God's Transforming Love

           

            At some time in our life each of us will probably ask ourselves one of the following questions: "What is my purpose in life?" or "Why am I here?" If we remember the Westminster Catechism, the first question is "What is the chief and highest end of man?" The answer: "to glorify (or love) God and enjoy him forever. In our New Testament lesson today Jesus tells us in a nutshell the purpose of our lives, and the purpose of the church. When Jesus was asked this question by the Pharisees, it was during a time of religious legalism, where following the law had become more important than loving God and following him. The religious establishment had taken the Ten Commandments and the first five books of the Old Testament and had come up with over 600 rules and regulations that they determined had to be followed, in order to please God and to be a good person. Even the religious leaders themselves couldn't determine which rules were the most important to follow. The people felt defeated and overwhelmed trying to follow the rule of the law. Jesus took these 600 rules and regulations and condensed them into simply 2. What did Jesus say? Listen to his words: "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. And the second is like it: you shall love your neighbor as yourself". 

            Jesus didn't exclude the other laws - he simplified them into the double commandment we have here. Jesus took something that man made difficult and turned it into something very simple. He expressed it so simply that everyone, not just the religious leaders, could understand it. Loving God and loving one's neighbor are the only two commandments Jesus gave in the New Testament. All the laws and all that the prophets taught hang on these 2 commandments.

            Love is everything and it is at the heart of what Jesus revealed in his ministry here on this earth: he healed the sick, raised the dead, proclaimed the gospel of peace and love, was crucified, died and rose again for our sake. The Messianic hope, anticipated in Jesus' birth, is reflected in the passage from Isaiah, which Lee just read.   God commissioned the prophet Isaiah to bring a message of comfort, love and hope, not only for the people of Israel returning to their homeland after their enslavement in Babylon, but it was also a message of hope for future generations of God's people. Before Jesus began his Galilean ministry, he went into the synagogue in Nazareth, on the Sabbath, and read from the scroll of the prophet Isaiah. Listen to what Jesus says: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."(Luke 4:18-19) With the eyes of all in the synagogue upon him, Jesus said to them: "Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing".(Luke 4:21) In Jesus' mission statement we see Jesus reflecting words of promise and reassurance, declaring himself as fulfilling Isaiah's prophecy, as the one who will bring the good news of healing and release. Advent is not just about Jesus coming into the world as God incarnate, but also about why Jesus came. God's words through the prophet Isaiah are a sure promise. It is through Christ that God will bring transformation and healing to a broken and needy world.    

            Through Jesus' life and death, three basic truths of both the OT and the NT are evident: First, God loves us more than we will ever know. How much he loves us is reflected in John 3:16, "For God so loved the world that God gave the only Son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. Second, love is a matter of total obedience and commitment to God and God alone. When Jesus is asked which commandment is the greatest, he articulates several core commandments of Judaism, found in Deuteronomy 6:4-5 and reflected in the Shema (a prayer still prayed to this day at the beginning of worship in the synagogue). "Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might".   Third, God wants us to love others in his name. Jesus now adds a second commandment that is inseparable from the first, and first found in Leviticus 19:18.    Love does not allow us to sit by while others suffer. To love God is to love one's neighbor and vice versa. Jesus says, "By this, everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another". (John 13:35)

            Love is an action word. Jesus says that the principle of love and the practice of loving matter more than all the other commandments. Being a disciple of Jesus is about living out our faith daily, helping our neighbor and welcoming all. The Apostle Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 13 what love is, and is not, supposed to be: love is patient and kind, not envious or boastful, not arrogant or rude. Love does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing but rather rejoices in the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends, for love is eternal. Love, Paul is saying, is the essential feature of life.

            Jesus taught us that God, in his love, created each of us. Each and every one of us is created in the image of God. In creation God gives something of God's own self in sending Jesus and the Holy Spirit. So love precedes life. We also know and are assured that nothing, in life, not even death itself, can ever separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:35)

            The author of 1 John clearly states that "God is love."(4:8) Divine love is a concrete act, the act of sending Christ into the world as Emmanuel, God with us. Through the life and work of Jesus Christ we have a model for how to love, and a power that enables love. The author goes on to write: "Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God, but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is perfected in us. We love because he first loved us". (1 John 4:11-12,19). The commandment we have from Jesus is this: "those who love God must love their brothers and sisters also". (1 John 4:21)

            Love is a principle that can transform any situation and any relationship. Love must be not only articulated, but it also must be demonstrated. The church, meaning each of us together, is called to be Christ's beacon of love, hope, and grace to a hurting world. We are called to be God's hands, feet, ears and heart to his children who have been broken by life situations. It is through our compassion for others that God's love and compassion are continually made incarnate. We become the conduit through which God can, and will, transform the world, the church and God's people.[1]

            God intends goodness and wholeness for each of us. It is our responsibility to reflect this in our life and ministry, as part of the healing ministry and mission of the church. It is our calling to grow together through the wilderness times in our lives. For anyone who has suffered loss, the journey through grief and bereavement is made bearable only by faith, community, and the love of others. Our faith is built not only on our relationship with God, but also on our connections with one another. "Faith is our ability to love and be loved, to be broken and become whole again."[2] Faith assures us that redemption and transformation are possible, and that we can once again find meaning and purpose in life.

            It has been more than 30 years now since one phone call changed my life forever. It was the call that informed me that my 2 year old son, Marcus, had a terminal illness, a very rare neuromuscular disease that would eventually claim his life. From that moment on, my life, as I envisioned it, was dramatically changed; my understanding of God was also turned upside down. At the time of diagnosis, we were fortunate to be a part of a church community that surrounded us with love in so many ways, helping us to know that we were not alone. No one understood why this was happening. No one had answers to all the tough questions. There were some people who were uncomfortable, feeling like they did not know what to do or what to say, but they cared enough to come and be present with us in the grief, pain, sorrow and doubts of this unknown journey. Their care and concern were reflected in a series of regularly scheduled meals that were delivered to us each and every week. Then there was the regular babysitting schedule set up to help with our other children while a nurse cared for Marcus. I truly believe that the love, support, and grace of this faith community, made a significant difference for me in the direction my life would take: that is to stay in the church, or leave the church altogether.

            Three years into Marcus' illness we had to move to a new community. The move was devastating; it was like starting all over again. I was bereft of a loving community of faith and other support services within the community. Again, it was the church, a small church of 120 members, who embraced us in our time of need. This church, through a small mission grant, was able to determine a significant need, within the local community, for support services for families just like ours - those struggling with the life-threatening illness of a child. In good Presbyterian fashion, a task force was set up to look at this need. It was this task force that eventually evolved into a board of directors for a children's hospice program called Edmarc Hospice for Children. This program, more than 30 years old, is now the oldest free-standing children's hospice program in the country, taking its name from the pastor of the church, Ed Page, and our son Marc. Ed, a young man in his 30's, died of a recurrent brain tumor just 4 months before Marcus died.    

            It was through the faith communities of which I have been a part that I learned and came to understand the redeeming and transforming power of God's love. During the time of our son's illness and subsequent death, the church rallied around our family in so many ways, providing care and love. But more important was their presence, standing with us in the midst of it all. One of these congregations took all the pain and the suffering it experienced in losing its pastor and a child of the congregation, and transformed their pain by reaching out in love to others in the community. As a result of initially reaching out, to our family, in our hour of great need, today close to 2000 families have been touched through the vision of this small congregation .   

            It is in these times in people's lives, when all seems lost and the world seems to be crumbling around them, that they need to be reminded of God's love, and that hope still exists for the future. In the struggles of life we need to know that we are not alone. We need to know that God cares, and that those around us care and share our sorrow. It is only through our presence, showing love and compassion to others, that God's love is conveyed to the world.   

            "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind'. This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself". These commandments are inseparable. You cannot have one without the other. 

            Go out this day to love and serve the Lord, remembering Jesus' words: "just as you did it to one of the least of these, who are members of my family, you did it to me". (Matt. 25:40)   In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen 

   

 

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