John 13:31–35

³¹When he had gone out, Jesus said, "Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him. ³²If God is glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself, and glorify him at once. ³³Little children, yet a little while I am with you. You will seek me, and just as I said to the Jews, so now I also say to you, 'Where I am going you cannot come.' ³⁴A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. ³⁵By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another."

"Love one another as I have loved you." He was a king, but he took off his crown and became a servant. He is the supreme ruler to whom the whole creation bows down, but he kneels at our feet to wash them. He was driven by love; he lived love by words and deeds. His love was impractical and downright foolish. He did things that make no sense. Things we say don't work; or are just plain wrong. He didn't have good judgment. He lacked common sense. He said things like "Love your enemy." Like, "If someone strikes you in the cheek, turn to him the other as well." Like, "If anyone takes your tunic, give him your coat also." And, "if anyone forces you to go one mile with him, go two miles." And, "If anyone wants to be great, he must become a servant, for the greatest in the kingdom of God is the least, the most insignificant, the poorest, and the weakest among men."

These are impractical. They don't make good sense. They are foolish advice. But for him, good judgment, common sense, and being practical were not the criteria. His decisions and actions were based on one thing: love for others. And, he said, "The greatest love is to give your life for your friend."

That's exactly what he did. It was for love that he died for you. When he was arrested and brought to trial he didn't even speak up in his own defense. He remained silent in the courtroom. Why? Because he wanted to die for those he loved. He was taking their place and claiming guilt in order to get them off. When he was warned to stay away from Jerusalem because the king wanted to kill him, he went straight there in order to die. When the rulers of the church confronted him, he insulted them and made them angry knowing full well that they would bring charges against him and put him to death.

He did other foolish things as well, like forgive his assassins right from the cross. He touched people infested with leprosy with his bare hands; he ate dinner at the home of sinners and prostitutes and publicans. The fact of the matter is, he did everything wrong. He broke every rule of etiquette, he made decisions that got him into trouble, he gave impractical advice to his followers, he stepped out into danger, and put his life at risk. His love was disinterested. He always put the needs of others before his own needs. He didn't seek glory or fame and even rejected those who tried to give him glory and fame. He didn't look out for himself, rather he looked out for others. That is why his love seems so foolish and reckless. And if he were here today, he would not even be welcome in church because he was poor, he hung around with the wrong people, he was homeless, his hair was too long and he looked like a hippy.

But everything he did was an act of love. Every word he spoke was a word of love. Yet, as we all know, love blinds us and makes us do foolish things. Love turns masters into servants, kings into slaves, and rich men into paupers. And that was Jesus!

Jesus is love incarnate; that means, he is God's love in human flesh and blood. Jesus is love. He is the love of God which took on human form and lived in our world. He shows us what love really is because when we look at him what we see is love. He is the definition of love, but more than that, he is love. "Love is not that we have loved God, but that he has loved us." Love comes from God to us, and it comes in the form of Jesus Christ.

But we, by nature, are not love and we cannot love. That is why Jesus seems so strange to us. That is why he does things that seem impractical and even wrong to us. He loved unlovable people—he loved us. It is nothing to love your friends. Everyone loves their family members and the people that love them. But Jesus was impractical. He loved the people who hated and despised him. When we were his enemies he died for us. He loved foreigners and other races like us. We are of a different race— the color of our skin is different from his, he never spoke a word of English, we have barbaric customs and eat filthy and unclean foods. But he loved us and in our first reading we heard how, to the surprise and anguish of his followers, he sent his Spirit to us unwanted foreigners. He loved the poor and the weak. He loved the sick and the untouchables; the filthy, the ugly, the outcast. He ate with them, he touched them, he served them like a slave, and he poured out his life for that kind of people and died for them. He even loved his enemies and the very people who murdered him. We know what love is when he died for us. That is foolish love. But that is who Jesus is. And that is who his disciples are. "People will know you are my disciples if you love one another." Because being like him identifies us as his disciples. The way we live identifies us and shows the world who we really are. If they see the love of God in us; if they see the attributes of Jesus in us; then they will know we are his disciples.

But the problem is, we have not loved one another as he loved us. We have failed as Christians. When they look at us do they see Christ? When they look at us do they know we are his disciples? Oh, yes, we love our family and friends. We are loving husbands and wives and parents. But Jesus says that even sinners and pagan and unbelievers love those who love them. Jesus' love is love for one's enemies. Jesus' love is love for the unlovable. Jesus' love is love that forgives those who do us wrong. We have not loved one another as Jesus loved us. We have not loved our enemies. Or forgiven those who sin against us. Or loved those we don't like or of others races of colors or languages. We have failed to keep Jesus' commandment. We have failed at being his disciples. Our love does not look like Jesus. Our lives do not look like Jesus.

But that is the whole point of Jesus' words. We hear the sound of his words: Love one another as I have loved you. These are the sounds of Easter because this is the sound of love that gave his life for us and took it back up to make us a new creation. This is the sound of love that loved us when we were his enemy; when we were unlovable; when we committed sins against him; when we killed him on a cross. His is a love that "covers a multitude of sin," for it covers the multitude of our sins; it covers our lack of love.

For though we do not love our enemy, he loved us when we were his enemy. When we sinned against him, he loved us and forgave our sin. His is the love that redeems us, lost and sinful creatures and makes us new in him.

And that is the point of our text. His loves us, redeems us, and makes us new. He loved us when we were unlovable. But because he paid for our sin on the cross, he comes to us in baptism and makes us new creatures. When we are joined to Jesus in baptism, a miracle takes place. A new man is born. A man of love. And God feeds and nourishes that love by his word and sacraments. In baptism the old man is slain and a new man is created. We are born again in baptism. We are not the same old ugly, unlovable people we once were.

Yes, this sinful flesh still clings to us. It still does battle against the new man created in us. But it is not the real us. From the time of our baptism that old man of sinful flesh is being put away. He is being slain every day in confession and absolution. He is being slain every time we come to the altar to receive the body and blood of Jesus. The old man of sin is being put off and destroyed by the suffering and pain we go through. Yes, even old age, disease, bodies that fall apart and eventually die is nothing other than the old man of flesh being put away. The old, sinful flesh is being cast off so that we will be raised with incorruptible, sinless bodies, and the new man, holy and righteous man, born in baptism, will live forever in righteousness. God is at work in us, building up the new man and putting off the old man.

So this new commandment that Jesus gives us today to love one another, is not a command to do something new, it is a command to be what we are: new people born of the Spirit, being renewed in the image of Christ Jesus; the image of love. For in baptism we were united with him in death. Hence we say with St. Paul, "I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me." We are new men and women. Born of the Spirit. It is Christ who lives in us, not our old sinful nature. So Paul can also say, "If anyone is in Christ he is a new creature. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. Therefore, says Paul, "Love constrains us." Christ is love, and whoever abides in love abides in him. (I John 4).

The commandment to love one another is really a description of Christ. And thus, it describes everyone who is born again into Christ. For "love is from God. Whoever loves has been born of God." (I John 4).

Because Christ is the love of God manifest in the flesh, love identifies us with Christ. St. John says, "We know we are in him by our love." (I John 3:16). "Love is from God. Whoever loves has been born of God." And so Jesus can say, "They will know you are my disciples if you have love for one another."

The command to love one another is not a law that accuses and condemns us. Rather, it is a description of who we are in Christ Jesus. It is the fulfillment of the law. For Christ came to fulfill the law for us. He came to be our righteousness. Born again into Christ we are clothed in his righteousness. The robes of our righteousness are taken away because they were filthy, but the robes of Christ's righteousness are placed on us as we are covered in him. We are new people. We are created new by the Spirit. We don't have to continue in our old ways of hatred, resentment, prejudice, and hardness of heart. Because the old has passed away and the new has come. It is Christ who lives in us. It is love that impels us. Amen.