Year B
Acts 10:44-48
Psalm 98
1 John 5:1-6
John 15:9-17<\/p>\n\n\n\n
May the words of my mouth O God\u2026 speak your truth\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
How well do we know ourselves\u2026 are we aware of the underlying motivations for every choice we make\u2026 have we ever discovered something about ourselves which surprised us\u2026 are there walls which keep others from knowing us\u2026 or have they come down\u2026 have all of them come down\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On the Meyer Briggs personality inventory\u2026 I\u2019m an INFJ\u2026 as are many clergy\u2026 though among the general population\u2026 this particular combination is in the minority\u2026 INFJ means introverted\u2026 intuitive\u2026 feeling\u2026 and judging\u2026 it means that I need quiet time more than I need noisy parties\u2026 that I can trust my gut along with external information\u2026 that I lean more towards feelings instead of thoughts\u2026 and that I can make a decision without plowing through piles of information\u2026 <\/p>\n\n\n\n
But knowing more about how I am\u2026 about how I tick\u2026 makes it easier for me to let go of outcomes\u2026 of letting what others want\u2026 seize the day\u2026 so for example\u2026 if I want to see movie A\u2026 and Joel wants to see movie B\u2026 it can be easier for me\u2026 sometimes\u2026 to go with B\u2026 after all\u2026 it\u2019s still seeing a movie\u2026 if I want to go to restaurant A\u2026 and Joel wants to go to restaurant B\u2026 it can be easier for me\u2026 sometimes\u2026 to go with B\u2026 after all\u2026 it\u2019s still eating out\u2026 and it’s because my sense of identity\u2026 my sense of self-worth\u2026 doesn\u2019t come from movie A or restaurant A\u2026 my sense of self-worth comes from the inside\u2026 from being a beloved child of God\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In today\u2019s Gospel\u2026 Jesus says\u2026 No one has greater love than this\u2026 to lay down one\u2019s life for one\u2019s friends<\/em>\u2026 but are we really meant to take this only literally\u2026 does Jesus expect this only of himself\u2026 or of others\u2026 does he refer to nothing more than a willingness to die\u2026 the way soldiers might sacrifice themselves to protect their fellow service men and women\u2026 or the way a parent would sacrifice him or herself to save their child\u2026 ] or does Jesus also mean something more than that\u2026 something deeper than that\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n In John 10:18\u2026 Jesus says\u2026 No one takes my life from me\u2026 I have power to lay it down\u2026 and I have power to take it up again<\/em>\u2026 again\u2026 are we meant to take this only at face value\u2026 or does Jesus mean something more than that\u2026 something deeper than that\u2026 perhaps we can also understand that his self-emptying\u2026 allows him to die to his ego\u2026 perhaps his servanthood allows him to put others first\u2026 that he can let his own human needs die\u2026 so that the needs of others come first\u2026 that he can let his wants die so that the wants of others come first\u2026 and that he understands our selfishness\u2026 after all\u2026 it says in Hebrews 4:15 that we have a high priest who can not only sympathize with our weaknesses\u2026 but who has been tempted in all things as we are\u2026 ] so Jesus knows the kinds of struggles each one of us faces\u2026 he knows every variable that feeds into our choices\u2026 ] he too asked\u2026 that if possible\u2026 the cup be taken from him\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n But maybe he can let go more easily\u2026 of the things to which we are attached\u2026 because all things came into being through him\u2026 because all of creation is his\u2026 ] and he is so rooted in the Ground of Being\u2026 he is so at One with the Godhead in every way that that matters\u2026 that what rises to the top for him each and every time\u2026 the only things that rise to the top for him\u2026 are God\u2019s needs\u2026 God\u2019s preferences\u2026 and God\u2019s will\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n And Jesus said to his disciples\u2026 As the Father has loved me\u2026 so I have loved you\u2026 abide in my love<\/em>\u2026 ] for many of us\u2026 we take this at face value without going very deep\u2026 or we project our own limited understanding\u2026 make our own meaning out of these words\u2026 and we may conclude something different than what Jesus meant\u2026 so I have to ask\u2026 just exactly how did\u2026 the Father love Jesus\u2026 and just exactly how did\u2026 he love the disciples\u2026 and the one word\u2026 the only word really\u2026 that rises to the top for me\u2026 is unconditionally<\/strong>\u2026 he loved them whether they understood what he said or not\u2026 he loved them whether they did what he wanted or not\u2026 he loved them whether they betrayed him or not\u2026 he loved them whether they denied him or not\u2026 he just loved them\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n He first showed his love when he incarnates\u2026 the Word made the choice to dwell among us and became flesh\u2026 taking on all that it means to be human\u2026 the stark reality of the human condition\u2026 he weeps over Lazarus\u2026 he heals the sick\u2026 he washes feet\u2026 he comes out of the Garden and hands his life over\u2026 and he died and rose again\u2026 and all of these things are expressions of love\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n Again\u2026 Jesus said\u2026 If you keep my commandments\u2026 you will abide in my love\u2026 just as I have kept my Father\u2019s commandments and abide in his love\u2026 and this is my commandment\u2026 that you love one another\u2026 as I have loved you\u2026<\/em> the Greek verb that\u2019s translated as abide\u2026 means\u2026 to remain in a state of being\u2026<\/em> Jesus then\u2026 commands us to love one another unconditionally\u2026 and to remain in that state of being which allows love to flow out from us unconditionally\u2026 unrestricted\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n We learned last week in 1John\u2026 that those who say\u2026 I love God\u2026 but hate their brothers or sisters\u2026 are liars\u2026 because those who do not love a brother or sister who they can see\u2026 cannot love God who they cannot see\u2026 and Ch. 5 in today\u2019s Epistle\u2026 continues that theme\u2026 when we love God and obey God\u2019s commandments\u2026 then we also love God\u2019s children\u2026 that is\u2026 all of our neighbors\u2026 because without a doubt\u2026 what we believe about Jesus\u2026 determines our understanding of love\u2026 and our understanding of love\u2026 determines our behavior\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sometimes I wonder if we\u2019re so focused on the Divine\u2026 that we\u2019ve forgotten how to be fully human\u2026 ] sometimes I wonder if making ourselves as human\u2026 as vulnerable as we can\u2026 would cause us to feel the world\u2019s pain\u2026 the way Jesus did\u2026 and we\u2019d be moved to do as much as we can to heal it\u2026 to heal it\u2026 as a way of honoring the love we\u2019ve witnessed\u2026 ] sometimes I wonder if the physical walls we want to build out in the world\u2026 are really extensions of the walls that first existed in our hearts\u2026 and which we want to project out into the world\u2026 or onto others\u2026 but maybe what we need to do is use the faith referred to in 1 John\u2026 to outworld the world\u2026 to shift our focus from the world\u2026 to God\u2026 who loves us unconditionally\u2026 ] and there\u2019s an idea I heard years ago\u2026 about unconditional love\u2026 I think it\u2019s deceptively simple yet unfathomably profound\u2026 and it says\u2026 I love you\u2026 and it\u2019s no concern of yours<\/em>\u2026 and if we can imagine God saying this to us\u2026 if we can imagine God expecting nothing from us in exchange for this love\u2026 if we are simply the recipients of God\u2019s grace and forgiveness and reconciliation without price\u2026 then it must become a bit easier each time\u2026 for us to relinquish our lives\u2026 our desires\u2026 our preferences\u2026 our selves\u2026 in favor of the Other\u2026 or in my case\u2026 movie B\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Year B Acts 10:44-48 Psalm 98 1 John 5:1-6 John 15:9-17 May the words of my mouth O God\u2026 speak your truth\u2026 How well do we know ourselves\u2026 are we aware of the underlying motivations for every choice we make\u2026 have we ever discovered something about ourselves which surprised us\u2026 are there walls which keep others from knowing us\u2026 or have they come down\u2026 have all of them come down\u2026 On the Meyer Briggs personality inventory\u2026 I\u2019m an INFJ\u2026 as are many clergy\u2026 though among the general population\u2026 this particular combination is in the minority\u2026 INFJ means introverted\u2026 intuitive\u2026 feeling\u2026 and judging\u2026 it means that I need quiet time more than I need noisy parties\u2026 that I can trust my gut along with external information\u2026 that I lean more towards feelings instead of thoughts\u2026 and that I can make a decision without plowing through piles of information\u2026 But knowing more about how I am\u2026 about how I tick\u2026 makes it easier for me to let go of outcomes\u2026 of letting what others want\u2026 seize the day\u2026 so for example\u2026 if I want to see movie A\u2026 and Joel wants to see movie B\u2026 it can be easier for me\u2026 sometimes\u2026 to go with B\u2026 after all\u2026 it\u2019s still seeing a movie\u2026 if I want to go to restaurant A\u2026 and Joel wants to go to restaurant B\u2026 it can be easier for me\u2026 sometimes\u2026 to go with B\u2026 after all\u2026 it\u2019s still eating out\u2026 and it’s because my sense of identity\u2026 my sense of self-worth\u2026 doesn\u2019t come from movie A or restaurant A\u2026 my sense of self-worth comes from the inside\u2026 from being a beloved child of God\u2026 In today\u2019s Gospel\u2026 Jesus says\u2026 No one has greater love than this\u2026 to lay down one\u2019s life for one\u2019s friends\u2026 but are we really meant to take this only literally\u2026 does Jesus expect this only of himself\u2026 or of others\u2026 does he refer to nothing more than a willingness to die\u2026 the way soldiers might sacrifice themselves to protect their fellow service men and women\u2026 or the way a parent would sacrifice him or herself to save their child\u2026 ] or does Jesus also mean something more than that\u2026 something deeper than that\u2026 In John 10:18\u2026 Jesus says\u2026 No one takes my life from me\u2026 I have power to lay it down\u2026 and I have power to take it up again\u2026 again\u2026 are we meant to take this only at face value\u2026 or does Jesus mean something more than that\u2026 something deeper than that\u2026 perhaps we can also understand that his self-emptying\u2026 allows him to die to his ego\u2026 perhaps his servanthood allows him to put others first\u2026 that he can let his own human needs die\u2026 so that the needs of others come first\u2026 that he can let his wants die so that the wants of others come first\u2026 and that he understands our selfishness\u2026 after all\u2026 it says in Hebrews 4:15 that we have a high priest who can not only sympathize with our weaknesses\u2026 but who has been tempted in all things as we are\u2026 ] so Jesus knows the kinds of struggles each one of us faces\u2026 he knows every variable that feeds into our choices\u2026 ] he too asked\u2026 that if possible\u2026 the cup be taken from him\u2026 But maybe he can let go more easily\u2026 of the things to which we are attached\u2026 because all things came into being through him\u2026 because all of creation is his\u2026 ] and he is so rooted in the Ground of Being\u2026 he is so at One with the Godhead in every way that that matters\u2026 that what rises to the top for him each and every time\u2026 the only things that rise to the top for him\u2026 are God\u2019s needs\u2026 God\u2019s preferences\u2026 and God\u2019s will\u2026 And Jesus said to his disciples\u2026 As the Father has loved me\u2026 so I have loved you\u2026 abide in my love\u2026 ] for many of us\u2026 we take this at face value without going very deep\u2026 or we project our own limited understanding\u2026 make our own meaning out of these words\u2026 and we may conclude something different than what Jesus meant\u2026 so I have to ask\u2026 just exactly how did\u2026 the Father love Jesus\u2026 and just exactly how did\u2026 he love the disciples\u2026 and the one word\u2026 the only word really\u2026 that rises to the top for me\u2026 is unconditionally\u2026 he loved them whether they understood what he said or not\u2026 he loved them whether they did what he wanted or not\u2026 he loved them whether they betrayed him or not\u2026 he loved them whether they denied him or not\u2026 he just loved them\u2026 He first showed his love when he incarnates\u2026 the Word made the choice to dwell among us and became flesh\u2026 taking on all that it means to be human\u2026 the stark reality of the human condition\u2026 he weeps over Lazarus\u2026 he heals the sick\u2026 he washes feet\u2026 he comes out of the Garden and hands his life over\u2026 and he died and rose again\u2026 and all of these things are expressions of love\u2026 Again\u2026 Jesus said\u2026 If you keep my commandments\u2026 you will abide in my love\u2026 just as I have kept my Father\u2019s commandments and abide in his love\u2026 and this is my commandment\u2026 that you love one another\u2026 as I have loved you\u2026 the Greek verb that\u2019s translated as abide\u2026 means\u2026 to remain in a state of being\u2026 Jesus then\u2026 commands us to love one another unconditionally\u2026 and to remain in that state of being which allows love to flow out from us unconditionally\u2026 unrestricted\u2026 We learned last week in 1John\u2026 that those who say\u2026 I love God\u2026 but hate their brothers or sisters\u2026 are liars\u2026 because those who do not love a brother or sister who they can see\u2026 cannot love God who they cannot see\u2026 and Ch. 5 in today\u2019s Epistle\u2026 continues that theme\u2026 when we love God and obey God\u2019s commandments\u2026 then we also love God\u2019s children\u2026 that is\u2026 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