Terms and Conditions
Easter 6
Fr. Tim Nunez
May my spoken word be true to God’s written word and bring us all closer to the living word, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Earlier in John’s gospel, Jesus told Nicodemus that, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.” (John 3:16) “The world” means the fullness of the creation in its broken state. This hearkens to the very nature of God that John wrote in his first letter, “God is love” (1 John 4:8) and a few verses later, “We love because he first loved us.” (1 John 4:19)
Love is central to the gospel and our very sense of being. When we speak of the unconditional love God has for his people, we affirm that no matter who we are, or what we’ve done, whatever our current station of life or even the ways we think or believe at the moment – or even whether or not we have the capacity to think or reason, God loves his people. And we trust God’s perfect mercy and judgment in all things including every person’s ultimate judgment. He’s always there for us.
Jesus said, “As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love.” These are most warm and encouraging words. They are not unconditional.
But we need to recognize that God’s perfect and unconditional love is on his side of the covenant. Whether it’s the Old Covenant with Israel or the New Covenant through Jesus with the world, God has always been 100% faithful on his side of the Covenant.
But on our side, our love is decidedly imperfect. So, terms and conditions apply. In some respects the old covenant’s laws feel like, well, when you’re signing onto a new website or app and you have to scroll through pages of legalese then check the little box that says you actually read them. Or when you’re closing a loan: “Initial here, here, here here here here, and here here here, and sign here.” (I know some of you read all of that stuff meticulously and I cannot thank you enough.)
Jesus kept all of those Old Covenant commandments, all 613 of them. He gives his own set of terms and conditions. He says, “If you keep my commandments.” “If” is conditional. And his command is that they love one another, as he has loved them.
We tend to think of love first as an intense fondness, be it in family, friendships, romance or even places and activities. As it regards people, as love grows and deepens, it drives us to bring offerings and to do things. Most often it’s the little things. Day by day we bring a paycheck, groceries, all the necessities. We protect and nurture. We sacrifice time. And on occasion, we punctuate life with cards and presents and cakes and flowers and balloons. Everyone has their own ways in that, but you get what I’m saying.
How has Jesus loved them? This appears to have very little to do with feelings. His love also demands action. But we don’t read anything about Jesus giving presents or cakes or cards or even hugs in the Gospels. Jesus loved his disciples in the very best was by sharing essentially three things: himself, the Kingdom of God, and his mission.
Those are all knotted together as day-by-day Jesus confronted the many manifestations of our separation from God. He was righting every wrong. Once he said, “Follow me,” he immediately began preaching and teaching, which confronted and corrected the misguided perspectives, ideas and direction they had known. He confronted and corrected the many wounds and scars that need to be and shall be healed in the Kingdom of God.
His physical healings – giving sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, speech to the mute, strength to the lame and even new life to the dead – are each at once specific to a moment and metaphorical. Love causes the blind to see. Open my eyes, Lord. Love causes the deaf to hear. Open my ears, Lord. Love enables the lame to walk. Put me to work, Lord. Love raises the dead to life. I am dead in my sin, Lord. Bring me to new life in you.
Love casts out demons. In what ways am I possessed by ideologies and priorities, depressions and anxieties, Lord? They torture me. Cast them out!
He confronted the hypocrisy of religious leaders demanding strict adherence to the rules while neglecting to attend to the heart behind their own actions. Obey God, yes! But first love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind. Wrong thoughts, wrong speech, wrong hearts, wrong motives and wrong results all have to be corrected in the Kingdom of God.
We cannot separate the building of their relationship with him from all of that because his greatest gift to them is himself: to know him, to follow him, to grow to love him. He made known to them everything that he heard from his Father. Everything.
Jesus’ greatest act of love will come the next day, when he lays down his life for his friends.
Who are his friends? He says we are, if – conditions apply – if we do what he commands. Love one another as Jesus loves us. That goes way beyond treating each other well. It means to do what he did. Heal the wounds and scars that sin, disease and death exact on his people. Correct false teaching and perspectives borne out of human priorities.
Our commission is to continue to demonstrate, to reveal, the Kingdom, to reveal Jesus to the lost and broken wherever we can even as his love and grace continue to reveal him to each of us.
Amen.