"Those who love me..."

 John 14:(18) 23-29 (31) is the Lectionary Gospel text for Sunday, May 22.

Those who have my commandments and keep them are those who love me; and those who love me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to them... Those who love me will keep my Word... Whoever does not love me does not keep my words; and the word that you hear is not mine, but is from the Father who sent me... Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you.  I do not give to you as the world gives."

This new covenant relationship is built on love.  It is Agape Love - that love that Rabbi Jesus taught, commanded and modeled for us, as we have witness in the Gospels.  Jesus' commandments were centered on that love.  "Repent and believe in the Good News. You give them something to eat.  Give to everyone who begs from you.  Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth.  Forgive, and you will be forgiven.  Do not judge.  Beware of all kinds of greed.  Feed my lambs, tend my sheep, feed my sheep."  These are but a few of the imperatives of Jesus.  The Gospels are full of them - commands for any who would listen and follow Him.

And they are all designed for one thing - to establish or restore Shalom to ALL of God's people.  All people need the completeness, wholeness and well-being of Shalom.  All people need to have enough to sustain them, equal justice, equal opportunities, respect, dignity, equitable treatment and to be valued equally to others.  When those things that make for Shalom are in place, there is peace.  When they are not, then there is no peace.  Indeed, until all have Shalom, truly none have it in the world.

Jesus said that He left them with Peace, His peace, not as the world gives.  The peace they were used to, under which they had lived for a few generations, was the Pax Romana, which was not real peace.  It was coercion, violent occupation, ruthless domination and bringing a people into submission against their will.  It was good for the elites of Rome.  It was bad for everyone else.  Though they "kept the peace," mostly by executing anyone who did anything they didn't like, it was not real Peace.  It was not Shalom or eireinei - completeness, wholeness and well-being for all people that lead to peace.  The greed, lust for power and desire for status that drove empire was not about Shalom for all the people - it was about more and the best for the few.  Jesus called for, taught and commanded a real Shalom for people in the living of Agape Love.  It would alone be the way to restore any sense of Shalom.  It still is the only way.

And those who love Jesus, love the Way of Jesus in Agape Love.  Those who truly love Jesus see the value of the Good News way of living in the world - that it is the only sustainable way for the world, that it is the Way of God for the world.  If we love Jesus, we will keep His commands around Agape Love and keep His Word of Love and Shalom.  If we do not love Jesus' Way, then we do not love Jesus, who was all about this Way for us.  Oh, we can claim that we love Jesus in order that we might gain favor and salvation, but if we do not keep His commands and live His Word, that is by nature a selfish, self-centered love and not Agape Love that means active commitment to the other.  Jesus commanded Agape Love for stranger, enemy and the most vulnerable - committed action on their behalf.  If we love Jesus, we will keep His commandments and live His Word.

Because His Word is LIFE.  The only sustainable way of life on this planet is that of Love for One Another.  We have seen what a lack of selfless, unconditional love can do in the world - we have been perfecting that for a generation.  It leads to division, destruction and despair.  That is the way of the world, the way of empire.  Jesus' Way of Agape Love leads to unity, upbuilding, hope and Shalom.  Isn't it time that we give Jesus' Way a chance in the world?  Jesus thought so a couple thousand years ago.  We still have not tried it fully.  But with a new generation comes new hope.  Perhaps THIS is the time that we will choose Agape Love over Apathy and Hatred, choose selfless love over selfish pursuits, choose people over profit, shared power over abuses of power and equality in value of one another over status above others out of a false sense of superiority.  When we choose Agape Love, we will have Shalom, Eireinei, not as the world gives, but as Jesus has given.  Not until then.