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In our culture, people do what they want when they want, regardless of what anybody says. Such radical expressions of personal freedom only create more rules and regulations. Our public spaces become filled with more signs, more warnings, and more instructions, yet we only see more chaos as individuals resist the laws in a willful expression of their individual freedom.
If you want to know how people feel about rules and regulations, just listen to what they say. “Rules are made to be broken.” In our culture, people live by that proverb and do whatever they want.
All of this makes it hard for us to hear Jesus in our text today. It is really difficult to listen to Jesus and understand what He says because Jesus is talking about rules. He speaks about commands, and the mere mention of commands causes resistance to rise.
But notice one thing. When Jesus speaks of commands, He does so in the context of love.
Jesus tells His disciples, “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.” Later, He repeats the idea, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word.” Love is connected to keeping the commandments. Commandments are kept not because of fear, not because of force, not because of threats, and not because of punishment. No, commandments are kept because of love. Love leads to a delight in the Law.
Consider how strange that sounds to our culture today. Rules are made to be broken, not kept. And when it comes to keeping rules, we do so only because of penalties and policing. Jesus, however, has nothing to say about penalties and nothing to say about policing. Instead, He talks about love, a deep and everlasting love which leads those who follow Him to obey His commands.
In our text, Jesus is preparing His disciples for a time of deep sorrow. They have been with Him, experienced His love, and loved Him in return. But soon, He will be going away. He is about to show them the radical nature of His love. He will endure the suffering of the cross, the punishment of all sin, and be crucified and buried. They will lose the one who loved them unto death. But this same Jesus will rise and reveal the power of the everlasting love of God. Sin, Satan, and even death itself cannot separate Him from His people. He will rise from the dead and ascend into Heaven. There, He will sit at the right hand of His Father and rule over all things. His rule, however, will not be imposing laws, rules, and regulations on people. He will rule through a relationship of love.
Jesus promises us an intimate relationship of love with Him. He promises He will send His Spirit to live within us. His Spirit will be our helper in times of trouble, our counselor in times of difficult decisions, our comforter in times of sorrow, and our advocate in times when we need defense. His Spirit reminds us of Jesus and draws us closer to Him. This Spirit recalls His words to our minds and His works to our hearts.
So, when we hear the commands of Jesus, they are the words of someone who loves us with the deepest love. To love is to live in His Word and follow His commands.
These selected excerpts are from an article found at the following link (click to read in it's entirety):
https://www.1517.org/articles/gospel-john-1415-21-easter-6-series-a-2023
The Rev. Dr. David Schmitt holds the Gregg H. Benidt Memorial Endowed Chair in Homiletics and Literature at Concordia Seminary. The responsibilities of this position involve teaching courses in homiletics and literature and serving as a resource to the church-at-large, through writing, speaking, and conducting workshops and symposia. Dr. Schmitt joined the faculty in 1995 and serves as Professor of Practical Theology. He has taught courses in preaching, evangelism, pastoral ministry, Christianity and literature, and the devotional life. Before coming to the seminary, Dr. Schmitt served as pastor of St. John the Divine in Chicago IL. He earned his M. Div. from Concordia Seminary, St. Louis (1988), an MA in English from the University of Illinois (1990) and an MA and a PhD in English from Washington University in St. Louis (2005).
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