Where There is No Love, Put Love & You Will Find Love

Sermon by Rev. Steven McClelland on John 14: 18 – 29, 15: 9 – 17.  Focus on giving love where there is none.  Check out Jody Sinkway & Bill Ucker & the Choir.

From in chapters 14 on, Jesus is in his final goodbyes to his disciples and friends. He talks to them the way a parent talks to a child before leaving them in charge of their siblings. He reassures them that he will be back. “A little while,” he reassures them, “and you will see me.” And a little while became a long time. Ten years turned into hundreds of years, which in turn turned into thousands years.

As the eldest child in a family of three siblings, I was the designated babysitter in my family. From the time I was fourteen, I was the one my parents left in charge when they went out. My father would sit me down and remind me how much he and my mother trusted me, which always made me feel a little dizzy, but I would agree. I wouldn’t let the house burn down. I wouldn’t open the door to strangers and I would not let my sisters’ fall down the basement steps.

Then my mother would show me where she had left the telephone number, remind me when they would be home and then we’d all walk together to the front door where we’d say goodbye. The door would shut. I’d click the lock into place, and a new era would begin.

I was in charge. Then turning around I would see my sisters’ faces, looking at me with something akin to hope and fear. They knew I wasn’t Mom or Dad, but since I was all they had they were willing to give it a go.

And so I played games with them though I would always talk them out of playing Candy Land, I read books to them and I’d give them each a dish of ice cream. But as the night wore on they would get crankier and crankier. “Where are mommy and daddy? Where did they go? When will they be back?” What time is it? How long have they been gone?

I would tell them that they’d be back in a little while. I tried to make everything sound ok, but their concern would eventually become my concern.

What if our parents had a terrible accident? They might never come home again and the three of us would be sent to live with who knows whom? It wasn’t easy being in charge, because being in charge also meant that I had to keep my own fears in check so that my sisters wouldn’t begin to cry. It was my job to be confident even when I wasn’t. It was my job to have all the answer to all of their worried questions.

If you have ever been left in charge you know what I’m talking about. In a certain sense we are all the elder sons and daughters of Christ. We are the ones who have been left in charge. We are the ones he has trusted to carry on in his name.

And some of our siblings are scared because it seems as if morning will never come. Some are still waiting but some have clearly given up. And some have slipped off to look for another source of comfort only to find that they have been tricked by the lie of a false god.

Where is he? When is he coming back? It’s hard being in charge, because we too worry that he might never come back. He said he was going away, but he also said he was coming back. But it’s been so long that it’s hard not to worry and wonder.

“Those who love me will keep my word,” he said before he left, “and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make his home with them” (John 14: 23). Not to visit or to send a postcard but “to come and make a home with us.” It’s not a temporary place he’s talking about but a permanent one, a mansion large enough to accommodate everyone who is willing to love the way a parent loves a child or the way a brother loves his sisters or a sister loves her brothers.

It’s John’s vision of heaven that God will move in with us and us with Him. I’m not sure of all the details and neither is John, but abiding in him seems to involve becoming part of a large extended family. When God moves in with us love reigns supreme. No more crying. No more dying. No more pain. Just faith, hope and love forevermore!

Now it would be a shame if we had to wait to experience this kingdom till we die, but he has given us an assignment till the ultimate kingdom comes. He has called us to move into that mansion now. It’s a place where people love one another. It’s a place where you feel like others have your back. It’s a place where you are forgiven and accepted for who you are. It’s place where you experience love.

Today is mother’s day and we come not only to give thanks to God but also to remember that life has always come to us from others. And women have been playing a major role in God’s building project since the beginning of time without our mothers we wouldn’t be here. And the thing my mother taught me was this: “Where there is no love, put love and there you will find love.” Go create a loving family! Go make disciples of all nations!

My mother has been a huge part of that building project throughout her whole life. When I was younger my mother could be found protesting the spread of nuclear weapons. She ran food and medical supplies down to El Salvador and Nicaragua back in the 80’s. If you were to come to my parents home she would likely show you the bullet casings from the machine guns that were used to try an scare her off. At the time I was so mad, because I needed a mother. I didn’t need an advocate for the world’s poor and suffering. What if she got killed? What would happen to my sisters and me?

But my Mom would smile and be off, leaving my sisters and me notes of love that we were to open every day while she was gone. She called them spiritual vitamins. Take one a day! She did what she did she would tell us because that’s what she believed Jesus would be doing. Right or wrong she did what she did out of love of those who suffer at the hands of the powerful. Those who have no real voice who live day in and day out wondering if this will be there last day on earth.

She has been that way her whole life. She is not afraid to die for what she believes in. She believes that there is no greater love than that one lay down their life for others. She seeks to love all of the time. Even when it scares her children, like Jesus scared and then had to reassure his disciples and friends at the last supper. But Jesus reminds them that they will never be alone, because he will send his Spirit to be with them.

And like my mom’s love notes to her children, grandchildren and to those she meets to this day, the Gospels and Paul’s letters are the instructions on how we are to care for one another till he returns. To this day my mother sends us constant reminders that we are loved. Her notes remind us of how proud she is of us. How much she loves us and appreciates us. That’s what John’s gospel is. It’s a love note to a community of disciples – children of God who are scared that they will be left alone and abandoned. And for those of us who have been left in charge this is truly good news, because it means that we’re not alone in the house.

There’s someone else at home, someone who dwells within us, leaving us notes all over the place: “Remember to love one another, don’t be afraid; you believe in God, that’s good, but you can also believe in me. If it were not so, would I have told you?” And in this way, through his Holy Spirit we know that we are not alone. We are not orphaned. We have a place we can call home. That’s the purpose of the church today and every day. Amen