"The Great Command" on John 13-17 by Neil and Virginia Lettinga - August 25 2024

Virginia and I served Telkwa Community Church 12 years ago. Since then we’ve served as specialized transitional pastors for seven other churches and ministries. But before that, we spent a decade in Prince George sharing the campus ministry position at the University of Northern BC.   

A university is a place full of people asking questions and making transitions in their lives.  That makes sense for the age and stage they’re at, doesn’t it? And it seems like a small miracle to me that God opens doors so that  Christians like us are so often invited to come to campus to listen to questions, to share our faith and experiences, and to support young adults as they make choices -- choices about friends and careers, choices about identity and future hopes.  We think that Julianna deWeerd who is now at UNBC is a gem.  We hope that you’ll encourage students you know at UNBC to look her up!  Not that all campus ministers are always wonderful or that we’re all perfectly in sync with all students.  That can’t be.  But it still amazes us to see how God works in the lives of students through campus ministry.

I don’t know what kind of questions you think university students are likely to ask.  I no longer remember what kind of questions we thought they would ask when we first showed up at UNBC.  But I can tell you some of the questions that they DID regularly ask.   These are questions that surprised us.  Shocked us.  And after gathering with the Christian Reformed campus ministers last May, we can tell you that these are STILL the questions that university students ask. 

It was near the end of September in the first year that we worked at UNBC when a cute third year student with a cheery smile plopped down in a chair beside me in the hallway.  She’d been part of the welcome week team and we regularly said hello to one another in the halls.  

    “I have some questions about Christians, but I don’t usually dare to ask them.  But you won’t mind, will you?”

I put on my friendly face and assured her that I wouldn’t mind.  She was clearly friendly and interested in my answer.  

And then she asked – all in a row – three questions that we learned were often the questions that people without church background had for Christians. Can you guess what they might be? 

1. Why do Christians hate gay people?

2. Why do Christians put down women? 

3. Why do Churches fight with each other?       

How would you start to answer someone who asked you those questions? Maybe you’ve already met one of these questions.  Or two.  Or a similar question?

Do these questions hurt your heart?  (They hurt ours.)

Did you feel the urge to be defensive?  To say something like, “we’re not really like that?” …Or to say something like  “Some Christians seem to be like that, but we don’t…”

Did you feel the urge to be ashamed? However little or much these questions reflect reality, they are shameful  questions, aren’t they?  Embarrassing questions.  

For the rest of this message, we’d like to lean into where these reactions fit with our identity as people who know Jesus Christ.  And with the instructions that Jesus gave to his disciples – to us – about how to act like and look like who we are -- His people.

But first, let us tell you of the surprisingly good answer we found to give to these three questions – and to similar questions asked by other nonbelievers and folks asking questions. If you meet questions like these from your non-believing friends, you may want to try the same answer.  When I met all three questions, asked in a row by someone who was clearly not antagonistic, I felt daunted.  But by the grace of the Holy Spirit, I said, “These questions are too complicated for a quick answer.  So can we find a moment to meet up for coffee or to go for a long walk to chat together?”  That turned out to be a great answer.

As long as we were not defensive or upset, we found that God used difficult, insulting, embarrassing questions to open doors to on-going conversations and on-going relationships.  Often for years.  We found that God worked in people’s hearts even though we couldn’t give them the neat answers that we wished that we could.  And even when our answers felt weak to us, God still worked.   This is good to know, isn’t it? 

We could  share stories of God surprising us in other ways on campus and in churches.  God creates opportunities we didn’t expect –  and God does wonderful things.  You know that is true, don’t you?   It’s true here in the Telkwa area as well. 

But today we’re not planning to share more stories.  Instead, we’d like to look at WHY it should fluster us and make our hearts ache when we are asked why Christians hate gays or women or one another.  These are hard questions to hear asked, aren’t they?  BUT we think Jesus expected us to hear such questions.  

On the night that Jesus was betrayed, the night before he was crucified, Jesus shared the Passover meal with his disciples.  And he also gave them a compressed course on who he was and who he was creating them to be.  Who he was creating us to be.  Jesus defines the identity of his followers.

The gospel-writer John shares the account of that night in five detailed chapters, chapters 13-17.  You might reread them later this week to see if you agree with our thoughts about them.  There is a lot in there!  

The disciples – the handpicked 12 who spent three years following Jesus – sound confused and self-focused.  It is not a good night for them!  I find some comfort in this.  Jesus was prepared to leave his ministry to a bumbling and confused crew.  Jesus did leave his ministry to a bumbling, fearful and confused crew.  So when Christians today are bumbling, fearful and confused, we should not give up hope.  The Holy Spirit in God’s people does incredible things!  Through people like you & me. Then and now.

Jesus teaches about important things in John chapters 13-17, but today we’re going to look at only ONE thread out of the rich teachings Jesus shared on this night.  It is the only instruction that Jesus gives that he calls a command. 

John chapter 13 verses 34 and 35.  Jesus said

34 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

We’re going to repeat ourselves and say again that is the ONLY instruction of all the things that Jesus teaches that he labels as a command.  We think that is worth noticing.  Love one another.  The love we share for each other is supposed to be the sign that we are Jesus’ disciples.

When Jesus gives this command, he knows his disciples don’t feel loving toward one another.  Just read the gospel accounts of that night.  He knows that he will be betrayed by Judas.  He knows that brash Peter and all the other disciples who have pledged loyalty will be terrified and run away to leave him alone.   Jesus knows that he will be judged, beaten and crucified the next day.  And with the clock ticking and in this knowledge of BOTH his disciples’ flaws AND the suffering that is about to land on him, Jesus sums up what he really wants his disciples to know and act on.  

34 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you,  so you must love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

So no wonder we feel embarrassed when, instead of people recognizing Christians as people who really love each other, they think of Christians as people who are quick to hate those they find different or disgusting or outside of our box – maybe particularly if they also call themselves Christians.  

We could jump off from the Scripture text to unpack why it is hard to love some people – that’s worth considering.  OR we could step out from the text to consider how sometimes what people demand as love isn’t really loving.  That’s true – as all parents certainly know!

But today, we’d like to continue to consider the emphasis that Jesus himself gives to this command.  Jesus makes it very clear how important this particular command is.  John chapters 13-17 are chapters rich with teachings about the Holy Spirit, teachings about Jesus and the Father, teachings about abiding in Christ, and more.  And throughout these teachings, Jesus keeps circling back and returning to the new command he has made.

Let us continue to listen to Jesus teaching on this night before his death. This time we will move ahead to John 14 – verse15 and then verses 23 through and 24.  Here, in the in the midst of talking about the love shared between the Father and Son, and God responding to prayer because of the love received from Jesus and given to him, Jesus says to the disciples 

15 “If you love me, keep my commands. “     And…

23… “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. 24 Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.”

To love one another – the people sitting with Jesus at the Last Supper and the people in the building with you in  Telkwa – It’s God’s command to us.  

In the next chapter, John chapter 15, Jesus continues his intensive teaching episode, the cram-course before he is betrayed and crucified.  Jesus and his disciples may be walking to the Garden of Gethsemane at this point.  He continues to teach.  Jesus might have been looking at the vineyards beside the path when he said 

“I am the vine, you are the branches.” 

But the thread of Jesus’ new command returns again.  Jesus does not want his disciples to mistake this for a minor theme.  Listen to his words… (Chapter 15:9-11)

9 “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10 If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. 11 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.

12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command.”

“My command is this: love each other as I have loved you.”  Jesus can certainly hang on to a theme, can’t he!? This is not a small command, is it?  And remember, it’s not a command that Jesus gives to a group that is feeling cozy and happy with one another.  

They embarrassed one another at the Passover meal.  They are confused.  Jesus has both told them off… and he tells them how deep his love for them is.  Isn’t that good for us to hear and remember?

Jesus continues in chapter 15 verse 15 saying:

15 I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. 16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you.  17 This is my command: Love each other.”

There is a lot in here that we could unpack, isn’t there?  There is a lot in here that fills me with delight and hope…  There is a lot here that Bible experts don't fully understand.  Jesus actually says that he expects this!  There’s a lot of our heavenly master’s business that I don’t fully understand.  But I feel great comfort in hearing Jesus remind his disciples that He chose them.  He chose us.

I think that this is something Jesus says to you and to me, too.  His disciples don’t seem to recognize one another as very good choices at this time.  Maybe you don’t always  feel like you are God’s good choice.  Or maybe you don’t feel like someone else here at Telkwa Community Church is God’s good choice.   But Jesus says He has done the choosing.  

And in the midst of all that Jesus says…does he make his command clear?  Love one another.

And surely if this is the command that matters most, then Jesus has chosen you – and chosen us – as people who will be able to follow through on THIS command.  Jesus has chosen you to love one another.

The Holy Spirit calls God’s people into all sorts of different services.  The Apostle Paul writes about the gifts the Spirit gives to provide teachers and helpers, those who share financial wealth, those who provide encouragement and vision for next steps, and more.  But Jesus has made clear that there is a single command that is His New Command – for everyone who is a Christian.  He looked around at a handful of followers who would NOT have chosen one another.  And he says to them “Love each other.”

Jesus presents our obedience to this command as a way that we witness: Remember, he said, 

“Everyone will know that you are my disciples 

if you love one another.” (John 13:35)

If Christians loved one another better and more wisely, that would certainly have been an answer to the questions we heard UNBC students ask, wouldn’t it?  The amazing thing, to me, is that even though we often love one another badly, that doesn’t stop the witness to Christ.  

Can you think of ways in which you can love others in the TCC community that might show you are Jesus’ disciples?  It would be great to discuss this with your friends or family over lunch or after church today!  We don’t think we’re so good at this ourselves, but I will tell you of a couple of small loving-steps we keep trying. 

• When you’re making choices about things… try to think of what matters to others.  Your musicians do this when they try to include songs for different generations.  

We also can do this when we think about food choices to share… or how to welcome all in a loving way

… you can think of more.

• Be patient.  Patience is the first adjective that the Apostle Paul uses when he describes what love is…

(Who do you find it hard to be patient with?)

• Learn the names of the people who are quiet, old or young, or who are visiting.  

One doesn’t feel well-loved when people don’t know your name.

Jesus’ stress on the command to Love One Another has made us wonder why churches often seem more inclined to teach the 10 Commandments than Jesus’ New Command.  The command to Love One Another is repeated throughout the New Testament.  So let us make it concrete in our approach to all those whom Jesus has called and chosen.  This is the identity he promises: “Everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”