Ann Barker, Easter VI, April 27, 2008

It was never God’s plan for Jesus to come into the world and save it, then return to heaven and leave the world on its own. He was not to be like the Lone Ranger, who rode in, saved whomever needed saving from the bad guys, then rode off into the sunset, leaving people wondering, “Who was that masked man?”

Unlike the Lone Ranger’s heroism, which involved superb fighting skills, honorable codes of conduct, and white hats, God’s salvation would be accomplished through love—a love expressed in Jesus’ healing and teaching ministry, his crucifixion and his resurrection. God was not planning to leave us wondering who Jesus was after he had come and gone; on the contrary, God was not planning to leave us—period. God’s plan of salvation involved not episodic heroism, but lasting reconciliation that made it possible for us to be forever in relationship with God. (P)

Yet how was that to be accomplished? Jesus was going to die on the Cross. True, he would be resurrected, but then he would ascend into heaven. What would be left but memories? The disciples would be orphaned, a common term in those days for followers who had lost their masters. They would have no choice but to return to fishing. They might exhibit more righteous behavior and even a different attitude toward others, but basically, being a disciple would no longer be their chief identity. They would be good Jews, more secure in their knowledge than others about the reality of the resurrection. (P)

The problem with that scenario was that though salvation was accomplished once for all, the very heart of salvation was eternal life with God, beginning in this life and continuing into the Life of the Resurrection. In addition, human beings, though forgiven and redeemed for all time, were still sinners. God’s love and availability would last forever, but ours would not. Inevitably, we would return to our sinful ways and forget what Jesus taught us to one degree or another.

God would still be saying yes, yes, yes to a mutually loving relationship, but our yeses would inevitably die away. God had experienced this reality many times in the history of God’s people – God delivered and people were so grateful, yet before much time had gone by, God had to send a prophet to admonish these delivered ones for their unrighteous acts, even though they knew the rules. (P)

God did not want that to happen again. Rather God wanted not just the disciples and Jesus’ followers to know and love Jesus (and God in Christ), God wanted everyone in every generation to know the truth about God’s loving and saving power.  (P)

Jesus explains this part of God’s plan to the disciples at his farewell dinner with them. It is possible for the love between us to continue, he says. It is possible for everyone, even those who never knew me or even you who shared my life. I am not talking about passing on memories but a real relationship, just like the one I have with you now. To stay in loving relationship with me, you need to keep my commandments. To stay in loving relationship with you, I will ask the Father to give you another Advocate, who will encourage, guide and comfort you just as I have. I am going away but this advocate, the Spirit of Truth, will be present with you always. You will know him because he will live with you and in you. Your relationship with me will grow in the Spirit. I will come again to you as well, and the Father too, because I am in my Father, and you in me and I in you.

In this way, we will continue in the love we have shared and bring others into love with us as well. (P)

God’s part in the ongoing relationship of saving love was to send the Holy Spirit to abide with us for the time that Jesus was away and then to come again to us “in a little while”. In John’s gospel, the Trinity would be available to us immediately after the resurrection. The promises of salvation were all fully present in this life as soon as Jesus rose from the dead. There is no separate Pentecost 50 days later. The disciples receive the Holy Spirit when Jesus breathes on them the evening of the Resurrection. (P)

The miracle of God’s presence within, around and among us is only half the equation. We have to keep Jesus’ commandments. We have to do love as Jesus did. We have to act toward one another and ourselves as Jesus acted toward us. We are not required to like people or to feel warm fuzzies for them. Feelings cannot be commanded. They just are. But we are required to be for the other, to look out for the other’s welfare, even to the point of choosing to sacrifice for the other. We are commanded to do good and to have a clear conscience. (P)

Keeping Jesus’ commandments is also about acceptance and respect. We are commanded to accept ourselves and everyone else as beloved children of God, deserving of dignity. We are not to consider others less than ourselves or ourselves less than others. We are to refrain from mistreating ourselves and others mentally, physically emotionally or spiritually. Jesus’ acceptance of us shows us that we are infinitely lovable as we are, which allows us room to risk and grow. (P)

Obeying Jesus’ commandments is about giving up control, about surrendering our wills to God. In Acts, Paul says God does not need anything from us to be God, so promising to do this or that to win God’s favor doesn’t work. Paul also says that a statue we make cannot possibly be God because we created it. The truth is that God created us and knows what is best for us. Part of giving up control is giving up the need to understand before we obey or trust. We do not know why the world is the way it is, why bad things happen to good people and good things happen to bad people. But we know Jesus has saved us from sin and death, and it is this truth we hold on to. (P)

Loving God is about self-revelation. Jesus reveals God’s love to us and promises that he will continue to do so. To follow him, we are called to reveal ourselves to God in our need and vulnerability, in our strength and gratitude. God knows our needs before we ask; the point of telling God all about us and asking for God’s help with our difficulties is to share ourselves with God, as God has shared Godself with us.  (P)

Jesus also commands us to proclaim. We are called to tell others, as Jesus did, about God’s love and invite them into our fellowship. It can be scary to do that, and fatal in some places, but we are promised God’s help to proclaim the faith that is in us.  (P)

We cannot see it in English, but in Greek, all of the “you’s” are plural. Jesus is making promises about God’s presence in the community, in the Body of Christ, the church. Being obedient to Jesus’ commands, therefore, is also about staying in community. It is not that we do not have individual relationships with God, but that relationship comes out of our presence in the community of the church. The Spirit is present in the church, and Jesus’ words express care and concern for the whole body of Christ.(P)

God’s greatest desire is mutual love between God and us. That is why God sent Jesus—a gift of Godself to the world. Jesus has told us how God will be available to keep the love between us growing and deepening, and he has told how we can do our part, with God’s help. The promises of the Resurrection are available to us now, if we choose them. May we keep Jesus’ commandments so that our loving relationship with God may be the center of our lives now as well as in the Life of the Resurrection. AMEN