If It's Not About Love

 HOMILY, ST. PAUL’S, FOLEY – 5 EASTER, YEAR B

MAY 2, 2021

 

TEXT:                        1 JOHN 4:7-21                      

 

             The Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, Michael Curry, has a mantra that animates many of his public comments: “If it is not about love, it is not about God.” As we can see and hear clearly today, the author of the First Epistle of John would agree.

 

            We, in the church, have gotten lost in the weeds many times over the years.  But again, and again, we get called back to the core message.  The first lesson did that today, the Presiding Bishop does that on a regular basis, and Jesus did it on the original Maundy Thursday, as he was instituting the sacrament we know as the Holy Eucharist.

 

            Jesus said to the gathered disciples at their last supper together, “^13:34I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. ³⁵ By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

 

            There is no other standard by which we prove our transformative faith.  But how do we do so, especially when there are so many conflicts, disagreements, and ways of viewing certain situations?  How do we work through the situations when we feel so pulled between actions or feelings?

 

            Hillel the Elder was a much-respected Jewish rabbi who lived during the life of Jesus.  He was one of the most respected teachers of Jesus’ day.

 

            He was once asked by a questioner if he could summarize the Law while standing on one foot.  His response: "That which is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow. That is the whole Torah; the rest is the explanation; go and learn."

 

                  Jesus once faced a similar question. The Gospel according to Matthew tells us that story: “³⁴ When the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, ³⁵ and one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. ³⁶ ‘Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?’ ³⁷ He said to him, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ ³⁸ This is the greatest and first commandment. ³⁹ And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ ⁴⁰ On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”

 

            Despite the slogan (and the way it is applied) that God said it, I believe, it, and that settles it, things are not so simple.  To know what is an act of love – in other words, what we would want done to us in a similar situation, reflecting the love of God – requires us to think, discern, and pray.

 

            To truly act out of love is not to act in some smarmy, simple, and sentimental way.  It means we are to truly reflect on the situation and discern our own motivations, feelings and interests – being certain to be mindful of what God calls us to see and do in such circumstances. And that call to act out of love may, indeed, go against our previous inclinations. Sometimes, our appropriate actions may require personal sacrifice.

 

For that, we as Christians have ample example.