Fifth Sunday Of Easter, Year C- "Sharon Loves You, Jesus Speaking. How May I Help You?"

A woman once told of her experience as a Church secretary. When she answered the phone she’d say, “Jesus loves you, Sharon speaking. How may I help you?” But one day she got distracted because she was talking to others in the office. When the phone rang, she answered: “Sharon loves you, Jesus speaking. How may I help you?” There was a pause on the line… and then the caller said, “Somehow I thought your voice would sound different.” (Sharon Landers, Reader's Digest, Dec. 1998)

SHARON LOVES YOU… JESUS SPEAKING! That really sums up our Gospel text today when Jesus says, "I give you a new commandment: love one another." John 13:34

The command to love by Jesus is one side of the coin. The other side is already engraved with the words, "You are loved."

Jesus demonstrated that God’s love is a gift when he died for our sins. It's universally available. Ask Jesus to let you experience his love.

It’s not enough to see someone and think to ourselves how much we love them. We must go through life "acting as if" we love them. We can act ourselves into love.

“Watch what people do,” said a family systems expert, “not what they say.”

Yet, the power of sin "disables human beings from love and laughter and the fullness of life" which explains much of the decline in civility in American culture.

In ancient text called Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs which is a Jewish and Christian work it says, “My children, beware of hatred…for hatred is not willing to hear the words of God’s commandments concerning the love of one’s neighbor…”

Love of neighbor is disinterested love; not seeking a personal advantage.

St. Francis de Sales said that the disinterested heart is like wax in the hands of God.”

In contrast, Philippians 2:21, says: “Everyone looks out for their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ.”

And 1 Corinthians 13 says—Love is not self-seeking.

Cardinal Mercier said, "it is necessary to love one another; in order to love one another it is necessary to know one another; in order to know one another it is necessary to meet one another."

e.g.

A theologian engaged in constructive conversation with someone with whom he disagreed with. Charles Hodge, a 19th-century Protestant theologian and fierce opponent of theological liberalism. Hodge found the theology of Friedrich Schleiermacher so wrong and distasteful that he wrote 15 pages rigorously critiquing Schleiermacher’s ideas. Yet in a footnote at the end of Hodge’s critique, he noted that it was Schleiermacher’s personal practice to gather his children around the family piano after dinner to “sing praises to the Lord Jesus.” Hodge said he was confident that Schleiermacher, who died shortly before Hodge’s critique was published, “was now singing praises to the Lord Jesus face to face.” One lady said, “I was touched by his kindness and civility. It gave me hope...”

It’s a commandment to love the next person we interact with. [How to disagree, by John M. Buchanan, October 28, 2013]

William Blake poem: “I sought my soul, but my soul I could not see; I sought my God, but my God eluded me; I sought my neighbor, and I found all three.”

Regarding love for one another, Jesus is the source. When we are grounded in Christ, in that space, our energy flows us. When we are not, it drains. Then, we have resentments about who did me wrong and why I don’t like this person.

Just outside of Niland, California is a colorful artificial mountain made of adobe clay mixed with straw, and thousands of gallons of paint. It was created by folk-artist and religious man, Leonard Knight to convey his message that “God Loves Everyone.”

Today, the mountain, which stands about 50 feet tall and about 150 feet wide welcomes thousands of visitors each year, who climb its wild rambling steps cut into its side to the summit which is topped by a large cross. such as the Lord’s Prayer and the Sinner’s Prayer but also sculptured flowers, birds, hearts, trees, waterfalls and more.

On top of Salvation Mountain is a large white cross, and underneath the cross, in huge red and pink letters, are the words “God is Love.” In fact, the word “love” is prominently displayed all over the mountain.

Whenever I look at pictures of it, I feel the words, “Jesus loves you, salvation mountain speaking.”

Amen.