“Just Love”

Sixth Sunday in Easter

May 5, 2024

Journal Star, Justin Wan

Acts 10:44-48

John 15:9-17

Children’s Message:

I’ve got this yarn, and I’m going to make a circle. I want to define who I think belongs with me in this circle. Now, my circle is pretty special. Only special people can be in this circle. So, I’m going to keep it pretty small. I really like you kids, so you can be in my circle. Invite the kids in the circle.

But, well, I think that God’s telling me that there are actually a few more special people that belong in this circle, so I might need to make it a little bit bigger. Invite pastors & church staff few more people to join.

Now, this is pretty cool, but if I’m reading my Bible right, it seems like maybe there are others who belong in the circle. There are some leaders here who probably need to be in the circle. Invite council members.

But what about those getting baptized and their families? Today’s a special day for them. They should be in my circle, too! You know what? This is silly. Toss the yard and get rid of the circle. When God chose Israel to be God’s special nation, it wasn’t so that they could keep others out but so that they could shine a light for the world and make the circle so big, the circle just disappeared!

Let’s pray. Oh God, your invitation is too big to have limits or boundaries. Show us how to live your invitation of love for all. Amen.

Message:

On Thursday evening, nearly 1200 people gathered to learn about and stand for justice in our community. We spent all last month learning about the issues Justice in Action has been working on: Mental Health Navigation, Affordable Housing, and Pre-Trial Diversion.

Thursday, we heard that our teams will meet with folks from Region V, Brave B, Lutheran Family Services, and Lincoln Connected. Together they’ll begin the process of developing a functional navigation system for anyone in Lincoln and Lancaster County to access. They will likely be joined by folks from the Mental Health Association and the local chapter of NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness.

Thursday, we heard directly from city council people Sondra Washington and Bennie Shobe that they will join us to learn more about a pre-eviction mediation systems. They’ve been working hard to alleviate the hardships of rental inflation and housing prices, but they acknowledged that there is more to do. We hope they will champion a system in which landlords and tenants can enter into mediation BEFORE eviction, alleviating the instability and breaking unsustainable cycles of eviction in the future.

Thursday, we hoped to hear from County Attorney Pat Condon regarding alleviating some of the requirements for pre-trial diversion, but he chose not to attend. We went to him on Friday morning, but he chose not to meet with us. We believe that someone’s previous convictions of non-violent misdemeanors and felonies should not automatically deny a person access to the diversion programs. We believe that putting a price on diversion causes some to self-select out, believing they simply don’t have the funds to participate. We believe that people cannot and should not be defined by their worst days and worst decisions.

And so we continue to work. Justice in Action’s motto is, “This is what love looks like in public.” Isn’t this exactly what Jesus is saying in today’s gospel reading? Today’s teaching is smack in the middle of what is know as Jesus’ final discourse in John. It begins as he washes the disciples’ feet. He says to them, “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

He keeps coming back to the commandment—to love one another—even in today’s reading. He does this because the next thing he says is hard to hear. He will warn the disciples that there will be those who seek to kill them. They will consider this oppression as doing the work of God. And yet, the Spirit will be there with them through it all. Therefore, love one another. He says, “Love one another as I have loved you.”

What does that look like, exactly?  Radical love of your enemies, the poor, the tax collectors, the sinners, the prostitutes, the lepers - that is to say, anybody who makes you cringe. Radical love is more than an emotion. Love is an action. Love breaks down barriers. Love tells the truth. Love overturns tables. Love bears the cross. Love embraces death. Love lays down your own life—your comforts, your certainties, your preferences, your anger, your fears—for your friends. And your enemies. And those who persecute you. And those who scare you. And those who hurt you. And those who don’t understand you.

One of those people who killed disciples in the name of God was Paul. And yet, after he met Jesus, his letter to the church in Corinth said, “Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends.”

Anyone who thinks love is the easy way out—who condemns love as a snowflake kind of response—hasn’t really read John 15 or 1 Corinthians 13. Love is totally bad-ass. It is hard core. It’s similar to a Facebook meme I’ve seen about hope. It says, “People speak of hope as if it is this delicate, ephemeral thing made of whispers and spider’s webs. It’s not. Hope has dirt on her face, blood on her knuckles, the grit of the cobblestones in her hair, and just spat out a tooth as she rises for another go.”

As I was preparing for the education hour today, the original intent was simply to discuss some of the Spanish hymns we have in our hymnal because today is Cinco de Mayo. But I realized I can’t discuss the hymns without getting into their context. Most of the hymns—created in Latin and South America—come from the heart of liberation theology. And while there are some critiques to liberation theology, the essence is one in which I find myself turning to again and again these days.

In his discussion of liberation theology, Lesslie Newbigin essentially boils it down to this: “Love and justice are distinct concepts, but where justice is denied love is certainly denied.”[1] He goes on later to discuss how the gospel offers hope even to those who never live to see justice come about. Part of his answer is that “patience means suffering.”[2] That in patience, we practice both compassion and action. Compassion means ‘to suffer with,’ entering into the darkness of others so that they do not walk alone. And action, working to alleviate the oppression that creates the darkness in the first place. The gospel calls us into both. This is what justice looks like. This is what love looks like in public.

Because—because this is how Jesus loves us. He entered into our darkness through his incarnation. God took on the reality of humanity with all of our limitations and challenges in a time of oppression among a people who had few rights and fewer opportunities. Jesus didn’t just attack the powers of evil. He undid them. He healed the sick, gave strength to the weak, encouraged the heart-broken, and brought the dead back to life. He did not capitulate to the powers of the empire.

He did not surrender to the hands of the oppressors. He surrendered into the hands of his Abba God. Because of love. Hard core love. Radical love. The kind of love that doesn’t simply sit quietly by and send positive thoughts into the universe. It’s the kind of love that disrupts systems and re-orders policies. It’s the kind of love that challenges authority when necessary—when authority no longer serves as it was designed to do. It’s the kind of love that gets in the boat with those who suffer, but also picks up an oar and rows.

That’s the love we have from God.

Pastor Tobi White

Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church

Lincoln, NE

[1] Newbigin, Lesslie, “The Open Secret: An Introduction to the Theology of Mission,” Revised Edition, Eeardmans Publishing Co.: Grand Rapids, 1995, pg. 97

[2] IBID, pg. 107