3. Make my day!
Life in the risen Christ
2 May 2010
John 13:31-35 
In 2005 the words ‘Go ahead, make my day!’, not surprisingly, were chosen as amongst the best-ever movie quotes. They come, of course, from the curled lips of Clint Eastwood… and were first delivered by his character Harry Callahan, following a shooting in a diner, where he had gone for a cup of coffee in the film Sudden Impact.
Eastwood is now a marvellous film director. To be convinced of this, you only have to watch Gran Torino (where he also stars) or Invictus… and both have a high moral message. How many, however, would be thrilled to look back on their film career and know that a phrase immediately brings them to people’s minds?
This sentiment, applied in a different sense, could be said to relate to the ministry of Jesus, as he prepares to leave his disciples before his passion. There is no evidence that Jesus had any material possessions to leave to his disciples, except the clothes on his back – and even they were divided amongst his executioners.
Jesus left something far more important – and that is the legacy of love, which will always relate to him, and is encapsulated in just a few words:-
“As I have loved you, so you must love one another.”
(John 13:34)
The text comes from a very significant part of John’s gospel. We have seen Judas depart to betray him and Jesus commences the long farewell discourse to the disciples.
Nobody could argue that this wasn’t the most important instruction Jesus ever gave to his disciples. He left them what he described as ‘a new commandment’. The concept of ‘new’ here has a sense of being something far more than simply ‘recent’ or ‘different’. It implies a totally fresh beginning and is probably the direct opposite of ‘outworn’. You can see how it would specifically relate to the ministry of Jesus in his particular context… including a religion that was worn-out and ready for renewal.
Jesus knew that the characteristics of love would hold the disciples together when they were doing it tough – as surely they would. The cross then would be far more than something that happened to Jesus, but would be reflected in their lives.
Jesus was well aware of the danger of rivalry that tears apart unity and disrupts impact. As one writer put it, love would be ‘the bond that would keep them united and would be the convincing demonstration that they had partaken of his own spirit and purpose.’
Jesus loved his disciples without reserve. John 13 shows the extent of this love was limitless (John 13:1-5) and they were called to share this ministry.
Most of the choices we make in life are not between the trivial and what is important… they are usually between what is important and what is most important.
John 13 calls us to what is paramount. When Jesus says that we should love one another, he places it before all other aspects of discipleship. We may give generously, teach others, and sacrificially serve… but, in all these things, we must be motivated by God’s love. In fact, it is possible to seek to exercise gifts without love. They will, when so practised, be what the Apostle Paul called no more than ‘a clanging cymbal’.
Lucy stood with her arms folded and a resolute expression on her face, while Charlie Brown pleaded with her. ‘Lucy,’ he says, ‘you must be more loving. The world needs more love. Make this world a better place, Lucy, by loving someone else.’ At that, Lucy whirled around angrily and Charlie goes flipping over backwards, ‘Look, you blockhead,’ Lucy screams. ‘The world I love. It’s the people I can’t stand!’
Most of us can identify with that! It is far too easy to talk of love in the abstract – the world, people in general. Jesus was concerned to offer a better way.
The love of Jesus Christ is always active and makes complete sense to a developing community that is going to prove itself to be the most innovative and dynamic ever seen.
Life can be very circular and predictable. We need a new power to break the cycle and enable life to be lived to the full… for Jesus came to bring life in all its breadth and fullness (John 10:10).
How many of you remember the old nursery rhyme that I learnt as a child? …
Solomon Grundy,
Born on Monday,
Christened on Tuesday,
Married on Wednesday,
Took ill on Thursday,
Worse on Friday,
Died on Saturday,
Buried on Sunday,
This is the end of Solomon Grundy.
These words remind us of the brevity of life… and Jesus had just reinforced the idea of brevity when he said, ‘I will be with you only a little longer.’ (John 13:33) Such a thought leads us to consider very carefully the fact that life demands we take it seriously and that the span of our days are much shorter than we ever imagine.
What legacy will we leave?
I want to lift the concept of legacy out of the realm of possessions or achievements. The legacy we leave is the kind of people we are. The futility of many is summed up by the anonymous words – ‘I don’t know what I want, and I won’t be happy until I get it!’
I don’t regularly do crosswords, but occasionally tackle one if I’m on a long journey. I hate it when the solution appears a few pages on. You are tempted to just slip over and have a peek. In the puzzle of life there are no answers at the back of the book.
- Most people want to leave something of value
Jesus knew that the end of his earthly ministry was fast approaching. In the short-term, he would be separated from his friends, arrested, tried and crucified. For Jesus, his death would make sense of the rest of his life. From this point on, his teaching would be considered in the light of death and resurrection. It is as if Jesus says to the disciples, before he talks about love, ‘Pay attention because what I have to say is significant and I haven’t long in which to say it!’
If we get it right, being responsibly concerned about what we leave in life will ensure we don’t spend our life grasping for recognition.
Blaise Pascal reminded us, ‘We are so presumptuous that we should like to be known all over the world, even by people who will only come when we are no more. Such is our vanity that the good opinion of half a dozen of the people around us gives us pleasure and satisfaction.’
High motivation and a proper and reasonable sense of worth are necessary in all mature people, but we remind ourselves also that a touch of vanity can ruin a ton of merit.
There is all the difference in the world between the ability to measure cost and the ability to measure value!
- It is better to be part of the choice of legacy
The reasons why people make a last will and testament are manifold and one legitimate purpose is to have some say in how our remaining goods will be distributed after we have died. For many people, life is too often about the accumulation of goods.
Mahatma Gandhi once made an interesting distinction, ‘Golden shackles are far worse than iron ones.’
During their respective ministries, John Wesley and George Whitefield had their moments of difference! George was a more committed Calvinist than John ever was. They did, however, have a significant relationship – and George asked John Wesley to preach at his funeral.
John chose his text - ‘Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his!’ (Numbers 23:10) He referred to the credibility of George’s life and concluded, ‘Let Thy Spirit so rest upon us, that from this hour we may be “kind to each other, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as God, for Christ’s sake, hath forgiven us!”’
- Jesus offered a legacy of love
Jesus encouraged his disciples to love God and, through that love, to love one another. Brother Lawrence expressed it this way, ‘To approach God requires neither art nor science, but only a heart resolutely determined to apply itself to nothing but Him, or for His sake, and to love Him only.’
Richard J Foster has called us to discover a spirituality grounded in the gospel. He wrote, ‘The love of the Father is like a sudden rain shower that will pour forth when you least expect it, catching you up into wonder and praise.’
What a person loves or hates defines that person and helps to determine how they are remembered by others long after they have died.
The love of Jesus Christ went all the way to the cross… because, when our love is related to the love he left for us, we recognise that such love is:-
- the example by which we set our lives.
- the inspiration which will touch our service.
- the definition of everything we consider love.
The enduring power of love
Most of us want to be remembered for something that will endure and not merely a passing thought. The dangers which prevent this are:-
- when we are locked into the power of ‘things’.
- when we hesitate to let go and be set free.
- when we are obsessed with ourselves alone.
In 2 Timothy, the Apostle gave advice to one who was just beginning his ministry. He talked about being willing to endure everything for the sake of others:
‘If we died with him,
we will also live with him;
if we endure,
we will also reign with him.
If we disown him,
he will also disown us;
if we are faithless,
he remains faithful
for he cannot disown himself.’
(2 Timothy 2:11-13)
- So many aspects of life fade quickly
We recently had the visit to Australia of Richard Dawkins, who is best known for his book The God Delusion. During his visit I was asked on a couple of occasions to react publicly to some of the things he was saying. I and many others refused to lower the level of debate about God to ridicule. On his website, following the invitation of a television producer when folks were asked to describe ‘the brave step of breaking free from religion’, one correspondent suggested that Dawkins’ book should replace the Gideon Bible in all hotel rooms.
Apart from the fact that many people wouldn’t be able to understand it, he failed to really grasp that people are looking for something more. John Hick was right: ‘When we try to think about this infinitely fascinating universe in which we live, we find that we are faced in the end with the mystery of existence, and why there is a universe at all.’
Jesus recognised that:-
- Life is short.
- Life is marred by selfishness.
- Life requires a higher objective.
- So many descriptions of love appear shallow
Jesus calls people to understand love in a far deeper way. Helen Keller was the first ever deaf-blind person to achieve a Bachelor of Arts. She was not blind and deaf from birth but, following a short illness of either scarlet fever or meningitis (we only have her doctor’s description), at the age of nineteen months, she lost both these hugely important senses. Anne Sullivan brought her out of isolation into community.
Helen later wrote, ‘I have walked with people whose eyes are full of light but who see nothing in sea or sky, nothing in city streets, nothing in books. It were far better to sail forever in the night of blindness with sense, and feeling, and mind, than to be content with the mere act of seeing. The only lightless dark is the night of darkness in ignorance and insensibility.’
We have to be honest enough to say that some in the Christian community have not always helped in defining love to a watching world and out of such failure has appeared a negativity of reaction towards the church. Jesus suggests love helps to define for others what we are.
‘By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.’ (John 13:35)
- We must choose the enduring imperative to ‘love one another’
Love is a choice, as well as a gift. One writer described it this way, ‘Love is an imperative; that is, love comes as Christ’s command.’ We cannot ignore it and we must take it seriously if we are intent on following Jesus Christ.
If the disciples are to live on more than a vague memory of sayings and actions, it will be by living out a new relationship with each other.
Roger Fredrickson said, ‘The distinguishing mark of discipleship is not programs or signs, wonders or eloquence or ecclesiastical power, but Christ’s love in us that allows us to love one another.’ We must, of course, resist every temptation to become a self-centred clique.
Peter, who would become the first leader of the church, clearly misunderstands the journey that lies ahead… and he enquires, ‘Lord, where are you going?’ (v.36) Jesus warns that he cannot follow yet. Peter is eager and says, ‘I will lay down my life for you.’ (v.37) It is out of this context in John that Jesus says, ‘Will you really lay down your life for me? Very truly I tell you, before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times!’ (v.38)
If we love one another, we witness to the authenticity of our faith
Love is our most powerful witness. It must not be restricted to personal emotions, but translated into compassion for the hurting and a desire to express faith at the pressure points of life that exist within our community. If we are serious about faith, it must be more than a ‘churchy’ thing.
In his notes, William Temple observed, ‘Love of God is the root, love of our neighbour the fruit of the tree of life. Neither can exist without the other, but the one is cause and the other effect.’
- Love is far more than a feeling
John Paul Young was born in Glasgow in 1950 and emigrated here, arriving in Sydney on Australia Day in 1962. He is one of those people who will be remembered primarily for one song… even by people who don’t particularly like his music. His piece Love is in the Air contains the words:-
And I don’t know if I’m being foolish
Don’t know if I’m being wise
But it’s something that I must believe in
And it’s there when I look in your eyes.
The words are memorable, but the sentiments don’t take us far enough. Love is much more than a feeling and an emotion. When Jesus called the disciples to love one another, he was calling for something far more.
- Love is revealed in actions
Love always means doing the task that is demanded in caring relationships with others.
Peter Ustinov was born in London but came from the nobility of Eastern European. He entered theatre as an escape from boredom at school… and he did rather well at it!
Though not a deeply religious man, Peter had a great love for humanity. He witnessed close up the assassination of the Indian Premier, Indira Gandhi, who was just returning to her home to be interviewed by Peter.
His humour and his humanity are often revealed in his words. He was once asked what he would like on his tombstone and he replied, ‘Please keep off the grass.’ In a much more serious moment, he said, ‘Love is an act of endless forgiveness, a tender look which becomes a habit.’
Love, when lived out through Jesus Christ, becomes irresistible and folks want to embrace it!
- Love is specifically related to Jesus Christ
Christian love is not merely the result of being inspired by Jesus Christ, but by welcoming the Spirit of God into our lives so his love is lived out through us.
The popular line ‘Make my day’ came from the mouth of one challenging his foe to go for his weapon, so that he would have a pretext to crush him like an unhelpful bug under his boot. We can turn the phrase on its head. The world as we meet it day by day is crying out for something better.
Timothy Kennedy tells of travelling by bus through Israel/Palestine one hot summer’s day. On one part of the journey the bus driver placed a big white sign by the passenger side windshield. Since it was in Arabic, Kennedy asked the guide to translate it. He was told the sign said, ‘This is an Arab bus, owned and operated by Arabs. Please do not throw stones.’
When they got close to Tel Aviv, the driver pulled another sign from behind his seat, and replaced the first sign in the windshield. Since it was in Hebrew, Kennedy asked the guide to translate again. The new sign read, ‘This is a Jewish bus, owned and operated by Israelis. Please do not throw stones.’
How do you tell the difference between an Arab bus and a Jewish bus? Certainly not by a plastic sign! When Jesus gave the disciples the command to love one another, it was a call to something powerful and new, which would make a huge difference to those who observed. It was a call to indiscriminate love… and reaching out to others because of the discovery of love amongst themselves.
That the disciples are to love is nothing new, but the fact that they are to love with the sort of love modelled by Jesus is dramatic and certainly would ‘Make His Day!’
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