Eastertide

May 16, 2020

Scripture Reading:
John 14:15-21

‘If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever. This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you. John 14:15-17

I do not think I had ever noticed in the scripture above that the gift of the other Advocate through Jesus Christ is based on our loving Jesus and keeping his commandments. It bears a striking resemblance to one of what we now call the Ten Commandments, which goes even further, stating that our diligence in following God’s commandments impacts our descendants for better or for worse. And once again, those pesky idols are weaving their way between God and us.

You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, punishing children for the iniquity of parents, to the third and the fourth generation of those who reject me, but showing steadfast love to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments. –Exodus 20:5-6

So much of what I see going wrong with the world is our projecting our desires onto gods we create and then worship that separate us from the God who created us. I wonder if that is what Walter Brueggeman is describing as he discusses the monologic God. Brueggeman says in The Gospel of Hope:

We, in our society and in our churches, are sore tempted to monologue. Such a temptation imagines absolute certainty an sovereignty, and uncritically imagines that any of us can speak with the voice and authority of the monologic God. Such certitude is an act of idolatry.

The dialogic God, Brueggeman discusses possibly is what the prophet Amos describes when he talks about building our lives according to God’s plumb line*. God created us and set forth guidelines to help us live in wholeness. The decision to do so is ours.

Jesus commands are summarized in loving God and loving our neighbor as we love ourselves. Following those commandments requires us to hold our way of being up to that standard. I think there is a two-fold assessment needed. We must consider whether how we treat another is the way we would want to be treated in similar circumstances. We also must struggle with the question do we love ourselves as the children of the God who created us. I fear much of the divisiveness in our world today, including violence, bigotry, and greed is the result of our questioning or not accepting that we are worthy of God’s love ourselves.

Prayer: Lord, be present with us as we struggle to recognize that your love for us is real and eternal freeing us to love our neighbors without question. Amen.

*See Amos 7:7-15

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.