How Have You Loved Jesus?

John 14:15-21

“If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever. This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you. “I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you. In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me; because I live, you also will live. On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. They who have my commandments and keep them are those who love me; and those who love me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to them.”

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How have you loved Jesus today? It's a question I imagine that you probably don't get asked very often, but it's one worth asking if we're going to say we are followers of Jesus. How have you loved Jesus recently? I pose this question to you this morning because we will find that our love for Christ is related to how we embody the teachings and commandments of Christ. And even though Jesus may not be standing right next to us, in a physical sense, we know that he is with us whenever we faithfully carry out the mandate of love and care we have received. That is a beautiful reminder for us as we draw to the end of this Eastertide. The resurrected Christ is with us! Christ is with us always in those moments when we make manifest the law of God's love. 

Yet it's easy for us to distort this message of grace and love to suit our desires instead of God's. The disciples didn't want Jesus to go; they wanted him to stay with them so that they could remain in this intimate relationship with God made flesh. However, that wasn't part of God's plan, and the disciples find that their new mission will be to go out into the world, proclaiming the Word of God to the ends of the earth. The message of good news could not be limited to one small group of people. Perhaps, there is something else as well that we struggle with, and that is following God's commandments. There is a tendency in our human nature that tells us that we can do whatever we want, but even in the Kingdom of God, there are rules and laws that we need to obey. 

If keeping Christ's commandments brings us into a closer relationship with Jesus, then the inverse is also true. It reminds me of a plot device in a series of movies that I recently watched. I binged watched this past week all three "Back to the Future" movies since I hadn't seen them in awhile. One of the running bits throughout the series is Marty's reflex to the insult of being called a "chicken." The overreaction from Marty often against any common sense response you or I might have, yet for Marty, it was something personal and couldn't easily let go of such an insult. However, in each instance, responding to this dire "insult" often resulted in some kind of trouble, and Marty not understanding why it was wrong to return the insult with a forceful rebuttal. 

Now I know it may seem like a stretch to talk about "Back to the Future," just hang in there for a moment. We find that Marty is willing to put the things he cares most about at risk by feeding the urge to respond to provocations. And in our talk about loving Jesus, following the commandments, and relationships, we too put the things we care most about at risk when we choose to neglect the truths of how we are called to live in God's kingdom. Our faith and our relationship to God is a much more integrated and interconnected system than we first thought. What you do impacts me as much as what I do affects you. Our reading for today should serve as a reminder that we do not live in a bubble. The communities we live in and the faith that we practice calls us to abide by shared values of compassion and integrity, so that what we do as individuals positively builds up those around us. 

We see this become apparent in the fact that Jesus tells his disciples, and us, that we will receive an "Advocate." In Greek, this word is paraclete, which also can be translated as meaning a "counselor" or "helper." Of course, we can also understand this part of the passage as a reference to the Holy Spirit. If we are familiar with the Holy Spirit, we would know that it calls us to go out into the world and live as a reflection of the life-giving love that comes from God. Knowing this Spirit of God, we take the steps necessary to lean hard into the promises of God. Christ has not left us, God is here with us, and the Holy Spirit is our guide. This Advocate, this Counselor, and Helper is what spurs us on to carry out the work and mission that Christ passed onto us. It is the force that calls us to love Christ in our words, deeds, and prayers, so how have you carried out this calling today? 

I'm not sure about you, but I see this Spirit of God at work in our world today. I see this Spirit of God at work in people who may not even know about his Advocate or Helper. There was a news story that popped up in my feed about an Alaskan grocer who has been making fourteen-hour trips to Costco so that he can continue to provide essential materials and food to people in his local community, which is remote. The standard modes of transportation were cut off, so he and his staff decided to make these weekly trips so that people in this town of Gustavus did not have to hoard or live in fear of running out. You could say that this man was trying to keep his business afloat, but I think that it takes something more to inspire someone to go through such an extraordinary feat to make sure that people have enough.  

Friends the Spirit of God is moving, and this Advocate, this Helper, is calling us to live in God's presence. May we love more deeply, as we have in these recent times, and may we continue to love Jesus, love God, by conducting our lives in a manner that is aligned with God's heart. It is a heart that asks that we give something up for others, it is a heart that asks us to trust others, and it is a heart that will always be with us. So the next time you're asked, "Have you loved Jesus today?" I hope that you can answer. And if you can provide an answer, I pray that it is continually evolving as we walk with God in love and grace. Amen.