Readings
Acts 17:22-31
Psalm 66:7-18
1 Peter 3:13-22
John 14:15-21
The feast of one of the great mystics of the church, Julian of Norwich, occurred this past week. Julian, who lived in 14th century England, penned a famous reflection on our relationship to Christ called “Revelations of Divine Love.” It is from this work that Julian’s most famous quote comes from “all shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well.” Those words were spoken to her by Jesus in a mystical vision she had while severely ill and on the edge of death. What a comfort they must have been to Julian. Not only in her illness, but also in the context of her time. In her own lifetime she had experienced the plague not once but twice and saw ¾ of her community cut down by that deadly disease. Hers was a time of ceaseless wars and abject poverty. Hers was a time not unlike our own.
And don’t we long to hear someone, anyone, offer us genuine hope? After a pandemic and its lingering effects, the wars which plague our world, the strife within our own nation, and the violence which once again this past week reared its ugly head, who among us wouldn’t love to hear the voice of God saying that “all shall be well?”
But that is just what we hear in today’s Gospel reading. Like last week, today’s reading actually occurs during the last supper before Jesus’ crucifixion. Jesus is offering words of encouragement to his disciples after having told them of his impending betrayal and death. In today’s reading he promises them an Advocate is coming who will be with them forever. He promises them that they will not be orphaned. He Is, in effect, saying that all shall be well. But he puts a condition on it. He tells them that all of this is true only if they keep his commandments.
And so, it begs the question, what exactly are Jesus’ commandments? Well Jesus speaks of commandments specifically on two occasions. In the first he is asked “what is the greatest commandment?” And he responds, “love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and all your mind” and “love your neighbor as yourself.” And the second occurs earlier in the last supper when he tells them “a new commandment I give you, that you love one another as I have loved you.”
Put simply Jesus commands us to love. Love as Jesus loved and love as we love ourselves.
But as I have said numerous times, for Jesus, love isn’t simply about a feeling of affection. Love is about commitment. Love is about justice. Love is about how we see one another and about how we treat one another.
When we love one another as Jesus loved us, we move beyond simply seeing the surface realities of the person in front of us. We recognize that the human experience is fraught with mystery. We recognize that it is virtually impossible to know everything there is to know about another person. Shoot, it’s virtually impossible for us to know everything about ourselves, so how could we possibly know everything about someone else?
When we love one another as we love ourselves, we make the commitment to put ourselves in the other’s shoes. We make the effort to live into the mystery that presents itself in each human encounter. We commit to seeing one another as God sees us.
That means that there is no one outside of our love. We are commanded to encounter the person whose ideologies differ with our own and with empathy imagine the world as they see it. We are challenged to encounter the resident alien and imagine ourselves at risk of destitution or deportation. We are called to encounter the person suffering with illness or disease and imagine ourselves suffering. We are challenged to encounter the person who is unemployed or underemployed and imagine the fear and desperation of being in a place of financial struggle.
And when we love that way, when we enter into the mystery of the other, we don’t just see them, we see God. That is the grand and ultimate mystery that Jesus offers us. God lives in the midst of our relationships and the love of God is made manifest to us in those relationships. We don’t need to be mystics or spiritual gurus in order to directly experience the love and presence of God. We need only love as Jesus loves us.
We don’t need to look very far to see the love of God being manifested in our world. Examples abound. Just look at the courage and sacrifice of all those who work for our wellbeing and safety. Look at doctors, nurses, paramedics, and all other medical workers who work tirelessly and committedly for the ill and the dying. But then there are also police officers and fire fighters who put their own safety and their very lives on the line for our safety and wellbeing. And then there are the unsung heroes of our society: grocery workers, food processors, delivery drivers, factory workers, and countless others. We also see it in every effort to raise funds for the unemployed, the underemployed and the destitute. And last but not least, in our own congregation whenever and wherever a need presents itself and we respond with care and compassion.
This is the mystery of Jesus’ love that Julian experienced. Namely that suffering does not prevent or preclude the presence of God’s love. Even from the cross the love of God poured out for humanity. So too, even now, does the love of God pour out for us in the midst of our present circumstances.
Yes, the promise that Jesus makes in today’s Gospel is that we are not alone and that God will not abandon us. If we’re willing to follow his commandments then we will see the face of God. If we are willing to love one another as he loves us then we can take comfort in knowing that “all shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well.”