The word Love is used 5 times as both a verb and a noun in verse 9. It is used 11 times in verses 9 through 17. We cannot underestimate the importance of this command to love.  And it is just that – a command. It is not an invitation. It is not “by the way if you feel like it”. It is an imperative. Belief in Jesus and love for our neighbors within the church and beyond the church cannot be separated. When we say “I believe in Jesus Christ” we are also committing ourselves to love – to love enough to die for another.

“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for ones’ friends.” This is tough love, scary love, and complicated love.  It is the kind of love that Alex talked about two weeks ago when he talked about our mission statement that begins “Choose Love”.  This love is the kind of love that is found in the strongest marriages, the happiest of families, and between the best of friends. This is the kind of love that encourages parents to bring their young children for baptism. It is love that goes beyond feeling. It is love that is unconditional and oriented to others. It is the kind of love that invites us to act for another even when the cost of that action is our own life.  This love is only possible when we live our lives abiding in God, connected to the vine. This love is the love that produces fruit.  

Our culture casually substitutes desire for duty when using the language of love. Love, as we understand and accept it culturally, waxes and wanes. Our attitude is enjoy it while you’ve got it and give it when you can. Please do not hear me suggesting that you are required to stay in a marriage that is abusive or toxic. I am not advocating for staying married at all costs. I am telling you that love is more than a feeling. It is a commitment. It is an act of will. It is a commandment. As one writer puts it, loving as Jesus commands us to love involves duty and obligation, as well as joy and delight.

Sometimes we give up on this kind of love before we event start. It is hard. It is frightening. It is rare. It is not what everybody else is doing. It is what we are commanded to do because we are children of God. It is possible to do because we live in this love when we recognize ourselves as belonging to God. “As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love . . .” When we follow the way of Jesus we live in this kind of love. It never deserts us or betrays us or abandons us. It is always there in us, with us, through us, and for us. When we live in this love, when we abide in God, it is possible to produce the fruit of love that God commands.

This commanded love pushes us out of our comfort zone. We are to love others with whom we live with this abiding love that grows out of our understanding of God. I remember one evening when Katie, our oldest, who was probably about 10 at the time, looked at me and said, “I don’t think I’m going to be a Mom when I grow up.” That stopped me in my tracks. “Why not?” I asked. “Well,” she said, “it just seems like it’s a lot of work and the mom has to do everything.” Katie is and always has been a very insightful individual. “Yes,” I admitted. “Mom’s do have to do a lot of things. One thing is for sure. You have to put your children ahead of yourself. If you don’t want to do that, don’t have children. But I will tell you it is worth it. I can’t imagine life without all of you.” Yes. I had a habit of talking to my children in ways that may have been beyond their years and giving them more information than they needed to hear. I am glad to report they are successfully working it out with their therapists.

Being a mother means sacrificing yourself for others whom you love. This commandment to love in a sacrificial way is not just for mothers, however. It is for every single person who understands themselves as a beloved child of God. When we follow the way of Christ we are commanded to love others in a way that might cost our life.

This extends beyond our families. We are also commanded to love others in our faith community. Not just the ones who think like us. Not just the ones who look like us. Not just the ones who volunteer all the time. Not just the ones who come every week and make their children come, too. Not just the ones who agree with us. We are commanded to love every single one of the members of our faith community in a way that might just cost us our own special life. Wow!

The third part of this command to love extends to every neighbor – and by neighbor, I really mean stranger, and by stranger I might even mean people we are afraid of – like the Samaritan who helps the Jewish stranger on the way to Jericho. After all they were sworn enemies. Still the Samaritan delayed his trip and paid for the care of this sworn enemy.

Last Saturday my husband, Ken and I, decided to join with a group that was marching to support youth. The march was in the Lawndale neighborhood – a neighborhood which many of us would choose to avoid due to its notoriety for gangs, guns, and drugs. It was a beautiful day last Saturday and we walked with a group of people who were strangers – except for two or three others from church. We were surprised by the heavy police presence. We brought up the back of this march that included about 500 or so people. There were four police SUV’s behind us. There were several more at the front of the line with their lights flashing. There were police officers on bicycles and others walking with us. There was no animosity between the marchers and the police. In fact, both groups spoke publicly and talked about the need to work together. There are a lot of empty lots and boarded up buildings in Lawndale. Apparently, buildings were burned out during riots that followed the death of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. who lived in that neighborhood for a while. Those buildings were never rebuilt. There were large pieces of plywood on some of those vacant lots painted in bright colors with positive and up-lifting messages. Other vacant lots were being used as gardens. We passed by and waved to a lot of people working in their gardens to get the soil ready for planting.

We walked down 16^th street to Kedzie and we met up with another group from the Little Village neighborhood. We headed to a park where there were booths set up by local churches and other vendors. Almost everything was being given away for free. I sat on a park bench and watched as two little boys played together – they looked like brothers and were probably tormenting each other more than playing. Then I noticed that they were wearing black t-shirts with big white letters on them that said, “Don’t Shoot Me”. I was stunned by the harsh reality.

“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.” Love. Commanded. Demanded. Chosen. Imagine a world filled with this kind of love.  Imagine our community, our home, our church, our lives filled with a love that is willing to lay down and die for another – even one we don’t know.

Jesus’ commandment to love in this way requires serious sacrifice.  The cost is astonishingly high.  This love requires our heart – the place where we feel the very beat of life.  This love requires that we give our heart to God, in the same way that we might give our heart to another in an organ transplant. 

We are uncomfortable with the thought, even the consideration that the heart of the gospel is found in the commandment to love others so deeply that we are willing to lay down our own lives. The heart of the gospel demands that we be willing to put away our shopping list and sit with a neighbor. It commands us to lay down our Starbucks’ coffee and give the extra five dollars to feed the hungry or help someone make rent. The kind of love that Jesus demands from us is the kind that means we lay aside our comfort and listen for what God is asking us to do for another.

The commandment to love is a lifelong commandment and one that will change as we change – as we grow, as we age, as our life circumstances change – but it is never a commandment that we can fulfill and check of our list. Love. Commanding. Demanding. Never-ending. Love. Love that brings joy and wholeness. Love that shows we have been chosen, called, and sent. Love. It’s what you and I need. It’s what the world needs.