Sermon for Easter 6B, preached on Sunday, May 6, 2018, by the Rev. Daniel M. Ulrich.
[Jesus said] “These things I have spoken to you, that my
joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full (Jn 15:11).
Jesus
spoke the words of our Gospel reading to the disciples in the Upper Room on
Maundy Thursday. Soon He would be
betrayed, arrested, and crucified; and Jesus used this last meal with His
disciples to warn them about the trials they’d soon endure. He warned them about the hatred of the world,
and He warned them about the sorrow they’d feel at His death. And yet, He still spoke of joy, joy in the
promises and love of God.
Jesus
said, “As the Father has loved me, so
have I loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide
in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his
love. These things I have spoken to you,
that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full” (Jn 15:9-11). There’s a connection between joy and
abiding in love and keeping God’s commandments.
But it’s probably not the connection you’re thinking of.
We
hear these words and we think we have to earn God’s love by obeying His
commandments. If we just follow His
laws, our Lord will love us. However,
there’s a problem with this thinking. If
it were true, then God would love no one, because no one keeps God’s commands
perfectly. None of us can earn His
love. None of us fully obey the
law. Sure, there are times when do keep
some of His commands. Sometimes we honor
our fathers and mothers and those in authority.
Sometimes we speak well of our neighbors and help them when they’re in
need. Sometimes we rightly call upon
God’s name in worship and prayer. But
these sometimes of obedience don’t make up for the times of disobedience. We can’t erase our sin and hope to win back God’s
love. You see, the truth is, God never takes
His love away from you, even though that’s what you and I deserve as
sinners.
When
our first parents sinned, God didn’t take His love away. His sending them out of the Garden wasn’t
because He stop loving them; it was because He loved them. If Adam and Eve ate of the Tree of Life in
the Garden they would’ve lived forever, but they would’ve lived forever in sin,
and God’s love wouldn’t allow that. It
was because of His love that He sent them out.
It was because of His love He promised to send our Savior.
Christ
Jesus, the Son of God, is that Savior. “For God so loved the world, that He gave
His only Son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal
life” (Jn 3:16). This love of God isn’t the warm fuzzy feeling we often
think of. This love isn’t the love of
today that says we should let every do as they please. No, this love of God for drove Him to action. He sent His Son to be the sacrifice that paid
for your sin, so that you’d be forgiven, so that you’d know His love for you, and
so that your joy may be full.
Christ
showed this love as He laid down His life on the cross. “Greater
love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends” (Jn
15:4). You are friends of
Christ. He perfectly and completely kept
God’s commands, not to earn His love, but to be the perfect sacrifice that you
needed. Christ kept God’s commands
because of His love for you, so that you might have everlasting life. And in this obedience and sacrifice is
Christ’s joy. Even though it was hard,
even though it was sorrowful, even though it was more painful than we could
ever imagine, Christ willingly went to the cross with joy because this was the
will of the Father so that you might live.
And in this life giving sacrifice, our joy is full.
The joy
Christ speaks of and that we have in His love is there all the time, even in
the midst of sorrow. Too often we hear
these words and expect joy to be the highest of highs. We think we should always be singing “Happy,
Happy, Joy, Joy,” but we can’t, because we still live in a world plagued with
sin. Because of this there is still pain
and suffering. We still experience
sorrow, sickness, and death. But even in
the midst of all of this, we have a full joy knowing we have the promise of
everlasting life. And having this joy,
knowing this love, we can’t help but share it with others through acts of love
that keep God’s.
In
the Upper Room, Christ gave His disciples a command: “love one another as I have loved you” (Jn 16:12). We’ve received the self-giving love of
Christ; and with joy we extend that same self-giving love to one another.
We keep God’s
commandments, not to earn His love, but because we have His love; and because
we love Him. Children who love their
father do what he says. Having received
His love, we can’t help but follow our Father’s commands with joy. We do this not for our benefit, but for the
benefit of those around us.
God doesn’t
need our good works, but the people around us do. God lovingly brought us into His Church and
He’s placed us in various vocations. In
these we have endless opportunities to show God’s love: whether it’s to
coworkers, children, parents, classmates, even those sitting in the pew next to
us. Serving one another according to
God’s command is a joy for us because we get to share His love. And this isn’t something that’s
burdensome. God’s commands only become a
burden when we have to do them for salvation.
But your salvation is freely given to you in Christ, so it’s with joy in
this salvation that were able to love one another, just as Christ has loved
us.
The joy of
love is an emotion we want to feel all the time. We go searching for it in people and in
things; but only the joy of Christ’s love is everlasting. It’s always there, even if we don’t feel it,
because it comes from our Lord and His promises of forgiveness and life. Because of His love for us, because Christ
laid down His life for you, your joy is full, knowing you have salvation in
Him. This joy and love we can’t keep to
ourselves. We can’t help but share it
with others so that they too may have this fullness of joy. In Jesus’ name...Amen.
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