“Love One Another

Sixth Sunday of Easter

May 25, 2025

Love one another.

Guest Preacher: Gretchen Ahrens, Nebraska Synod

Acts 16:9-15

John 14:23-29

Well, here we are.

It’s after Easter but we’ve reversed the clock a little bit and we are back in the Upper Room with Jesus on the Last Supper, listening in as Jesus tries to get his message across to confused, worried and questioning disciples. And it seems the more questions they ask, the more Jesus tries to simplify it.  In last week’s Gospel, Jesus gave them the command, “Love one another.” Seems pretty basic right. Last week’s sermon should have covered it and we can all go home.

But that’s not how it worked for the disciples and that’s not how it works for us either. There are questions. Oh so many questions.  And the more questions the disciples ask, the more confused they get. And Jesus just keeps taking them back to love.

“if you love me, keep my commands.” What is the command? “Love one another”.  And then today, “Those who love me will be true to my word”.  What is the word? Love one another.  This love, deep agape love, is the core to who Jesus is calling the disciples, and us, to be. And that’s not a sit down and think about it love. That’s a do stuff kind of love. That’s a foot washing, digging in the trenches, getting dirty and messy and being there kind of love.

As Dr. Mary Hinkle Shore says, “Throughout the farewell discourse, Jesus makes it clear that followers love him by serving others. (One could say that Jesus’ love language here is “acts of service.”1) Although we might distinguish between loving Jesus and keeping his word, and imagine that we can do one but not the other, Jesus does not recognize that distinction. The clause in John 14:23b is a condition of fact: “Those who love me will keep my word…”2  Love for Jesus simply is love in action.”

But that kind of love is scary. Praying at home, that’s the easy stuff. Showing up on Sunday, even that is easy in comparison to living out Jesus command to love our neighbor. Loving our neighbor calls us to get out of our comfort zones, to go into the margins, to widen the circle of inclusion. And even for those of us who are all in, who wholeheartedly say “YES! That’s ME! That’s who I am! Put me in, Coach! (and that’s you all-you who live out God’s love daily here at our Saviour’s, embodying the call to justice and inclusion and welcome), it’s still hard and it’s still scary and it’s still messy.

I know (because its true for me too! ) that there are days when the what if’s creep in, when you wonder if you are good enough, when you wish someone else would pick up the mantle, when you wonder if your voice is making any difference at all, when you worry if loving your neighbor might costyou’re your job or your relationship with a family member, when you just don’t know what to make of it all and it seems easier to pull the covers over you head and hope it all goes away.

And that’s where today’s gospel comes in. The command hasn’t change. Love one another. Pure and simple. But Jesus is recognizing the disciples very real and deep fear of what they are living in.

And so Jesus does two things.

First, he gives them (and us) an advocate. This translation leaves out a word I think is key. Other translations of verse 26 read like this: 6 But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.

And to me, it’s that word advocate that is key. Advocate is an action word. My friend Pastor Janet Anderson describes advocacy as accompaniment. It’s walking hand in hand with somene, taking the time to listen and to hear their story and then making space in the world for their voice to be heard. 

Wow. There’s comfort in those words.  Accompaniment. Spcae for my voice to be heard that I may lift up the voices of others. Walking along side me as I walk into the margins.

Guiding, leading. Listening. Remining me that indeed, my voice (as it stands for others). Does matter. Yes, there is teaching and examples that are shown along the way, but an advocate is something more than that.

So, first there’s the deep and powerful promise of an advocate.

Second, there;s the promise of deep peace.  Not just peace, but my peace.

As Karen Wisemen says, “he does more than gently wish them peaceful lives — he gives them peace (verse 27). This is not a wish. This is a gift. It is a gift of profound importance at this moment in the journey of Jesus and the disciples.

This is not a passive peace. It is an active working toward peace in multiple situations. This Spirit and peace will propel the disciples and later the church into active discipleship and mission. The presence of this peace reminds me of one of my favorite quotes in life: “breathe in peace, breathe out love.” It is with the presence of this peace, given by God in Jesus’ name, which enables the disciples and us to live lives of faithfulness

Active peace is the reminder that our God is a forever God, a God who has been there through the ages, a God who indeed never leaves us not forsakes us. Who throughout time has wept at genocide, has walked with immigrants, has been in prison and has stood on the margins. Deep and active peace is knowing that our God never leaves the margins and in his command to love one another calls us daily back into the margins, calls us as we have an advocate to BE an advocate. Calls us as we are loved deeply to love others deeply and reminds us that we are NOT alone and that our voice does matter.

Let us go forth in love. Amen