Sixth Sunday of Easter
Acts 10:44-48 Psalm 98 1 John 5:1-6 John 15:9-17 Dear fellow ministers of the gospel of Jesus Christ, grace and peace to you from the one in whose love we abide. Amen In our gospel today Jesus is saying good bye. We overhear part of his last teaching to his disciples before his death, his parting words, what he most wants the disciples to take with them as they move into the new and strange territory of life without Jesus in the way they’ve come to know him. As he’s saying good bye Jesus emphasizes his love, what he’s taught the disciples and he acknowledges a change in their relationship and his hopes for their future. Today we are recognizing our graduates, all graduations mark a time of transition, from a known way of life to new relationships, expectations from those around us and often a physical geographical move and while these are exciting changes they also mark a season of good-byes to the way life was and so today we honor the excitement and the good-byes and as we bless and send our graduates we emphasize our love, what we’ve taught them, and we acknowledge a change in the relationship and our hopes for their future. Jesus has already been speaking for a while before the start of our gospel reading, this morning as we start to listen in on his farewell speech we hear Jesus’ instruction for the disciples’ to abide in his love. This week I was struck by the word ‘abide’. Abide means to continue, to remain, both in the physical sense of where one lives or dwells but also in the sense of an attitude or relationship that is not bound by a particular place, it is something we live in wherever we go. The love that Jesus has shared with his father has been shared with the disciples by Jesus and his hope is that this love continues to influence their lives. Jesus telling the disciples to abide in his love is reminding them that though he may be physically absent from them his love continues and will even grow as they share the love with one another as Jesus has commanded them. Jesus’ love is the foundation for all that has led up to this point and will go with them into the future. Graduates love is the foundation for all that has led up to this point. If you remember nothing else from this day or even your time in this community remember this: we love you. And our love goes with you into the future. This is why we give our high school graduates blankets, a physical piece of our love that continues for you even if we are physically separated. We’re following the lead of Jesus who gave the disciples the Lord’s Supper, a physical piece of Jesus’ love in a swallow of bread and a sip of wine, Jesus’ love continuing with us. Jesus reminds the disciples of his love for them and his hope that it continues and then he reminds them of what he has taught them to love one another as he has loved them. This is the key to abiding in his love, the putting into practice Jesus’ teaching, and Jesus is a teacher who teaches by example as well as words, even the part about loving so much that one lays down one’s life for one’s friends. Graduates we have taught you what is important to us now it is up to you to live out what we taught you, we acknowledge that we have not been perfect examples but we hope you will forgive us for that and do your best to live in a way that makes us and more importantly yourself proud. Jesus, having reminded the disciples of his love for them and what he has taught them, then acknowledges that in this good-bye, this transition their relationship is changing, he moves from calling his disciples servants to calling them friends. Jesus has shared everything that he’s heard from his father, they know all that he knows and that changes the dynamic of their relationship, they are friends now. But lest the disciples let this go to their heads Jesus reminds them that he chose them, they did not choose him. He chose them and now it’s time for them to go bear fruit, to live out Jesus’ love in the world, to share it and expand it, and they are able to do this because of Jesus’ love for them. Graduates we love you, we’ve taught you, and now we recognize that our relationship is changing, particularly those of you graduating from high school. You are now young adults, and it is time for you to go bear fruit. God has given each of you particular gifts, talents and skills, some you know about already and some you have yet to discover. God gave you these gifts, talents and skills so that you in your own particular way could share the love of God in which you abide, with all those around you. This might take the form of a job or occupation, or the way you treat those you encounter. Sometimes you will struggle, and it might seem like an impossible task to bear fruit, to love all you encounter and these are the times when you remember that regardless of how life unfolds, God loves you, and so do we. Amen
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AboutPastor Emily Johnson preaches weekly at Christ Lutheran. These are manuscripts of her sermons given at Christ Lutheran. Feel free to engage with them in the comments section of the blog. Archives
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