Tag Archives: God's example

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Who Should We Love?

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“Who Should We Love?”

John 15:9-17 (15:12) – May 5, 2024

            Children are great examples for us all. Children can make friends so easily! Of course, as children get older, their views of friendship and how to be a friend vary and mature with their growing and becoming more understanding of their friends.

A good example: “At five [years old], a friend is someone to play with now.  Whoever will play and work with me now is my friend.  They will proclaim adamantly to be friends forever, but then move on to other friends without recognizing what they are doing.  By the time they are ten these same children have a strong sense of the loyalty due friends, appreciate nuances of friendships, and experience deep pain in making and losing friends.  So, at different ages children respond to Jesus’ statements about being his friends differently.” [1]

Here in this Scripture reading today, our Lord Jesus talks about friends. Jesus calls His followers friends! Jesus says, “You are my friends if you do what I command. 15 I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.”

I suspect that at times the disciples felt inadequate, even felt like servants from time to time, and perhaps more often than that. After all, their Rabbi Jesus was becoming more and more renowned as time went by. More and more people from all over were coming to see Him, hear Him teach and preach, watch His miracles, and even to become His followers.

            Here in John 15, Jesus makes the powerful statement to His disciples that they are not His servants any longer. Servants are seen as less than, they can be subservient, and even denigrated. Instead, Jesus calls them friends!

Let’s take a few steps back. This chapter of John comes from the Upper Room discourse, which happened on that Thursday, the night before Jesus was crucified. Jesus had a Passover dinner with His disciples, and He had a time of intense conversation with them all. He said many really important things at this time, too, like this reading from today.

Jesus starts His command with a few words of preparation: “10 If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love.” The big thing I get from this introduction to our Lord’s command? Jesus tells us to keep His commands. This ought to be a no-brainer. We all need to keep, or follow, Jesus’s commands. Piece of cake, right? Walk in the park! No problem, Jesus.

But, always keeping our Lord’s commands is not quite that easy, is it?

            Jesus must have known how much of a problem we all would have with this command. He said, “IF you keep my commands.” I am assuming we are not braggarts and blowhards like some people. No, we really mean to try to keep God’s commands and to love others. So help us, God! But, I will say it again. It is not so easy.

            When Jesus announces that His disciples are no longer called servants, that means us, too. As we are followers and disciples of Jesus, we are called friends of Jesus, too! Except, it is He who has chosen us, not we Him. And, the commands of Jesus are a call to obedience. His command to love others is also a call to respond to God’s love! [2]

            I want to return to the idea of friends – Jesus calling the disciples – calling us – His friends. Similar to children and their growing idea of friendship, you and I can sometimes respond to Jesus’ way of calling us friends in different ways. And, the best part about that is that our Lord Jesus understands!

            Jesus gets us. He understands when we are hungry, angry, lonely or tired. He gets it when we are frustrated or preoccupied. Jesus especially understands when there are mental health issues that come up, for us or for our loved ones. And, Jesus continues to come alongside, and will continue to be right by our sides while we are trying to love as best as we can.

            A number of years ago, a commentator I follow was eating pizza with her youth group one Sunday evening. She asked them what it means to be a friend. She wrote down all the definitions, and here are a few, because they are so on the mark. “A friend is someone who is herself when she’s with you.” “A friend cares about you, listens to your problems, and helps you.” “A friend thinks about you before he thinks about himself.” “A friend cares about other people’s opinions and beliefs, and respects them.” [3]

These definitions are better than I could come up with, for sure! The best part is, if you and I follow these definitions (and suggestions) about making and keeping friends, we will be following the commands of Jesus! And, his number one command is “Love one another, as I have loved you.”

A big part of Jesus’ expression of friendship was by sharing His whole life with us. Living as God intended is community life, where we share all of who we are with others. [4] That is exactly what these teens gave as their definitions for true friends, and that is how we are to love one another, as Jesus loves each of us.

Will we be successful all the time? Unfortunately, no. Can we keep striving to love and keep on loving as much as possible? Yes, we can! With God’s help, and with the help of one another in our church community and our family and friends, we can love like Jesus! We all have the opportunity to follow the commands of Jesus. Love one another. Go and love everyone, in Jesus’s name. Alleluia, amen.

@chaplaineliza

(Suggestion: visit me at my other blogs: matterofprayer: A Year of Everyday Prayers. and  A Year of Being Kind . Thanks!

[1] http://worshipingwithchildren.blogspot.com/2015/03/year-b-sixth-sunday-of-easter-may-10.html

[2] http://gluthermonson.blogspot.com/2015/05/love-one-another.html

[3] https://melissabanesevier.wordpress.com/2015/05/05/friended/

[4] https://www.churchofscotland.org.uk/worship/weekly-worship/monthly/2024-may/sunday-5-may-2024-sixth-sunday-of-easter-year-b

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Blessed Merciful People

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“Blessed Merciful People”

Matthew 5:1-8 (5:7) – August 7, 2022

Have you ever snapped at a family member or a friend? Flown off the handle? Gotten really upset, and even yelled? That’s one thing about family and friends who are close to us – emotions can run deep, and arguments can flare up. Things can get tense, too. When these kinds of emotions and feelings happen to you, how do you handle these feelings? What about thinking of Jesus’ words “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall be shown mercy.” 

            Showing mercy must have been important to our Lord Jesus. It was so important that Jesus even included it in His Topsy-Turvy Teachings! Here in Matthew 5 in the Beatitudes, Jesus mentioned some extremely significant ways of thinking, acting and general behavior.

            In previous Beatitudes, Jesus’s thinking has a definite progression, a logical sequence. This idea of mercy follows the others, and especially the one in the previous verse: “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.” Jesus follows this with “Blessed are the merciful.” What a description of the follower of God! But – what if we do not understand what Jesus means by mercy? What is mercy, anyhow?

            One definition: “Mercy is feeling what someone else feels, acting on their behalf, and then dedicating yourself to continue to work for their well-being. Sometimes it is easier to show mercy to a stranger than to show mercy to a family member.” [1]

Let’s look at these Topsy-Turvy Teachings another way. As you and I start to hunger for God, Jesus gives blessings for those who hunger (and thirst) for a righteous life. What does God freely give when people desire to be right with God? You’ve got it. God’s mercy. “We can’t earn God’s mercy, though. It isn’t something we can buy by being good or going to church or saying the right things. Mercy is a gift from God.” [2]

            So often with family or friends, those old, ingrained ways of thinking and acting can kick in automatically. Do you recognize yourself when you snap and snarl at family, or fly off the handle with friends, and not even know where those deep emotions and reactions came from?

Those ingrained habits and reactions go back decades sometimes, often back to childhood. They might have helped you deal with situations and people once, in the past. But what about now? Would Jesus fly off the handle? What if you and I were to react in a different kind of a way? What if instead of getting mad or irritated, we were to speak with mercy and grace? How would our tense or awkward situations be transformed?

            But, wait a minute, Lord! I don’t want to be a doormat! I don’t want people to walk all over me!  I don’t want to get beaten up by all the bullies who come by and cross my path! I can just see a group of kids on a school playground, with several bullies picking on one particular kid. Teasing him or her mercilessly.

            And, what about when we get to be adults? Aren’t there bullies in many workplaces? At some senior centers? People can be hateful and bitter and angry. How are we to act towards them? Are we supposed to be mean and hateful, right back? Again, what would Jesus do?

            Jesus explained mercy another way, in the Gospel of Luke, chapter 10. “Let’s talk about a story most of you are familiar with: The Good Samaritan. Instead of just reading through it, let’s see if we can remember the story on our own. Someone who knew the law of God really well once asked Jesus what he had to do to inherit eternal life. Jesus asked him what the law had to say. The lawyer correctly answered with the greatest commandment. “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.” The lawyer wanted to make excuses for not following this commandment perfectly, so he asked Jesus who his neighbor was. Jesus answered with the story of the Good Samaritan.

“How does it start? With a guy walking along the road getting robbed and beaten half to death. Who walked by first? A priest, who was like the pastor of the time. He ignored the poor guy. Who walked by next? A Levite, who was like a worship leader of the time. He totally ignored the injured man too. Who came by next? A Samaritan. Samaritans were the worst enemies to the Jews back then. [Jews and Samaritans] got along about as well as cats and water, fire and gasoline, peanut butter and pickles. A Samaritan was the last person you would expect to help a Jew. But this guy went above and beyond to do everything he could to help take care of the hurt Jew. After telling this story, Jesus asked the lawyer who he thought was neighbor to the man who was robbed. The law expert said, “The one who had mercy on him.” [3]

How do you respond when you are in arguments or tense situations? Pay close attention to how you respond this coming week. If you feel yourself starting to snarl, or beginning to argue, or have harsh words with a family member or friend, stop yourself right there.

            God can help us, you realize. If someone is particularly difficult to show mercy to, ask God. And, our God will assist us! Those situations can be transformed! Take a moment (or two, or three!), breathe, remember Jesus’s words about mercy, and start over again.

            “And when we try to feel how others might be feeling and show mercy by acting on their behalf and dedicating ourselves to their well-being, we are following God’s example. This is why Jesus said those who are merciful are blessed.” [4] A Beatitude, indeed!

@chaplaineliza

(Suggestion: visit me at my other blogs: matterofprayer: A Year of Everyday Prayers. #PursuePEACE – and  A Year of Being Kind . Thanks!

(Thanks to illustratedministries.com for their excellent Summer 2022 family Sunday school curriculum on the Beatitudes. I will be using this curriculum all summer as source material for a summer sermon series on the Topsy-Turvy Teachings of Jesus!)

[1] Illustrated Ministries, Curriculum for Summer Sunday school family series, “The Beatitudes.” Summer 2022.

[2] https://ministry-to-children.com/beatitudes-lesson-six/

[3] https://ministry-to-children.com/beatitudes-lesson-six/

[4] Illustrated Ministries, Curriculum for Summer Sunday school family series, “The Beatitudes.” Summer 2022.