1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:00,966 Let us pray. 2 00:00:02,633 --> 00:00:08,433 May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, oh Lord. 3 00:00:09,033 --> 00:00:10,666 My rock and my redeemer. 4 00:00:11,733 --> 00:00:11,933 Amen. 5 00:00:13,433 --> 00:00:19,533 This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 6 00:00:20,533 --> 00:00:23,566 Jesus commands his disciples to love. 7 00:00:24,633 --> 00:00:29,966 And this shouldn't come as a surprise to us. This is what he created us to do after all. 8 00:00:30,733 --> 00:00:35,666 Jesus himself said, the greatest commandment is this, that you love 9 00:00:35,666 --> 00:00:41,633 the Lord your God and that you love your neighbor as yourself. 10 00:00:42,766 --> 00:00:45,566 God created us to think and to ponder. 11 00:00:46,500 --> 00:00:49,566 He created us to trust and to believe. 12 00:00:50,333 --> 00:00:53,333 But he also created us to love. 13 00:00:54,366 --> 00:00:57,533 And it's that act of love that I want to reflect on this morning. 14 00:00:57,533 --> 00:01:02,466 To say that I love something can mean a lot of different things. 15 00:01:03,333 --> 00:01:05,633 To say I love college football means one thing. 16 00:01:06,533 --> 00:01:09,966 To say I love my classmates means another. 17 00:01:11,066 --> 00:01:14,500 To say I love my wife means something else still. 18 00:01:15,533 --> 00:01:21,933 Love in each of those sentences means something different, but each of those sentences is true. 19 00:01:23,166 --> 00:01:25,433 We were created to love. 20 00:01:26,166 --> 00:01:32,233 But when Jesus commands us to love, what kind of love is it? 21 00:01:33,433 --> 00:01:36,333 One of the things that we love is our hobbies. 22 00:01:37,400 --> 00:01:43,666 I know a woman who loves to knit and sew and crochet and everything in between. 23 00:01:44,533 --> 00:01:51,266 The amount of different things that she can make with a needle and the number of different techniques that she knows is 24 00:01:51,966 --> 00:01:52,566 mind-boggling. 25 00:01:52,566 --> 00:02:02,933 I was talking to her one day when I was still getting to know her and she told me about how she would go to the local farmers market to sell the things she made. 26 00:02:03,866 --> 00:02:08,333 She told me about how she would go and teach classes on how to knit and how to sew. 27 00:02:09,266 --> 00:02:19,966 She told me about how she would spend a couple hours every week at the local needlework club, spending time with other people that shared her passion. 28 00:02:20,833 --> 00:02:30,866 She even told me about how she spends a decent amount of her time making blankets and clothes for the local homeless shelter. 29 00:02:31,966 --> 00:02:37,833 She loves knitting. She loves crocheting. She loves her hobby. 30 00:02:38,800 --> 00:02:40,533 It fills her with joy. 31 00:02:41,633 --> 00:02:47,633 It gives her a community to be a part of. It allows her to fill the needs of her community. 32 00:02:47,633 --> 00:02:53,966 So what kind of love is this? This is a love that brings joy. 33 00:02:55,366 --> 00:03:00,433 Another type of love that we experience is the kind of love that we have for something like our pets. 34 00:03:01,466 --> 00:03:05,333 When I was in sixth grade, my dog Shadow had a litter of puppies. 35 00:03:06,133 --> 00:03:10,766 We ended up keeping the first one. He was a boy and I named him Skittles. 36 00:03:11,966 --> 00:03:15,266 Skittles and I were best friends. 37 00:03:15,266 --> 00:03:23,766 He was about a mid-sized 60-pound black lab chow mix that looked more like a bear than a dog. 38 00:03:24,533 --> 00:03:27,733 We spent every moment together. 39 00:03:28,800 --> 00:03:33,166 We would spend hours chasing each other and playing fetch in my backyard. 40 00:03:34,233 --> 00:03:39,933 We would sit next to each other while we watched TV. We would wrestle in our living rooms. 41 00:03:40,866 --> 00:03:43,166 Skittles was my best friend. 42 00:03:44,133 --> 00:03:48,566 Even though he was a dog, his presence comforted me. 43 00:03:49,733 --> 00:03:54,666 One of the coolest things about Skittles was that he never really learned how to bark. 44 00:03:55,566 --> 00:04:04,433 I always called it kind of a roar, but to be honest, looking back at it, it seemed like he was trying to talk to me more than anything. 45 00:04:05,833 --> 00:04:09,866 My favorite thing about Skittles though was that he was loyal. 46 00:04:09,866 --> 00:04:14,100 Whenever I was home, he would be right next to me by my side. 47 00:04:14,333 --> 00:04:20,833 And even when I wasn't home, he would be the first person, the first thing to greet me when I got back home. 48 00:04:21,566 --> 00:04:25,866 It didn't matter how late it was. It didn't matter if everyone else was asleep. 49 00:04:26,066 --> 00:04:31,133 Skittles would be at the front door waiting for me when I got home. 50 00:04:32,433 --> 00:04:34,300 I loved Skittles. 51 00:04:35,133 --> 00:04:40,433 And so what kind of love is this? This is a love that comforts. 52 00:04:41,966 --> 00:04:46,933 Another kind of love that we experience is the love we have for our friends. 53 00:04:48,000 --> 00:04:54,533 A lot of the time we have a lot in common with our friends, but to be honest, that's not always the case. 54 00:04:55,533 --> 00:05:03,933 My two best friends in high school were a Jehovah's Witness named Trevin and an immigrant from Fiji named Deliza. 55 00:05:05,666 --> 00:05:11,900 We spent just about every moment together of my senior year that wasn't in class. 56 00:05:13,300 --> 00:05:17,766 Whether it was a larger group of people or just us, we were together. 57 00:05:18,933 --> 00:05:21,466 And we had almost nothing in common. 58 00:05:21,466 --> 00:05:29,433 We didn't share the same hobbies, we didn't have the same upbringing, and we certainly didn't have the same plans for our lives. 59 00:05:30,333 --> 00:05:33,166 But the three of us were best friends. 60 00:05:34,533 --> 00:05:42,666 And even though I don't get to see Trevin that much anymore, and even though Deliza now lives in Japan, I still love them. 61 00:05:43,700 --> 00:05:48,366 They were compassionate and understanding and empathetic. 62 00:05:49,233 --> 00:05:54,200 They were loyal and supportive. They are my friends. 63 00:05:55,633 --> 00:06:03,100 So what kind of love is this? This is a love that unites people, despite their differences. 64 00:06:04,566 --> 00:06:08,733 The love that we experience in our lives is good. 65 00:06:09,600 --> 00:06:13,400 It paints a picture of the love that God has for us. 66 00:06:14,100 --> 00:06:17,566 They're images of the love of God. 67 00:06:18,533 --> 00:06:24,300 The things we love in our lives, they fill us with joy, they comfort us, they unite us. 68 00:06:24,933 --> 00:06:27,266 This is what God's love does. 69 00:06:28,266 --> 00:06:38,366 But the truth is, all these kinds of love can all too easily go from being a virtue to becoming a vice. 70 00:06:39,433 --> 00:06:44,366 The hobbies that we love so much become the things that we obsess over. 71 00:06:45,366 --> 00:06:48,300 We wake up and we go to sleep thinking of it. 72 00:06:49,066 --> 00:06:52,133 We neglect our responsibilities to partake in it. 73 00:06:53,533 --> 00:06:57,500 Maybe it's a sport. Maybe it's a video game. 74 00:06:58,666 --> 00:07:04,666 Maybe it's your schoolwork. Maybe it's your job. Maybe it's something else. 75 00:07:04,666 --> 00:07:09,033 Our hobbies can quickly become our idols. 76 00:07:11,433 --> 00:07:17,500 Friendships that seem like they will never end come crashing down in the blink of an eye. 77 00:07:18,766 --> 00:07:23,666 The friend that you used to speak to every day stops talking to you out of nowhere. 78 00:07:24,566 --> 00:07:32,333 The person that you used to tell everything to betrays your trust by saying something to someone that you told them in confidence. 79 00:07:33,233 --> 00:07:38,666 The sense of companionship that we're meant to feel becomes alienation. 80 00:07:40,400 --> 00:07:50,500 All of that is because while those kinds of love are images of the love that God has for us, they're blurred images. 81 00:07:51,466 --> 00:07:58,333 The way we experience love in our life is marred by our uncanny ability to love ourselves more than anything else. 82 00:08:00,033 --> 00:08:11,800 So maybe a clearer image of the kind of love God has for us isn't so much the way that we love something, but the way that we are loved. 83 00:08:13,166 --> 00:08:17,666 And what better image of being loved is there than being loved by a parent? 84 00:08:18,633 --> 00:08:23,000 When I was a kid, I played baseball and my dad was my biggest supporter. 85 00:08:23,800 --> 00:08:28,966 From the time I started playing when I was four years old, he drove me to and from practice. 86 00:08:29,233 --> 00:08:33,333 It wasn't until I was 16 that he even missed one of my baseball games. 87 00:08:34,166 --> 00:08:39,566 Little League, middle school, high school, summer ball, fall ball, and everything in between. 88 00:08:41,500 --> 00:08:46,066 Countless weekday afternoons and weekends from March through October. 89 00:08:46,066 --> 00:08:56,333 He drove me around the state, sometimes the country, and sat through my practices and my games and my ugly swings to support me. 90 00:08:57,333 --> 00:09:02,100 To make all of that happen, my dad sacrificed a lot. 91 00:09:03,366 --> 00:09:10,066 Between his own entertainment, the time commitment, and not to mention the cost, my dad sacrificed. 92 00:09:10,066 --> 00:09:17,066 When I was 16, I found something out about my dad. I found out that he didn't even like baseball. 93 00:09:20,300 --> 00:09:27,566 He sacrificed for me, to support me, because he loved me. 94 00:09:28,866 --> 00:09:34,933 So what kind of love is this? This is a love that sacrifices. 95 00:09:35,933 --> 00:09:46,233 When Jesus commands us to love, the love that a parent has for their child is about as clear of an image as you could hope for. 96 00:09:47,066 --> 00:09:52,166 It's a kind of love that sacrifices for the sake of the other. 97 00:09:52,966 --> 00:10:03,233 But the wonderful thing is, we don't need an image of what God's love for us is like, because we have the real thing. 98 00:10:04,066 --> 00:10:14,533 Jesus says, love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this. That someone lay down his life for his friends. 99 00:10:16,233 --> 00:10:19,566 This is how Jesus has loved us. 100 00:10:21,866 --> 00:10:29,533 Jesus sat in the room with his disciples. He knew that this would be the last meal he had with them before he died. 101 00:10:29,533 --> 00:10:36,400 One of his disciples, one of his friends, has just gotten up and left the room. 102 00:10:38,033 --> 00:10:41,300 The others don't know why, but Jesus does. 103 00:10:43,300 --> 00:10:52,400 They thought Judas was going to buy some more food or give money to the poor, but the truth is, Judas had gone to betray Jesus. 104 00:10:53,366 --> 00:11:05,633 And yet even in the midst of such betrayal and impending darkness, Jesus speaks words of promise. He speaks words of comfort and hope. 105 00:11:07,433 --> 00:11:14,666 The end of the night comes, and his friend delivers him into the hands of the people that will kill him. 106 00:11:14,666 --> 00:11:29,666 He's beaten, mocked, ridiculed, flogged, tortured, and bruised. He's made to drag himself to Golgotha. He's crucified. 107 00:11:31,333 --> 00:11:38,033 He lays down his life. He lays down his life for you. 108 00:11:39,366 --> 00:11:44,733 Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. 109 00:11:46,433 --> 00:11:55,633 This is the love God created us for. When Jesus commands us to love as he has loved us, this is what he means. 110 00:11:55,633 --> 00:12:09,333 What kind of love is this? This is a love that fully, unconditionally, willingly gives yourself for the sake of someone else. 111 00:12:10,133 --> 00:12:18,133 It's a love that sacrifices. It's a love that dies so that others may live. 112 00:12:18,133 --> 00:12:32,533 The love of Jesus is the kind that fills us with joy. It comforts us. It unites us. It's the kind of love that saves us from our inability to love anything other than ourselves. 113 00:12:32,533 --> 00:12:39,833 But the love of Jesus is also one that sacrifices. 114 00:12:41,733 --> 00:12:55,533 Mocked, ridiculed, beaten, flogged, tortured, bruised, pierced, crushed, crucified. For you. 115 00:12:56,533 --> 00:13:11,800 That is the greatest kind of love. This is the kind of love we were created for. It's the kind of love Jesus commands us to give to others. 116 00:13:11,800 --> 00:13:29,066 This is my commandment. That you love others as I have loved you. To love one another as Jesus has loved you means to die to yourself for the sake of everyone else. 117 00:13:29,766 --> 00:13:38,233 In your preaching and your teaching, you must die. In your mercy work and your care for others, you must die. 118 00:13:39,433 --> 00:13:53,200 In your school work, in your being a child to your parents, in your being a neighbor to the person next to you, you must die. Because that is what it means to love. 119 00:13:54,700 --> 00:14:05,633 That might look like knitting and sewing together blankets and clothes for the homeless people in your neighborhood, even though you might have more interesting things to do. 120 00:14:06,733 --> 00:14:12,200 It might be going to 12 years worth of a sport that you don't enjoy for your child. 121 00:14:13,233 --> 00:14:23,200 It might look like rearranging your schedule so that your friend or your student or your parishioner can talk to you. 122 00:14:24,466 --> 00:14:35,700 It might look like staying up late to finish an essay or do a reading because you went to the social events or the intramural game or whatever else it may be. 123 00:14:35,700 --> 00:14:42,166 It might look like being in fellowship with your brothers and sisters because they need you to be there. 124 00:14:43,766 --> 00:14:51,700 The love Jesus commands of us, the love he created us for is the kind that counts others as more important than ourselves. 125 00:14:52,600 --> 00:15:02,466 It's the kind that cares for others more than ourselves. It's the kind that puts our desires away for our neighbors' needs. 126 00:15:03,500 --> 00:15:11,466 It's the kind that is sacrificial. Jesus died so that we may have life and have it abundantly. 127 00:15:13,233 --> 00:15:21,833 Jesus died so that you can live. So go and live. Go and love. Amen.