A couple of weeks ago the Journal ran a few pictures of the city of Edmonton from the early 1900’s. As you can imagine, streets that are now paved and clogged with cars were still dirt back then and navigated by horse and carriage and the odd automobile. I enjoy looking at “then and now” pictures. It gives me a better sense for a place by studying how things have changed.
This weekend many women gathered here for their annual Women’s Day conference and the topic discussed was “Christ’s Love.” What would “then and now” pictures of Christ’s love look like? Would there be any difference between the two? Has Christ’s love changed over the last 2,000 years? The answer might surprise you.
Jesus spoke the words of our text right after Judas Iscariot left that upper room on Maundy Thursday of Holy Week to make his final preparations to betray Jesus. Jesus then turned and said to the remaining disciples: “Now is the Son of Man glorified and God is glorified in him” (John 13:31). That was a strange thing to say, don’t you think? Judas had just left to betray his master and what does Jesus do? He breathes a huge sigh of relief as if he has just caught the last train home from work. Yes, Jesus would soon be going home to his heavenly Father but the cross still lay before the crown. Had Jesus forgotten? No. Jesus would still sweat drops of blood in the Garden of Gethsemane when he thought about what awaited him, but for now, he could only think of the result of his suffering and death: the sins of the world would be forgiven. This was glorious as far as Jesus was concerned. It was the reason he had come to the world and now finally his mission was going to be accomplished.
So what exactly did Christ’s love look like “then,” 2,000 years ago? It was a humble love. Jesus did not think about himself, he thought of us. It was an undeserving love. Jesus suffered and died for people who should have been punished for their own sins. And it was a willing love. Jesus was not reluctant to give his life for us. He saw it as a glorious task. This picture of Christ’s love becomes all the more stunning when you remember who Jesus is - not some lowly angel the Father forced on this mission like a 12-year-old suicide bomber in the Middle East. Jesus is the King of kings. In the movie The Last Emperor, the young child anointed as the last emperor of China lives a magical life of luxury with a thousand servants at his command. “What happens when you do wrong?” A visitor asks. “When I do wrong, someone else is punished,” the boy emperor replies. To demonstrate, he breaks a jar, and one of the servants is beaten. Jesus reversed that ancient pattern: when we, the servants erred, the King was punished. God’s grace to us is free only because the giver himself has borne the cost (Philip Yancey).
But that was Christ’s love “then.” What does Christ’s love look like “now”? Has it changed? It’s true. Jesus loves you today as much as he did yesterday, and you are as much forgiven now as you were last Sunday. But Christ’s love has changed. For example when is the last time Jesus washed your feet? When has he ever put his hands on you and cured you of a fever? And has he ever hand-delivered a lunch to your table like he did when he fed over 5,000 people in Galilee? None of these things has happened to us because Jesus has removed his visible (though not physical) presence from us when he ascended into heaven. That of course doesn’t mean that he has removed his love. It has just taken on a different form. Listen again to Jesus’ words from our text: “My children, I will be with you only a little longer. You will look for me, and just as I told the Jews, so I tell you now: Where I am going, you cannot come. 34 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another” (John 13:33-35).
Christ’s love is different “now” because it’s worked through us. Jesus may never have washed your feet but how often have your parents done that for you? Jesus may never have laid his hand atop your head to cure a fever but he did work through the loving ministrations of your mother. “Now” we see Jesus’ love when, motivated by Christ’s love, believers show love to others.
But what does Jesus mean when he says that loving one another is a “new” command? The people of the Old Testament were to show love to one another just as we are today but this command is “new” in the sense that Jesus’ love, as demonstrated in his suffering and death, gives it a new setting. Like a diamond that has been polished and mounted on a new ring so that it sparkles with greater intensity, Jesus’ command to love will now sparkle with a brighter intensity when we remember everything he did and does for us. During the conference this weekend the participants studied the Parable of the Prodigal Son and wondered about the change that must have taken place in the boy after he returned home. Because he was forgiven instead of beaten it’s hard to imagine how this boy would ever complain again about having to go out and work in the fields for his father. How could he not joyfully serve his father after everything his father had done for him? In the same way Jesus wants us to show such willing love to one another in view of his love for us.
Showing such love won’t be easy. It wasn’t easy for the early disciples to show. Do you suppose it was always simple to love Peter when he made it a habit of saying whatever came into his mind? Those are the kind of people you start to ignore after a while. Serve the brothers James and John? Are you kidding? These were the guys who expected to be made vice-presidents of Heaven Inc. They needed to be knocked down a notch, not built up! And then there was Matthew the former tax collector. As someone who was used to the luxuries of life did he complain about the measly food they ate and the hard beds they had to sleep on as they traveled with Jesus? We don’t know of course but if Matthew was like that, the other, more “hardy” disciples would have soon tired of him too.
Look around you. The people that you live with, go to school, even come to church with are sinners. We each have our shortcomings that make it difficult for us to be loved by others. That’s why it’s important to note that the kind of love Jesus wants us to show is agape love. Agape love gives without expecting anything in return. It does this because it needs nothing in return. Why not? Because Jesus has given us all we need. We will forgive one another because Jesus has forgiven us. We will accomplish mundane tasks for one another because Jesus did the same for his disciples when he washed their feet and he continues to provide the little things we need in life. Why is this so important? You may have friends who have never read about Christ’s love because they don’t want to crack open a Bible but they should still be able to read Christ’s love in your life. While our love for others does not qualify us as a disciple of Christ but it does quantify us as one.
When you look at hundred-year-old pictures of Edmonton it’s clear that this city has changed quite a bit. Is the same true of Christ’s love? Has it changed over the last 2,000 years? We believers know that it hasn’t but do others see that? Can people tell that we’re followers of Jesus without us telling them? If I grumble and complain about others, it I insist on getting my way, then I’m just like the rest of the world and there’s no excuse for that. Jesus has commanded (not suggested) that we love each other. The good news is that Jesus motivates, no more than that, he empowers us to such love. And why wouldn’t he? That’s how Jesus shows his love to the world today…through us. Amen.
