Jesus was with His disciples. Remember, this was at the Passover meal they all shared together, just before Jesus was arrested later that evening, beaten, tried, appeared before Pontius Pilate, and later the next day crucified outside the city of Jerusalem.
Do you understand how important and poignant these words of Jesus are? Just think back to a particularly important conversation you had with someone very meaningful in your life. Perhaps it was one of the last conversations you remember having with that loved one. Just so, our Gospel writer is aware of how important these last hours with his Lord Jesus actually were! I am certain all the disciples remembered these memorable words of Jesus with particular care.
Let us read again the words of Jesus, from John 13: “34 A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” Shallow people comment about what they call love, thinking about valentines, candy and chocolates, and champagne toasts of undying affection. Can’t you hear them already? “Oh, how wonderful of Jesus! I love everybody already. I’m a good Christian.” Let’s take a closer look at exactly what Jesus was commanding.
Sure, the Gospel of John mentions the disciples loving one another. But – John’s Gospel also has passages about other kinds of people, too. Nicodemus was a respected member of the Jewish religious rulers, the Sanhedrin, the religious upper class. By and large, the Jewish rulers were no friends of the Rabbi Jesus. What about the half-Jew, the Samaritan woman of chapter 4? What is more, she was also an outcast in her own town.
Did Jesus show any hesitation in His interaction with either one? Wasn’t He caring, loving and honest with each of them, just as He was with everyone else?
Jesus was the ultimate in being open, loving and honest to everyone. No matter who, no matter where, no matter what faith tradition, social strata, ethnicity, or any other designation. Jesus is commanding us to love in the same way. Not only towards strangers, but towards friends, as well. That can be even more difficult sometimes.
“Here in John chapter 13, Jesus demonstrates his love for the same disciples who will fail him miserably. Jesus washes and feeds Judas who will betray him, Peter who will deny him, and all the rest who will fail to stand by him in his hour of greatest distress. The love that Jesus demonstrates is certainly not based on the merit of the recipients, and Jesus commands his disciples to love others in the same way.” [1]
I get set back a bit when I realize the full ramifications of that boundless, amazing love of Jesus. It’s a tall order! Whoa, Lord! You don’t really expect me to be that way with people who insult me, or are mean to me, or disrespect me, do You? I kind of think that is exactly what Jesus means. Love them. No “but, what if…?” Love all of them unconditionally.
Which brings us back to where we started. It’s easy to love lovable people, to love babies and small children. Easier to love those in our families, and friends. But what about those we don’t even know? What about people we actively dislike? And, what about people who are scary, who we don’t understand, who are in dementia or who throw tantrums, or have addictions?
I have permission from our friend Irene to talk about her adult daughter, who does have mental health challenges, was living at Thresholds social services for years, and who currently lives in Wisconsin. Now that the daughter is regularly taking her prescribed medication, things are stable and under control. This dear daughter is quite helpful to Irene when she comes to visit. Thank God, this story has a happy ending, and this mother and daughter are reunited and grateful to God for all the help and support from friends, doctors and from support groups.
That is exactly what Jesus means. Love all people. Even the scary ones, even the ones we dislike. No “but, what if…?” Love all of them, unconditionally.
This is not just a suggestion. Jesus makes it a command. If you and I want to follow Jesus, this is one of the requirements. Some well-meaning believers say that other people may not merit Jesus’ love, for whatever reason. Gosh, I don’t merit Jesus’ love a lot of the time! But, that makes no difference. Jesus still loves each of us, unconditionally. No matter what. Plus, Jesus commands us to love others in the same way. The same ultimate, above-and-beyond, bottomless way.
So, whether you and I succeed or fail in our attempts to love one another this week, yet God in Jesus loves us more than we can possibly imagine. And hearing of this deep Jesus-love we are set free and sent forth, once again, to “love one another.”
When we think of the animal kingdom—and let’s broaden that to all birds and beasts, all creatures great and small—how does love fit into the picture? Picture this. A mama cat or dog, licking and cleaning her little ones. A mama horse or elephant or dolphin, feeding her baby. A mother hen on her nest, spreading out her feathers, her wings, to keep her chicks warm and safe at night. All loving and caring pictures. All maternal. Motherly.
When we think about God and God’s actions, maternal and motherly images are not necessarily the first things that pop into a person’s mind.
This little, short Scripture reading from Dr. Luke today really packs a lot into it! Just four verses, and, my! We start with some Pharisees, coming to warn the Rabbi Jesus. Many Pharisees were part of the Jewish leadership, which generally did not look very kindly upon Jesus. However, these particular Pharisees warned the Rabbi Jesus that King Herod was out to get Him, and there is definitely trouble ahead!
This is one of the times that Jesus is reported calling someone a name, and probably (knowing what we know about Jesus) His words were ironic. Jesus says, “Go and tell that fox: ‘I am driving out demons and performing cures today and tomorrow, and on the third day I shall finish my work.’” The appellation “that fox” most probably meant “that wily, scheming person!” All of which was true, concerning King Herod!
Except, we are not going to focus primarily on foxes for our sermon today. No, we are going to continue on in our reading, and examine more closely what Jesus says and does next. But, just one mention first – Herod was someone who did a lot of evil things!
I said last week that we will look at a phrase (or petition) of the Lord’s Prayer each week in Lent. This week we think of “Deliver us from evil.” As we consider nasty King Herod and his evil clutches, being delivered from Herod certainly qualifies as being delivered from evil! But, that is this particular situation, with the Rabbi Jesus. There are plenty of other evil things and evil people in the world, more than enough to go around!
A clear, simple definition of evil is “bad stuff.” When we think of all the bad stuff we need to be saved from, we can come up with quite a list! Bullies, diseases, war, unemployment, natural disasters, anger and bitterness, being greedy. And that is hardly scratching the surface of all the evils that can happen! One of the best, straight forward translations of this part of the Lord’s Prayer is “Lord, save us from all the bad stuff that happens.” [1]
As our commentator on Psalm 27, Beth Tanner, says, “With all of the violence in our world, Christians are faced almost daily with a decision to live in fear, or despite their fear, to trust in God and God’s promises.“ [2] “Deliver us from evil” is a powerful prayer! A prayer of trust and assurance in God’s provision, in God’s ability to keep us safe, whatever our situation.
Which brings us to the other image Jesus brings up in this short Gospel reading. Jesus says, “Jerusalem, Jerusalem! You kill the prophets, you stone the messengers God has sent you! How many times I wanted to put my arms around all your people, just as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you would not let me!”
In my imagination, I can just see our Lord Jesus, on a hill looking down on a large portion of the city of Jerusalem. His heart is broken, and He says these very sad, very heart-breaking things about the city – and about the residents of the city. And by extension, about the Jewish people. Here is a very maternal, motherly image, “just as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings.” Jesus sees Himself as the loving, caring, nurturing mother hen!
When many people think of our Lord Jesus, often the images that come to mind are strong and mighty. The Lion of the tribe of Judah. The Messiah, the King. The Son of God, the Miracle Worker, the Lord Jesus Christ. All strong, powerful images!
One of our commentators, Karoline Lewis, reflects that women are made in the image of God just as much as men are. She goes on to say, “if you rarely, if ever, hear about God’s femininity, female images for God, or female characteristics of God, then even that biblical truth will be hard to believe. And, if God is mostly assumed to be male, referred to with male pronouns, and described as male, then it will be more difficult and take more energy to imagine God in female categories — and to believe that you have a place in the kingdom of God.” [3]
I am reminded of the summer sermon series I preached in 2023, where I featured many of the maternal, motherly images of God in both the Hebrew Scriptures and the New Testament. This mothering image used by our Lord Jesus in Luke 13 reminded me of a newer hymn, found in several newer hymnals. The lyrics for hymns are often theological, moving and stirring, emotionally and intellectually. Here is the first verse of a hymn called “Mothering God.”\
Mothering God, you gave me birth / in the bright morning of this world.
Creator, source of ev’ry breath, / you are my rain, my wind, my sun. [4]
Of course God has male attributes and characteristics. God also has female attributes and characteristics, as we can see from this motherly word picture that Jesus uses!
Jesus welcomes us into His embrace, into His community of love and caring. Just as a lost little chick who finally finds the way home into the nest, into his or her mother hen’s warm feathery embrace, so we can find our way into a community of caring, love, nourishing and belonging. I hope our church community extends that caring and loving welcome to everyone. Jesus wants us to know that we are welcome with Him, always.
Are you still searching for that community of belonging? That warm, caring place? I pray that we all may find it. Not only here, in this community, but especially in the embrace of Jesus.
When I mention the word “love,” what do you think of? For me, it’s different things at different times. When I thought of the modern conception of love this time, what came to mind were the hearts and flowers of romantic love. You know the kinds of expressions I mean. Hearts, flowers, Valentine’s Day, frilly lace, and all the rest. This is not the kind of love our Lord had in mind. Our modern ideas of love hardly scratch the surface of Jesus’ expression of love.
John shows us the extended conversation Jesus had with His friends on that last Thursday night, the night before He died on the Cross. Jesus said many poignant, important things to His disciples. Some of them were even commands! Like this one here, from John chapter 13.
The disciples followed their Rabbi around Palestine for three years. Living together, rubbing shoulders and elbows together, those itinerant people got particularly close. That can happen when people travel and live in close quarters with one another! Now, at the culmination of all things, Jesus gives His disciples a new command. He even highlights it! “Love one another, as I have loved you.” Jesus made sure all of His friends knew it was a command!
Shallow people comment, thinking about valentines, candy and chocolates, and champagne toasts of romantic love. Can’t you hear them already? “Oh, how wonderful of Jesus! I love everybody already. I’m a good Christian.”
Let’s take a closer look at what exactly Jesus was asking.
Sure, the Gospel of John mentions the disciples loving one another. But – John’s Gospel also has passages about other kinds of people, too. Nicodemus was a respected member of the Jewish religious rulers, the Sanhedrin. By and large, the Jewish rulers were no friends of the Rabbi Jesus. What about the half-Jew, the Samaritan woman of chapter 4? She was also an outcast in her own town.
Did Jesus show any hesitation in His interaction with either one? Wasn’t He caring, loving and honest with each of them, just as He was with everyone else?
Jesus was the ultimate in being open, loving and honest to everyone. No matter who, no matter where, no matter what faith tradition, social strata, ethnicity, or any other designation. Jesus is commanding us to love in the same way. Not only towards strangers, but towards friends, as well. That can be even more difficult sometimes.
“Here in John chapter 13, Jesus demonstrates his love for the same disciples who will fail him miserably. Jesus washes and feeds Judas who will betray him, Peter who will deny him, and all the rest who will fail to stand by him in his hour of greatest distress. The love that Jesus demonstrates is certainly not based on the merit of the recipients, and Jesus commands his disciples to love others in the same way.” [1]
I get set back quite a lot when I realize the full ramifications of that Jesus-kind-of-love. Whoa, Lord! You don’t really expect me to be that way with people who insult me, or are mean to me, or disrespect me, do You? Umm. I kind of think that is exactly what Jesus means. Love them. No “but, what if…?” Love them.
I post on social media regularly, both for my personal media accounts as well as for St. Luke’s Church. This was a post I made for yesterday, Saturday, exactly mirroring this command of our Lord’s. “Confused about the Christian response to social issues? Here’s a handy reference: Male? Love them. Female? Love them. Unsure? Love them. Gay? Love them. Straight? Love them. Unsure? Love them. Addict? Love them. Sober? Love them. Unsure? Love them. Believer? Love them. Unbeliever? Love them. Unsure? Love them.”
And, this is not just a suggestion. Jesus makes it a command. If you and I want to follow Jesus, this is one of the requirements. Some well-meaning believers say that other people may not merit Jesus’ love, for whatever reason. Gosh, I don’t merit Jesus’ love a lot of the time! But, that makes no difference. Jesus still loves us, Unconditionally. No matter what. Plus, Jesus commands us to love others in the same way. The same ultimate, above-and-beyond, bottomless way.
“Jesus goes to the cross to demonstrate that, in fact, “God so loved the world.” Jesus went to the cross to show in word and deed that God is love and that we, as God’s children, are loved. So whether we succeed or fail in our attempts to love one another this week, yet God in Jesus loves us more than we can possibly imagine. And hearing of this love we are set free and sent forth, once again, to love another.” [2]
Weddings are wonderful events. Brides and grooms try to make them meaningful and personalized, as much as they can. Except – I have strong feelings about certain songs that are featured at weddings. I won’t name any specific song, but I think you can recognize them when you hear them. I’m thinking of songs that highlight love as a warm and fuzzy emotion, and that is about it. Where will the newly-married couple be when the rose-colored glasses come off? What happens when that warm and fuzzy feeling called “love” goes away?
This is the last sermon in our series on spiritual gifts, and we look more closely at the last part of Paul’s discussion on the greatest spiritual gift – love. After Paul spends all of 1 Corinthians 12 talking about the great variety of spiritual gifts that God gladly gives to believers in Christ, he turns to the greatest of all gifts, that of love.
But, what is love all about, anyway? Last week, we talked about all the things that love is not, as listed right here in this chapter. According to 1 Corinthians 13, love is not just an emotion, not just a feeling. The description I read last week definitely had more about aspects of what love is not; these can be greatly helpful as we hammer out the biblical definition of love.
As I reflect more on popular culture today, and how sentimental and sappy modern love songs can be, I can see how we – as an American culture – might have different ideas about love than those we read here in 1 Corinthians 13.
Some church folk today might have different ideas about the Corinthian church, too. Corinth was a diverse, multi-cultural, multi-ethnic city in Greece, at the crossroads of several major roads through the region. The church was founded by Paul, an ethnic Jew, but certainly was not all one ethnicity. No, this was a diverse, multi-cultural, multi-ethnic group of believers!
As we read further in 1 Corinthians, we can see how much discord really was in action in that dysfunctional group of believers, too. As our commentator Doug Bratt says, “challenges and controversies dogged their church. They disagreed theologically. They struggled with persistent sin, lawsuits among themselves, sexual immorality, and marriage. Corinth’s Christians disagreed on how to deal with food that had been sacrificed to idols and religious freedom.” [1]
With that large amount of discord and disagreement among the church members in Corinth, is there any wonder why their former pastor Paul wrote them a letter detailing spiritual gifts which God gives to benefit the whole church? And further, why Paul lifts up love as the best and greatest spiritual gift of all?
We return to the question “what is the biblical definition of love?” I know we discussed this last week, and I mentioned a number of things love was NOT. Let’s turn around and see what Paul says that love IS. “6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 8 Love never fails.”
I sometimes read an online sermon chat board, where preachers share their reflections on the week’s scripture passages before Sunday comes. I thought Rev. L’Anni from the Netherlands had some very pertinent reflections on this reading.
“When I do premarital counseling I often will read I Cor. 13:4-7 with the couple and note that in this definition of love there is not one single verse that refers to a feeling. No warm fuzzies. No Hallmark honey and sweetness. It refers to ACTION. Being patient—when you FEEL im-patient. Being kind—when you feel like being un-kind. Keeping no score of wrongs—when you feel like holding a grudge. This is how Christian marriage can not only survive but thrive. But not just marriage but any relationship where both are willing to love each other as defined by this passage.” [2]
These are things that love DOES, actions that people can take that are loving, caring and compassionate. When I think of the number one example of love, I think of our Lord Jesus, while He was here on this earth. I think of how Jesus lived, how He acted, and how He carried out His ministry. Jesus showed us how to love, by displaying love in action. Jesus truly showed His friends (as well as all the world) a life of love – and caring and compassion.
What better thing to do than to think of our Lord Jesus, when He was here on this earth, and ask ourselves “What would Jesus do?” How would Jesus act? How would Jesus love?
In recovery circles, a common saying is “do the next right thing.” I had a friend of blessed memory, who is now with the Lord, who always tried his very best to be loving, caring and giving. He knew that common recovery saying very well, except he would change one word. He would often say “do the next loving thing.” That’s how to fulfill Paul’s definition of love from 1 Corinthians 13.
So – what would Jesus do? Do the next loving thing. Go. Do that.
With February right around the corner, many people start thinking about hearts and flowers. Thinking about chocolates and candy. Sweets for the sweet, as the old saying goes! Yes, Valentine’s Day is just two weeks away, and stores and card shops are full of red and pink displays and hearts and roses.
As many hear this chapter on love from 1 Corinthians 13, some people wax sentimental. This chapter is a favorite to read at many wedding services in the church. “Everyone will nod along with a smile on their face. They’ll be remembering a wedding somewhere where these words were used to somehow capture the essence of this wild and crazy promise being made before the gathered overdressed assembly, this human enterprise that escapes human capabilities on a regular basis. [Or,] they’ll be remembering the Pinterest or Instagram post in fancy calligraphy, or the needlepoint in Grandma’s sitting room.” [1]
What if I were to tell you that love – the Bible’s definition of love – does not have anything to do with red and pink store displays, or hearts and flowers for Valentine’s Day?
As we reflect on the biblical definition of love, let’s see what Paul says love does NOT do. I’m turning again to the wonderful modern translation of Eugene Peterson, The Message. “Love doesn’t want what it doesn’t have. Love doesn’t strut, Doesn’t have a swelled head, Doesn’t force itself on others.”
That doesn’t sound much like lace and chocolates, hearts and big red bows, does it? No romanticized consumer version of love here! Do you recognize this honest, genuine kind of a feeling in the people you are close to, in the people you call family? Loved ones, and ones you cherish? This description is more of a love that is right down to earth, an honest, genuine feeling that is real and isn’t afraid to get its hands dirty.
Let’s see a little more of what Paul says love does NOT do: “Isn’t always “me first,” Doesn’t fly off the handle, Doesn’t keep score of the sins of others, Doesn’t revel when others grovel.” When I read all of these things love does NOT do, sometimes I get discouraged. It’s like I can’t measure up. I could never be that kind of person or be described that way; could you?
This enlarged, continued description of the biblical definition of love sounds too good to be true. For real people, I mean. To me, it sounds a lot like Mother Teresa, or Fred Rogers, two people who are considered to be the pinnacle of loving, caring people.
Wait a minute! Have we talked to God about this? Paul has been telling us for almost two chapters in 1 Corinthians that God freely gives believers spiritual gifts. What is more, Paul says that love is the absolute best of these different, diverse spiritual gifts. That means that God gives out love freely! With both hands! Right here, Paul is describing the gift of love that comes through people from the Lord. Isn’t that some of the best news ever?
I don’t need to scramble and strive to love, trying really, really hard. It’s not all me, putting together my own faulty kind of caring. No! God freely gives gifts of love to God’s children. God helps us to show love and caring, kindness and unselfishness. That is such a relief for me, and such a blessing to others!
We believers here on this earth may stumble on our way of walking the Christian journey, and that is okay. We do not need to fulfill each and every part of this long, involved definition that Paul given to us, either. And, it is not just up to our fallible striving or hard work to be the most loving and caring Christian believers possible. No! God will help!
When I think of God’s love, I think of certain people who modern society might not consider. Two individuals come to mind, who I knew years ago. Both are with the Lord now, and both had the diagnosis of Down syndrome. Both people were as loving and caring as anyone I have ever met. Both were selfless, totally concerned for others, and unfailingly kind, loving and giving. Isn’t this another example of love, according to the Bible? Isn’t it what love is all about?
Let’s take a final look at the last section of Paul’s definition of love, according to God. The previous entries or parts of the description were couched in the language of what love was NOT. At last, Paul describes what love IS. “Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth, Puts up with anything, Trusts God always, Always looks for the best, Never looks back, But keeps going to the end.” These are positive, affirming, uplifting traits, indeed.
We may not be able to walk the walk or talk the talk as perfectly as Paul describes here. “But we can stand in Paul’s certainty that there is a new way of being alive in the world, a new way of seeing the world and everyone in it. Must we simply accept everything going on in our messed-up world with a smile and nod? Of course not; evil exists. But we aren’t always the best at identifying where the real evil resides. Paul argues that it would better to lead with love.”[2] Again, you and I cannot generate this kind of spiritual gift in and of our own imperfect humanity, or of our own good works. We are welcome to ask the Lord for help and lead with God’s love.
This transformation is truly a gift – a gift of love! This gift comes from God, and is freely offered to all believers! Let us thank God for this gift of love we all can display, and we all may give to others, just as freely. Alleluia, amen!
Thanks so much to Rev. Dr. Derek Weber, Director of Preaching Ministries for www.umcdiscipleship.com and his excellent preaching notes for this week’s worship service and sermon. I used several ideas from these notes for the sermon today
Pastor, Preacher, Pray-er 