Rev. Eugene N. Nelson, Jr.
The Community Church of Sebastopol
May 25, 2003
John 15: 9-17
A psychology professor, who had no children of his own, would frequently say to a neighbor when he heard that neighbor scolding his child, “You should love your boy, not punish or scold him.” Well, one hot summer day, that same professor spent the day laying new concrete for his driveway. Tired after several hours of hard work, he laid down his trowel, wiped the perspiration from his forehead and headed toward the house. Just then, out of the corner of his eye, he saw his neighbor’s son putting his foot into the fresh new concrete. He rushed over and grabbed the boy and was just about to scream at him about keeping his (expletive deleted) feet out of his new driveway when another neighbor leaned out the window and said, “Remember professor, you must love the boy, not scold him.” To which the professor responded furiously, “I do love him in the abstract, but not in the concrete!”
Reminiscent of the classic words of Linus, “I love mankind, its people I can’t stand!”
I suppose that’s the problem with love – it is easy to talk about it, to write about it, come here on Sunday and sing about it, listen to the preacher preach about it. But it is much harder to go out on Monday morning among flesh and blood people and actually do it! To love, not in the abstract, but in the concrete. But yet, as Christians, we have no choice. Our Lord does not suggest we love one another, He commands it.
From the gospel of John we read, ”This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.” Our text is crystal-clear: there is no love in the abstract. William Willimon, Chaplin at Duke University shares the following story from his days as a parish pastor: “On my way home out of church, late one afternoon, I was chagrined to see coming toward the church, down the walkway, a rather forlorn looking man with a small bag -- obviously a vagabond, a drifter coming to the church seeking a handout. This is what you get for having a church situated near a busy highway – these drifters, they always have some sad story of woe to tell, but the end is always the same. ‘Can you spare about $25 in cash?’ I sighed as I watched the man approach. It had been a long day and I was eager to get home. I would meet him at the door, head him off and give him the only cash I had, about $15 as I recall, and then send him on his way.
“’What can I do for you?’ I asked with some annoyance in my voice.
‘“I wondered if you might be able to help a fella on his way south.’
“’Yes, yes’ I said, ‘Well, I’m in a bit of a rush, so here is all I have, a five and a ten.’
The man took the money as I offered it, looked at it and without a word he turned and headed out toward the street. Then he stopped and turned toward me as I locked the church door.
“’I guess you think I’m supposed to thank you, to be grateful’ he said with a surprising tone of defiance.
“’Well, now that you mention it, a little gratitude wouldn’t hurt.’
“’Well I’m not going to thank you. You want to know why?’
“’Why?’
“’Because you’re a Christian. You don’t help me because you want to. You have to help me because He told you to.’
Then he left. Concludes Willimon, “I stood there stunned, angry. The nerve of these people! Then on my way home, it hit me… he was right!’”
This is my commandment, that you love one another. To be a Christian, a baptized follower of Jesus, means there are some things for us which are not optional.
In my other life, away from the church, I am a member of an organization known as California Trout. In joining that organization I’m saying that I will do whatever I can to promote the health of rivers and streams in California and the creatures who live in those same rivers and streams – that’s part of being a member. It goes with the territory. I am also a follower of Jesus of Nazareth. That means that in every situation, I’m going to have to try to respond to others as Jesus would have responded – again, it’s part of being a Christian, it goes with the territory -- it is not a topic for debate.
In the words of Willimon, “Whether our obedience to this command will make the world a better place or lead to a deeper human understanding or help win friends and influence people, we know not. We only know that this is clearly what Jesus commands us to do.”
Speaking of such love, Glendon Harris, an editor of religious journals, writes, “Jesus spoke of love primarily to indicate a right relationship between people, a constructive spirit to help others build up their lives. That love has little to do with affection and emotional excitement. It is about how we treat each other. Love in the Bible may end with feelings, but it doesn’t start with them. Gospel love has little to do with liking another individual or finding them attractive, fascinating or exciting; it has more to do with removing barriers and seeking as much good for another as for oneself.”
What I am suggesting today is that such love is beyond mere sentiment. It involves more than simply good feelings. Of course, good feelings aren’t all bad – I like it when I help someone and they thank me in return. I like it when my effort to love and care is warmly reciprocated. But there are no guarantees here. My goodness, there are no guarantees we will even find the right kind of people to love.
A minister once wrote about a night he and a friend were at a party. As they were leaving, sitting outside on the curb was a man, someone they new a little bit, who had just a little too much to drink, was disoriented and they thought there was no way this guy could drive home. They wanted to get home, but it was time to be a Good Samaritan. So they helped the guy up, put him in their car, somehow got his address and were driving him home. Well all the way home the man, not thanking them, basically cursed them; called them names, verbally abused them. They finally got him home, somehow got him inside and the whole time he continued this stream of verbal viciousness. Somehow he got the minister’s number. Two days later when he was sober he called the minister and still just lit into him – how could they do this to him, they just humiliated him, and more… just terrible stuff. The minister said, “Sometimes being a Good Samaritan isn’t all it’s trumped up to be. At times I wish I wouldn’t have helped him, but just let him sit there on the curb! Let him get his own way home!”
Except, there is this commandment to love. Not optional equipment for Christians. But I don’t want to make the commandment sound like some grim obligation – Love, the Grim Obligation – there’s a great sermon title.
I think of the words of the poet:
I sought my soul
But my soul I could not see;
I sought my God
But my God eluded me.
I sought my brother
And I found all three.
I recall another preacher saying once, “There is no smaller package in the world than a person wrapped up in himself or herself.” Yes, we are commanded to love, but let’s be very clear here: we need to love. We need to care for one another for our world and to be cared for. For only then do we have any hope of becoming fully human. And as people of faith, it is only as we begin to extend ourselves in love that we begin to learn something of God.
There is a library in a little Palestinian village, near Haifa, a part of the world which continues to groan under the burdens of violence and injustice. My goodness, I hope that library is still standing and hasn’t been bulldozed by now. In that library there is a beautiful sign in Arabic with these words, words which Palestinians, Israelis, indeed all of us should take to heart. The sign says;
God is the creator of all human beings with their difference, their colors, their race, and their religions. Be attentive! Every time you draw nearer to your neighbor, you draw nearer to God. Be attentive! Every time you go further from your neighbor, you go further from God.
As Jean Valjean sings in the musical, Les Misreables: “To love another person is to see the face of God.”
We are called, we are commanded to pay attention, to love. And folks, this is not simply some sort of pie-in-the-sky, unrealistic Biblical ideal; it has become a twenty-first century necessity.
In the words of the poet, Peggy Pond Church, which I have shared with you before:
Now the frontiers are all closed.
There is no other country we can run away to.
There is no ocean we can cross over.
At last we must turn and live with each other.
We cannot escape this day any longer.
There is no room for hate left in the world,
Now we must learn to love.
Love is no longer a theme for eloquence,
Or a way of life for a few to choose.
There is no other way out;
There is no one on earth
Who must not face this task now.
This past week I was attending a preaching conference in Atlanta. Tom Long, a great preacher was there and he told a story about Rachel. In Princeton, New Jersey, not exactly a low-income area, there is a market known as Davidson’s, kind of a high-end market. Well, everyday Rachel would visit Davidson’s and steal food. Rachel, no matter what the weather, 10° below zero or 110° above, would wear this long coat. Everyday about noon Rachel would show up at this market and take, maybe some peanut butter, a little bread, something to drink, a banana. The checkers knew it. The clerks knew it. The store managers knew it. Davidson’s proved to be a very successful store and they moved, to a new location, a bigger store. The owner of the market came to the local minister and said, “I don’t want to embarrass Rachel, so I was wondering if you could tell her that we’ve moved. Would you let her know our new address – and could you do it today? You see, it’s 10 o’clock, just a couple of hours before noon and I sure wouldn’t want Rachel to miss lunch.”
Nothing cosmic, or nothing earth-shaking (maybe I shouldn’t say that this morning in light of our early morning trembler). Just love, not in the abstract, but in the concrete. “Don’t want Rachel to miss lunch.” It’s the love of Christ, Himself. A love we are called, we are commanded to demonstrate in our lives each and every day.