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Not Just Another Commandment
John 13: 31 – 35 |
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Summary
New and Improved A tried and true advertising technique is to take an old product, make some changes in its packaging, function or appearance, and then present it to the buying public as “new and improved.” From toothpaste to automobiles, the idea that a product is new and better can be a powerfully appealing prospect. To suggest that something is new may not necessarily mean that some version of the product did not exist before. In fact, including the word “improved” would seem to indicate that whatever the product is, it did exist in some other form that is now so vastly improved as to make the item seem new. Whether it is true or not, the image created can be a compelling selling point. Something we want or need, and possibly something we have bought before, is now so improved that it is like a totally new product. A new commandment Of course, in our text, Jesus does not say to his disciples that he is giving them a “new and improved” commandment. He merely says, “A new commandment I give you, that you love one another.” However, it’s hard not to hear an implied “improved” in Jesus’ words. When we watch Jesus’ ministry we see a subtle — and sometimes not so subtle — evaluation of legalism. Jesus seems to directly attack the purity laws that render people clean and unclean. For people to be labeled as “unclean” means that they have no position with God. It suggests that God is opposed to them. The unclean exist in a state of permanent judgment and alienation. So, in our passage, Jesus offers a new and improved way of relating to God. We do not earn our standing with God on the basis of ritual purity laws. We receive our standing with God because of God’s own grace. We are loved by God regardless of our situation. We are embraced by God’s love even before we know it exists. We are pursued by God’s goodness. Jesus modeled it in his own actions. He heals lepers, he eats with sinners, he engages in conversation with Samaritan and Gentile women. All those whom ritual purity laws would label untouchable, Jesus seems to embrace. He is truly the incarnation of the great summary of the Good News found in John’s gospel: For God so loved the world! Commanding love Now let’s stop here and ask ourselves is Jesus really being realistic. Can anyone really be ordered, commanded to love someone else? Isn’t love something that has to flow freely from the heart? Can love be a command, new and improved or not? Well in order to answer this question we have to understand what the word “command” would have meant to a first-century Jew. It is not appropriate for us to insert our own understanding of the word into this conversation. We have to hear what Jesus’ followers would have heard. And anytime a discussion of the law and commandments was on the table, first-century Jews would have heard “Torah.” Torah refers to the first five books of the Old Testament, and in particular the words that were given to Moses by God as part of the covenant God was creating with the Israelites. Now it is true, the most common translation of the word Torah is law. But to understand how the people of Israel heard that word, we have to consider using another word. Instead of “law,” a better word might be “instruction,” or “wisdom.” What God was offering to the people of Israel in the terms of the covenant with Moses was not a rigid set of rules to keep, even though they were eventually interpreted that way. Instead what God was offering was more excellent way to live. The words of Torah represent a set of values, a deep wisdom about human nature that if embraced and embodied have the power to transform human existence. It is in this sense that Jesus speaks of a “new commandment.” Jesus takes Torah, the wisdom of God that makes us whole, and distills it down to one simple instruction. The old Law of Moses can be expressed in one simple, new and improved piece of wisdom. If we can make loving one another our guiding principle, our core value, it will transform everything. In-group or out-group Of course, the case can be made that Jesus is not really saying to love everybody. The words he uses, if taken narrowly and literally, could be interpreted to mean “love those who are in your group.” Sociologists have long noted the feelings of fear and anxiety that exist when tight-knit groups encounter other groups. It is the fear and distrust of the “other” that is the basis for racial and other forms of prejudice. But it is difficult to imagine that Jesus is promoting that sort of theological tribalism. His own actions seem to contradict such an idea, and his use of the image of “the great commandment” in other places also contradicts the notion that Jesus is suggesting we love only the group we are in. However, there may be some wisdom to the notion that we must love the group we are in before it will be possible to love the group we are not in. I have grown up with a saying “Don’t worry about him/her he/she doesn’t even like himself/herself so he/she can’t love anybody else. This is especially true in modern churches. So many congregations are comprised of people who literally come from everywhere. The days when churches were made up mostly of family members have become the exception rather than the norm. Demonstrating to ourselves and to others that we are capable of loving those who are different from us may create pathways that lead us to love the truly other. What is love? The final piece of all this requires that we carefully define what is meant by the word “love.” Modern culture uses love in so many ways that the word, if we are not careful, can become meaningless. We love pizza, puppies, a favorite television star, grandma, a car, a piece of land and so on. Saying that Jesus has made love the centerpiece of a way of life requires that we carefully define and understand what the word means. The Greek word for love is agapē. We are familiar with this word and usually sum up its meaning by saying it refers to “unconditional love.” But unconditional love is so hard to achieve. Almost all of our relationships, both of people in our group, and of people outside our group, exist in some sort of conditional situations. To say that we are going to love unconditionally as a way of life is really an exercise in fantasy. Some suggest it is better to define agapē as an ethical practice so that the focus is on our behavior rather than our feelings. In fact, that is the first thing that must be said about this kind of love. The love that Jesus suggests as the foundation for a faithful life does not necessarily involve feelings. The distinction can be made this way. It is possible to love a person with agapē love and not particularly like that person. Our emotionally charged understanding of love makes it hard for us to imagine such a thing, but that is the nature of the meaning of this word. To love someone with agapē love means that we act in the best interests of that person. Our actions, our dealings with people, will always have as a goal the enriching and advancing of the life of the other person. Jesus’ image of “laying down our lives for another,” is a dramatic illustration of this concept. Meant figuratively, the idea is unmistakable. To love others means to always put their interests ahead of our own. A community ideal Obviously such idealistic behavior is risky. That is why there is wisdom in perfecting this approach to life with those with whom we share a community. Ideally, within the in-group, there will come to be a mutual and ongoing effort to love one another in a way that puts the interests of the other ahead of our own. It is also as community that we take this radical practice of love outside the boundaries of the in-group. This is not the work of lonely individuals; this is the calling and work of the church. It is to love the world the way God loves the world — to see the interests of others ahead of our own. Whether we can actually change the world with love is a challenge yet to be proven. But, we can be transformed as individuals, and we can live among fellow travelers who are also transformed by this vision. That becomes a potent tool in our efforts to bring light to the world, and it explains why this is such an important new and improved commandment. |
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