Grace, mercy, and peace be with all of you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
It’s no secret that the world we live in is divided against itself. We see that in politics, in media, and in the rivalries we have. We find our identity in division, in who we are and who we are not. We define ourselves far too often by negatives, by what we like and what we reject.
This isn’t the means for identifying ourselves that God gives us. It’s not how we were made to be. We were made for connection, to be connected to one another. We were meant to be family to each other. This is the unity that God calls us to, to love one another.
A New Commandment from Jesus
In five verses, Jesus gives us what he says is a new commandment. He repeats it three times in those verses: “Love one another as I have loved you. Love one another. Love one another.” This is what we were made for. This is who human beings are supposed to be.
Yet, too often in the world we live in, we divide ourselves from each other. We say, “I’m better than you. I’m more powerful than you. I’m wealthier than you. I’m more popular than you. I’m greater than you. I must make you small.” This is the world we inhabit, but it is not the world to which we are called as disciples of Jesus Christ.
The Vision of John on Patmos
I think it’s a beautiful thing, this vision that we get of John as he is sitting on the island of Patmos in exile at the end of his life. I love the picture of John that’s on the front of your bulletin today. It’s a painting of John exiled on Patmos. The only thing wrong with it is that he looks entirely too young in that picture, but it’s a nice painting.
As he’s exiled on Patmos, divided from people in the most stark way possible, he speaks of this vision that God gives him, a vision of the restoration of all things. All the things that divide one from another will be made nothing.
Consider these common sayings that remind us of this truth:
- You’ve never seen a hearse towing a U-Haul.
- You can’t take it with you.
These point to the reality that the things you establish yourself by in this life are fleeting and ephemeral. Those who build their identity on created things instead of the One who created them will find themselves disappointed and lost. It’s inevitable because created things are filled with imperfection and the corruption of sin. These things cannot truly give us hope.
The Fleeting Nature of Earthly Things
Everything that opposes God will pass away. We stake our identity on many things, even friends and family, but all of these will pass away. Our sister in Christ, Margaret Henrichs, a member over at Salem Lutheran whom I spent a lot of time visiting over the last couple of years, passed away this week. She was 100 or 101 years old.
She didn’t have much left that she could hold on to in this life. She didn’t have her health or many possessions. Most of her friends had passed away. But she was able to hold on to the Christian faith because she knew that Jesus Christ would never disappoint her. In the end, in the final calculation, all the things we put as very important in this life can be stripped away from us so easily. But no one can ever take away Jesus.
Revelation: A Book of Hope
This beautiful vision that John gives us comes while he is stripped of everything. Here he is in exile, poor and alone, writing of this vision which Jesus has given him in the book of Revelation. He’s trying to share something beautiful with us.
People think of the book of Revelation as scary and filled with frightening imagery. I admit that some of the imagery in Revelation is quite weird. But Revelation is not a book of fear; it’s a book of hope. It points ultimately to the promise that God gives us in Jesus Christ that He will return to judge the living and the dead. His justice will win out no matter what this world says. All the things we cling to are like straw that’s burned up compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Jesus Christ our Lord.
God’s Ongoing Work in Creation
God is at work even when it seems like we’re alone and isolated, even when it seems like things have been stripped away from us. God is at work to restore creation to Himself. God didn’t just come among the prophets thousands of years ago or in the person and work of Jesus Christ 2,000 years ago and then stop relating to us. He comes to us over and over again through His Word and sacraments. He intends to make for Himself a people able to inherit the good things He is creating.
The psalm we have today, Psalm 148, is a celebratory psalm because it talks about all of creation gathering around God’s throne and praising Him. Consider how it unites all things:
- Wild animals and domesticated animals.
- Fire and hail, snow and frost.
- Creeping things on the ground and flying birds above our heads.
- Kings and all people.
- Men and women.
- Young and old.
There is no distinction—high and lofty, lowly and common—all are united around God’s throne to praise Him.
Living Out Christ’s Love Today
That’s all well and good, but in this life, that’s not what we see. We see the high above the low. We see people putting themselves over against each other. We see ourselves being led astray by our desire to have more and more stuff that will only disappoint. What about the here and now?
That’s where our reading from John comes in. We see this every time we manage to live the kind of love that Jesus points us toward. He says, “Love one another as I have loved you.” How has our Lord Jesus loved us? He has given Himself entirely for us:
- He died upon the cross for us.
- He willingly underwent suffering and death for us.
- He gave everything of Himself and held nothing back.
That kind of self-giving, self-emptying love is something we as Christians should aspire to as often as we can. We don’t always live up to that, but every time we attempt to live with the idea of loving one another, especially within the church, we demonstrate the love that God has for us in Christ.
Yes, He will be away from us, ascended into heaven. Yes, He hears our prayers, but we cannot be with Him physically as He once was after His resurrection. In the meantime, He gave us His new commandment: “This is how you will live and create the world you live in until I am not with you. You will love one another.”
It bears noticing that the phrase translated as “one another” or “each other” in the New Testament always refers to loving one another within the church. There is a special love and care we are to share with one another in the church on account of Christ.
When people see the way we take care of each other, love one another, do good for each other, sacrifice and empty ourselves for others, they say, “That’s authentic Christianity.” It’s Christianity that’s more than just pious words, holy prayers, and pretty music; it’s Christianity that changes people.
When we show that kind of self-giving and radical love that God calls us to, we show the world there’s something different about this place. Here we are not about distinctions between people but about unity in God’s Spirit. Here we are brothers and sisters, not by flesh but by God’s new creation.
It’s a church worth being a part of in this life, even as we hope for good things promised us in the next. It lets us persevere in spite of the divisions in this world. It points us to a deeper and better reality. It gives us hope that the world can’t. It tells us that the future belongs not just to the powerful, charismatic, or strong but to the weak, lowly, loving followers of Jesus Christ.
Would you follow your Lord Jesus Christ? Then do as He does:
- Pick up your cross and follow Him.
- Empty yourself and follow Him.
- Give of yourself and follow Him.
- Love each other within the church especially.
May we be more and more captivated by this vision of reality so that we might be filled with His blessing and presence. In Jesus’s name. Amen.