You prayed your heart that last night,
surrounded by eleven men
who listened, astonished, and took note.
And after you left (having suffered and risen)
John remembered to write it down.
For me. For us. For more to come.
We need to know what yearning
you expressed for health and harmony:
that we be one.
And it’s the hardest race we’ve ever run.
In fact, most of us have opted out
to run on our own paths, alone.
Some teammates seem so distant.
Others’ tongues keep lashing out
with hurtful words, insinuation,
wounding those who pass too close,
or whip on by, or stumble in the dark.
We’ve lost the goal! We must not run
to claim a prize for personal renown,
we run to honor you.
If we could run together, and
cheer each other on, hold up the weak,
we might break through the night
to see the light of your smile
at the way we run, together, as one.
Holy Week has been a wonderful moment of remembrance , contemplating Jesus’ sacrifice of himself to open the door to the Kingdom of God for humans, and how death could not hold him. He arose! It never gets older, only deeper. The fantastic news for those of us who enter through the door he opened is that Jesus never leaves us! His Spirit lives in us, guiding us and empowering us!
Oh how we need that constant Presence and counsel if we really respect our King and the personal command he underlined for us just before he was arrested:
“Just as the Father has loved me, I have also loved you; remain in my love. 10 If you obey my commandments, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commandments and remain in his love. 11 I have told you these things so that my joy may be in you, and your joy may be complete. 12 My commandment is this– to love one another just as I have loved you. 13 No one has greater love than this– that one lays down his life for his friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command you. (Jn. 15:1 NET)
It seems unrealistic to expect that we would lay down our lives for others who are also in the Kingdom. What we see (even right now in the United States) is great division, name-calling, slander. Much of it is caused by potical allegiances. Some of it is caused by a lack of respect for Jesus’ last command to his disciples. We are his disciples too, those who have believe in him!
“I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, 21 that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22 The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one . . . (Jn. 17:20 ESV)
We usually whip right past what traditionally was called “Maundy Thursday,” the day before Good Friday. This year I learned what “Maundy” means: It comes from the same root as “mandate,” and refers to that last command that Jesus gave his disciples, that they must love one another to “remain “in his love. Some translations use the word “abide” instead of “remain,” the idea being to live in his love, to have it as their permanent residence. Isn’t that exactly where we would like to live? His love, shown in the way he gave himself up for us, is constant and alive. It is filled with purpose: the welfare and growth of his people!
So why do we so easily skip over what Jesus underlined as absolutely essential? Often it may be because we find it impossible to love people who are difficult, even hurtful, in our community of Christians. How can we love them? How can we maintain a kind of unity that show that we “one” in Jesus Christ?
Digging into the real meaning of this kind of love can help us understand what Jesus is asking of us. The Greek word used in this context is not philos, but agape. Philos describes the natural emotional affection we have for family and close friends. Agape covers much broader territory and is made clear to us by the love that God has for the world (even those who reject him). The Son of God demonstrated it for us at the cross, giving his life for us. I find this explanation clear:
“The kind of love that we need in order to love people we don’t like is agape love. Now, agape love is not a feeling. We can love with agape love whether the feelings are present or absent, whether they are good or bad, whether this love is reciprocated or not. It is not a feeling.
“Agape love is an action. That’s how it’s always described in scripture. The Bible tells us that we know that God loves us because he sent his Son into the world to redeem us. We know that Jesus loves us because he gave his life for us. The Bible says, “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man give his life for a friend.” And God says that he will know that we love him if we keep his commandments.”[1]
This means that even if we find a person difficult, and would not say that we like them, we must show love in action, caring for their welfare. We must pray earnestly for them, and ask that our own reactions would be honoring to our Lord. It may take some “pruning” (John !5:2); we need to be aware of our own failure to show love and let the Lord remove that “dead branch” from us, so that we can be fruitful.
Paul gave lots of information about how to live out agape in his letters to the churches. This is one succinct example:
8 But now, put off all such things as anger, rage, malice, slander, abusive language from your mouth. 9 Do not lie to one another since you have put off the old man with its practices 10 and have been clothed with the new man that is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of the one who created it. 11 Here there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all and in all. 12 Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with a heart of mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, 13 bearing with one another and forgiving one another, if someone happens to have a complaint against anyone else. Just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also forgive others. 14 And to all these virtues add love, which is the perfect bond. 15 Let the peace of Christ be in control in your heart (for you were in fact called as one body to this peace), and be thankful. 16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and exhorting one another with all wisdom, singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, all with grace in your hearts to God. 17 And whatever you do in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. (Col. 3:8-17 NET)
Verse 11 gives a warning against any divisions based on ethnicity or social status. We are all chosen by God to be his people and must do everything for him (v. 17), so our actions and words must be exactly what he wants us to do. He is right here with us. He knows what’s going on. If we have been digesting his word, letting it actually live in us, it is his words that we must graciously use to encourage one another. Yes:
Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. 15 Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. (Eph. 4:14-15 NIV)
Once again, love in our way of speaking is key! It results in a healthy, mature body: the community of Christ’s people.
Verses 12 and 13 list the key character qualities we must be working hard at developing with the Spirit’s help: mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, 13 bearing with one another and forgiving one another, if someone happens to have a complaint against anyone else. Just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also forgive others. We are to wear these qualities as our clothing—that is what others see us as. They are rooted in our hearts and flow out in our visible actions.
And of course there is a requirement to forgive others. Love is that antidote! We truly need the Spirit!
Do not take revenge or bear a grudge against members of your community, but love your neighbor as yourself; I am Yahweh. (Lev. 19:18 CSB)
We truly need the Spirit’s empowerment!
[1] Mary (Whelchel) Lowman, The Christian Working Woman, https://christianworkingwoman.org/broadcast/how-to-love-the-people-you-dont-liker/
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