Easter 5 C

The first version of this sermon was going to be about revolutionary love…

But:

“You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against any of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD.” (Leviticus 19.18 NRSV)

The majority of the ten commandments are about caring for our neighbors.

Not just the neighbors that are like us:

“The alien who resides with you shall be to you as the citizen among you; you shall love the alien as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.” (Leviticus 19.34 NRSV)

You could argue that from the very beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth, that God created humans to be together. To love one another.

With all due respect to Jesus: loving your neighbor is not a revolutionary commandment — it is God’s design from the beginning.

But even if it’s built into God’s hopes and dreams for humanity, everyone here already knows that we don’t always follow through on the command to love. In fact, we often fail miserably.

In your own daily life, and in the world around you, you have probably witnessed numerous examples of neighbors not loving neighbors. Jesus’ command to love one another is only 3 words, but it’s the hardest thing for us to do, isn’t it? I could give you examples from just the last week where I did not love my neighbor; I’m guessing you can, too.

We are in good company.

Some of my absolute favorite parts of the Bible are where God’s chosen people make just terrible mistakes. Whether through malice, or foolishness, or small-mindedness, they consistently bungle God’s commandments. From literally the first two people that God created who couldn’t follow the one rule that God gave them, to Jacob’s schemes, to David’s ‘moral failures,’ to Peter’s impetuousness…the candidates that God backs are really a bunch of jokers.

As a leader in the church, I, at least, find this comforting. Now, I’m not shirking responsibility or accountability for leaders who mess up. I do believe that those who hold power should be held to an extremely high standard. But I also see in hindsight that God seems to relish bringing forth the kingdom through the mistakes of some very imperfect people. And if there’s hope for them…there’s hope for us, too.

If there’s one thing better than biblical leaders messing up, it’s biblical leaders changing course and discovering an even broader picture of God’s love. It’s the jokers being redeemed.

• Early followers of Jesus among Jews and Gentiles
• The set of rules that had made people of Israel distinct was losing its purpose in a new setting
• Peter’s vision; seeing the Holy Spirit moving beyond his own imagination

“When they heard this, they were silenced. And they praised God, saying, “Then God has given even to the Gentiles the repentance that leads to life.”” (Acts 11.18 NRSV)

These early church leaders realized that by excluding some people — the Gentiles — even though it seemed to follow their time-tested and biblical rules — that they were failing to love their neighbors. When the Holy Spirit helped them see a broader vision of God’s love, they began baptizing all kinds of people as followers of Jesus.

The command to love your neighbor is not revolutionary. What is revolutionary is what happens when God’s timeless loves breaks into our current time and situation.

Like the Acts community, we in this time are charged with the command to love our neighbors. And just like them, we are surely missing out on the whole picture. Our baptism is a constant reminder that God’s life-giving love breaks into our world. Into our current situation.

Our baptism reminds us that we are, each of us, the intersection between God’s love and this world. God chooses the times and places to break into our world, and God chooses you. Jesus wasn’t revolutionary because he talked about love in a new way, but because he embodied love. His body and presence brought God’s love into every part of life and creation, especially to the parts that were sick, hurting, and excluded.

That is the revolutionary love that we are commanded to embody as well. If you have felt the love of God in your life…how can you share it? How can you let it break into the world, starting with you? What new thing is God doing in our time and place?

God’s love isn’t new, but it makes us new, and it makes the world — this world — new.