Lenten
Midweek V: “Faith, Love, and the Keeping of the Commandments”
April
9, 2025
Text: 1 John 5:1-5
St.
Augustine summarizes our text: “To love the children of God is to love the Son
of God; to love the Son of God is to love the Father. Nobody can love the Father without loving the
Son, and anyone who loves the Son will love the other children as well.”[1]
Love,
though, we must understand, is always practical, always active.[2] You know this already, and I’ve said it ad
nauseum, but if you don’t know, know it now: Love is not a feeling. It is not an emotion (though it is
wonderful when good feelings and emotions accompany love). Love is decision. It is action. It is an act of the will. It is seeking after the good of, and doing
good to, and for, the beloved.
So John says, essentially: You want to love God, and therefore your
neighbor? Do the Commandments. It’s really that simple.
John
has in mind, here, the Ten Commandments, but particularly as Jesus divides them
for us in the Gospels. When asked, “Teacher,
which is the great commandment in the Law?” (Matt. 22:36; ESV), Jesus
answers, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all
your soul and with all your mind. This
is the great and first commandment. And
a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law
and the Prophets” (vv. 37-40).
So,
how do you love God (the Great and First Commandment)? By doing according to the First Table of
the Law, as you may remember calling it in Catechism class. That is, the first three of the Ten
Commandments dealing with our relationship to God. Don’t have any other gods. God doesn’t want to share you with divine
pretenders, frauds, false gods. Worship
Him alone, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Fear, love, and trust in Him alone, and above all things. Don’t misuse His Name by cursing, swearing,
using satanic arts, lying, or deceiving by His Name. Instead, use it rightly: Call upon it in
every trouble, pray, praise, and give thanks.
And remember the Sabbath Day by keeping it holy. Sabbath, as you know, for New Testament
Christians, is not a day (Saturday, like it was in the Old Testament),
but a Man, Jesus, in whom we rest, because He has completed the
work of our salvation. We do that, not
by despising preaching and His Word, but holding that Word sacred, and gladly
hearing and learning it. So that is the
Great and First Commandment: Have God as your God. Love Him, not just by warm and fuzzy
feelings, but by living under Him as your Creator, Redeemer, and
Sanctifier.
Then,
how do you love your neighbor (the Second Commandment like unto the
First?)? By doing according to the
Second Table to of the Law, again, as you may remember calling it in
Catechism class. That is, the rest of
the Ten Commandments dealing with our relationship to other people. Parents and other authorities need you not to
despise them, but to honor them, serve and obey them, love and cherish
them. And frankly, things go better for
your when you do just that. Your
neighbor needs you not to murder him, or harm him, or even just despise him in
your heart and make his life bitter.
Your spouse needs you not to be unfaithful, and all your neighbors need
you to not to misuse their bodies for your own pleasure. Your neighbor needs you not to take his
stuff, gossip about him, or covetously scheme to take away the blessings God
has bestowed on him. Instead, love for
your neighbor leads you to do concrete things that help him in his physical
need; that promote good and godly marriages and procreation, chastity and
modesty; that help each to enjoy the blessings God has given in terms of
property, prosperity, reputation, and security.
Love your neighbor, not simply by having a big heart for him (as
ambiguously wonderful as that may be), but doing what he needs you to do for
him, and not doing what will hurt or harm him.
And this
overcomes the world. You know
this, the world… as in the unbelieving mass of people ruled (temporally) by
Satan and the demons… the world does not love God or the neighbor. There is a lot of talk about love for
humanity, love for our fellow-man (or woman, or feline-identifying person, or
whatever). In the world, you live for
yourself. That’s it. Your comfort. Your convenience. Your preferences. Whatever brings you, personally,
pleasure. “Me first!” You see this in the way people drive. You see it in the way people interact in
public places. Heads buried in
screens. Few, if any, greetings. Few, if any, “pardon mes”. This is just scratching the surface of the
mountain of evidence. We see it
particularly in our political discourse, and how we treat those who think
differently than our favorite talking heads tell us we think. Christians are not immune to this
attitude. Where you find it in yourself,
repent. Turn. Change your mind. Eyes (and ears!) back on Christ.
Instead,
loved by God, forgiven and redeemed by the death and resurrection of Christ,
the Law of God having been perfectly fulfilled by the Lord Jesus and credited
to your account… in other words, freed!... do the counter-cultural thing. Love your neighbor. Really and truly. And then, know that loving your neighbor is
also loving God, who loves your neighbor as His own. I mean, really, think about this: One way to
love your friends is to love and care for their kids. If you say you love your friend, but tell him
you really hate his kids, I’m guessing that relationship is rather doomed. Faith in Jesus Christ is always overflowing
in love. Love for God. Which necessarily means love for those He
loves. And it all flows, as John has
said all along, from God’s love for us in Christ. “We love because he first loved us” (1
John 4:19).
Jesus’
love for us is not warm and fuzzy feelings in His heart. It is practical. It is active.
Remember, in the Upper Room, when Jesus tied the towel around His waist
and washed His disciples’ feet (John 13)?
That is the alternate Gospel reading for Maundy Thursday. We won’t get it this year, but it’s good to
call to mind. He does the washing, and
then He commands His disciples, His Church, to do likewise, to do it for one
another. What’s up with that? I was just having this discussion with my
dentist. “What does the foot washing
mean? Why don’t most Churches have a
foot washing ceremony?” (There I was,
mouth full of instruments…) “Well,” I
said, “Jesus was not instituting another Sacrament, or sacramental, or
liturgical custom. Instead, He was
teaching us about the active, practical nature of love.” First of all, His for His disciples. Jesus, the Son of God and Lord of all,
stooped down and did the task of a lowly slave.
Washing the gunk and grime of the dusty, or muddy, excrement-littered
first century Palestinian roads from His disciples’ cracked and calloused
feet. But this is about His love for you,
too. Remember how Peter, after Jesus
overcomes his initial objections, wants his whole body washed, and Jesus says
that he who has bathed only needs to wash his feet? The bathing corresponds to your
Baptism into Christ, where you are washed totally, head to toe, body and soul,
by water and the Word, in His righteousness.
He does that for you only once.
One Baptism. But as you live in
your Baptism, you pick up all sorts of filth.
The sins you commit. The sins
committed against you. And so, He continually
washes the gunk and grime and worse from your feet, which is to say, He
pronounces His Absolution over you, forgives your sins, time and time
again. As often as you need it. Which, of course, is a return to your
Baptism, the continuing effects of your Bath.
So that is the first thing.
Jesus’ practical and active love for you.
But
then, you do likewise, He says.
Not literally a foot-washing (although, maybe that, if that is what is
needed). But in love for your neighbor,
whom God loves… and in love for God who loves your neighbor… stoop down and do
the lowly work. Put God first, by
putting your neighbor ahead of yourself.
Wash off the filth of his sins by forgiving him. And then do the Commandments toward him by helping
him in his every need of body and soul.
Practical, active things.
Thought, word, and deed. Assume
the best about him. Think good things
about him. Speak encouraging words. Greetings with God’s blessings. Are you short on money? Here, have some of mine. Are you hungry? Come to dinner. And let’s go grocery shopping afterwards. Need a ride?
Sure, I can help. Etc., etc. Put to death in you whatever is inconsistent
with that. “You first,” not “me
first.”
And see,
this isn’t burdensome, because when you love someone, you want what is
good for them. You do this with your
kids. I hope. You should. With your spouse. With your friends. Do it with your brothers and sisters in
Christ, here in the pews. And with your
neighbor in the world, who needs to know Christ. It is simply living in the love Christ Jesus
pours out on you. You are not doing
these things to be righteous for Christ.
You are doing these things because you are righteous in Christ. Because He is your righteousness.
Because
He loved you, practically and actively.
He put His flesh and blood into it.
The Word became flesh and dwelt among us (John 1:14)… He loved you to death… His suffering, blood,
and death for you on the cross, for the forgiveness of all your sins. And He is risen, and lives in you. He loves you (really, practically, actively…
He intimately cares for your every need), and He loves in you. So you love Him, and as a result, you love
His children. Your whole life is lived, loving,
and in His love. St. Augustine,
one more time: “To love the children of God is to love the Son of God; to love
the Son of God is to love the Father.
Nobody can love the Father without loving the Son, and anyone who loves
the Son will love the other children as well.”
Beloved, God loves you. In the
Name of the Father, and of the Son X, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
[1] Ancient Christian
Commentary on Scripture: New Testament XI: James, 1-2 Peter, 1-3 John, Jude,
Gerald Bray, Ed. (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 2000) p. 221.
[2] John R. W. Stott, Tyndale
New Testament Commentaries: The Letters of John (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans,
1995) p. 176.
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