Live by Love

Reverend Philip Stringer

Jeremiah 23:1-6

Colossians 1:11-20

Luke 23:33-43

LET US PRAY: Lord of Life, Give us ears to hear and hearts willing to receive, that your word may be food for our lives and a blessing to the world. AMEN

All anyone wants is to be happy, really. That seems so simple, yet it often eludes us. Martin Luther spoke of “two kingdoms” in which we live. The ‘kingdom’ of this world, and the Kingdom of God. We stand with one foot in each. Luther’s “two kingdoms” recognizes that there are two diametrically opposed ideas regarding how one may obtain happiness. What is the secret to unlocking a life of peace and happiness?

In the third century, a man named, “Cyprian,” wrote a series of letters to his friend, Donatus. In one of those letters, he offers an answer to that great question. Cyprian writes, “This is a cheerful world as I see it from my garden under the shadows of my vines. but if I were to ascend some high mountain and look out over the wide lands, you know very well what I should see: brigands on the highways, pirates on the sea, armies fighting, cities burning; in the amphitheaters men murdered to please applauding crowds; selfishness and cruelty and misery and despair under all roofs. It is a bad world, Donatus, an incredibly bad world. But I have discovered in the midst of it a quiet and holy people who have learned a great secret. They are despised and persecuted, but they care not. They are masters of their souls. They have overcome the world. These people, Donatus, are the Christians -- and I am one of them.”

Today, the Word of God lifts up for us a kingdom that is not of this world, but which nevertheless permeates this world and rises above it. It is a kingdom that has washed over all that would rob us of life and destroy us. It is a kingdom of absurdity in the eyes of this world, but within it is the key to a full and abundant life — the “great secret” that Cyprian spoke of. It is a secret in the wide open that longs to be found. You know this secret, just as Cyprian did. And today we celebrate that secret: the Kingdom of God as revealed in Jesus Christ.

Our gospel reading today takes us to a surprising scene for a “celebration:” the cross of Jesus. In addition to the violence of nailing him to the cross, the reading presents us with a litany of derision against Jesus.

“… the leaders scoffed at him, saying, ‘He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Messiah of God, his chosen one!’”

The soldiers also mocked him . . . saying, “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!”

There was also an inscription over him, ‘This is the King of the Jews.”

One of the criminals who were hanged there kept deriding him and saying, “Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us!”

Jesus is a laughingstock to everything that the world proclaims is powerful and great.

But in the midst of this humiliation, he speaks some simple words. "Father, forgive them.” How shocking are those words; how incredibly out of place they are in this world — and in that moment of humiliation and defeat. “Father, forgive them.”

Why bother? It's not going to change anything -- it won't save Jesus if he forgives them. They won't feel bad about it and take him down. If God has any power to answer prayer, wouldn't it be better for Jesus to say, "Father, convert them?" Wouldn't it be better to pray, "Father, destroy them?” Wouldn't it be better to pray, "Father, love didn't persuade them, so get me down from here and we'll try something else?"

By the rules of this world, that’s what we would expect. That's what would be logical and shrewd and prudent. But we worship Jesus, not because he is practical. Not because he is shrewd. Not because he does the smart thing, but because he loves.

Here is the good news— the beginning of the secret:

The cross does not change who Jesus is.

The cross does not change who Jesus is.

The cross does not change who Jesus is.

And that's why Jesus is our king.

We live in a slap-in-the-face world. A brutal world of anger and selfishness and survival of the fittest. It's a world that teaches us that we have to look out for ourselves because no one else will. It's a world of suffering, and the name of the game is to avoid as much suffering as possible.

That's what the world teaches us, but it's not what Jesus teaches. Jesus taught us a sure-fire recipe for failure in the world's measure. Jesus taught us that when the world slaps your face, don't withdraw from it, but remain open and exposed. Jesus taught us:

To give to those who cannot give to us.

To care for the world because it is holy.

To worship God because God loves us already.

This is what he taught us, because it is the way of a full and rich life -- an abundant life. That's what Jesus taught us, with more than words. He lived it. He IS it.

Jesus IS gracious and forgiving and meek and generous, because Jesus IS love -- and the cross didn't change that. The cross only shows how thoroughly true it is: Jesus loves, purely and fully, even to his last, dying breath. And because of that, love wins.

Jesus is victorious because suffering and hate and rejection do not change him into a different kind of God. They don't change him into a God that hates. They don't change him into a God that quits. They don’t change him into a God that stops caring and walks away. Jesus loves.

The world has always had trouble seeing the victory in this, and the reason is because these are not the rules that the world plays by.

To say that Jesus is your king is to say that the rules you live by are different. You are ruled over by love. To be ruled OVER means the authority is not your own. Your king sets this as the norm and standard for you, and that is the new law. Live by love. Hold onto love, even to death. Because whatever else happens in the world, what will not change is the truth that when hatred and cruelty flailed against love, it was love that won the day.

That is the message of the cross, and why it has become the symbol of God's glory -- and the throne of Christ. God will love us no matter what. He will remain faithful to us no matter what. That, as simple as it sounds, is something worth building your life upon.

There will be loss. There will be suffering. There will be pain. But love never ends. The cross doesn't change Jesus.

But it can change us. And it does, when Jesus is our king.

There's a difference between acting and being. One who acts will do so as long as there is an audience, or a pressure or an external reward for acting. But one who IS -- will be that way, regardless of whatever external influences come along.

Jesus did not act like a servant -- he WAS.

Jesus didn't act like he loved his enemies -- he did.

Jesus didn't act like he was faithful -- he is.

That is why we worship him. Jesus IS love incarnate. And his love compels us, presses upon us to BE of his kingdom. Not to act like followers of his way -- not to act like disciples, but to BE his body. To BE transformed by his love.

A few years ago, after Patty's grandmother had died, she was helping her Mom pack up the house. She shared a small notepad with me that she had found in her grandmother's house. The note pad contained notes that Grandma had taken while attending a church conference in Indiana in the late '30's or early 40's, where a missionary told some stories.

One of the stories she recorded illustrates the transforming power of Jesus' love. A Shanghai pastor, a big man, was invited to assist in a Bible conference in a church 150 miles south of Shanghai. He was told that someone would meet him at the boat landing. He got there with 7 miles yet to go. He was greeted by a farmer who placed his bedding and bags on one side of a wheelbarrow and asked him to be seated on the other. He refused, but soon the heat was too much and he accepted. As perspiration streamed down his face and shoulders he thought, "He will surely be paid a good wage for such a hard trip." So, the pastor asked him, and he replied, "Pastor, I am not giving you a ride for money. Before, I was bound in sin. Now I am free and happy. Wherever I can, I try to do things for the Christ I love. This morning there were three of us who fought for this opportunity."

The love of our servant-king transforms us into loving servants.

That begins, first, because Jesus does not call you into his Kingdom -- rather, his kingdom washes over you and his love comes upon you. He is not waiting for an opportunity to love you. He DOES love you; he HAS died for you, he DOES remain faithful to you. His kingdom has come. It is freely given, not because you have earned it, but because of who he is.

And because of that, Jesus DOES call you to a RESPONSE to his kingdom. He calls you to it because it is good for you. He calls you to respond because (since he loves you) he wants you to have the fullness of life -- and that only comes from loving. And true love -- holy love -- Jesus’ kind of love -- isn't shaped by the world but insists on being the one to shape the world.

Along with Luther’s idea of “two kingdoms” is his point that we are both sinners and saints — 100% sinners in need of God’s mercy — 100% saints washed clean by the blood of Christ.

To say that we are both sinners and saints — to say that we live in two kingdoms is to say that we are growing into our faith in the power and sovereignty of God’s love. We are not perfect, but we are trying. And that is the point. That is what matters.

This morning, it is a pleasant day for us here. But you know that there are wars being fought right now. There are crowds of people in refugee camps. There are people planning hateful things and there are victims.

The world is acting like the world these days, and it beckons us to respond in kind -- or at least to submit to its authority over us. We have lived in the lap of luxury, and it beckons us to hold fast, stay put, and not risk losing it. Our own hearts beckon to us: hold back, watch out, be careful.

But apart from this -- different from this -- is one who was hung on a cross, and he also beckons. He remains faithful, even when we are faithless. His call is simple:

Live by love. My love washes over you.

Live by love. My kingdom has come.

Live by love. My love never ends.

Live by love. I am your king.

Live by love.

AMEN