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Last Sunday, the
Fifth Sunday of Easter, in the gospel lesson from John chapter 15
Jesus makes terrific promises:
- I will ask the Father, and he will
give you another Helper,
- to be with you forever,
- even the Spirit of truth,
- I will not leave you orphans; I will come
to you.
- Yet a little while and the world
will see me no more, but you will see me. Because
I live, you also will live
Are the promises of Jesus
conditional? Sometimes, YES. “For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am
I among them.” (Matthew 18:20 ESV) Is that conditional? Yes, his
presence is conditioned upon two or three gathering in his name.
Most of the conditional
promises of Jesus are based upon Faith and Belief.
“Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe
also in me.” (John 14:1 ESV) Now, our belief doesn’t make things
happen in the sense of what psychologist call “magical thinking.” A
child will think that if they just think, “I will be a professional
baseball player,” that it will come to pass. Instead, our belief is
in what Jesus has already done!
Jesus rose from the dead on that
first Easter Sunday. It happened whether I believe it or
not. But my belief in that resurrection means that I am able to
receive the benefit of his resurrection: eternal life. “For God so loved
the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal
life.” (John 3:16 ESV)
My belief in Jesus leads
to a commitment to the relationship with Jesus and the
benefits thereof. One might argue, in a simple way, that it is like a
marriage...one can be married but not believe in the marriage. These
are the folks who go through the motions; they are technically
married, but their relationship does not bear any fruit or passion.
But when they believe in the marriage and they work for the success
of the marriage, there is joy and fulfillment in the marriage. I look
at my marriage: I believe in Florence and she believes in me - and
our marriage bears much fruit.
So what are the conditions that
Jesus asks of us in today’s scripture? Well, Jesus gives us the
condition first: “If you love me you will keep my commandments.” (John 14:15) In a way,
that sounds so very obvious... but is it? So often, people will say,
“Oh, I love the Lord” on Sunday, but their lives bear no witness to
that love Monday through Saturday. Love, true love, means that we
reflect that love everyday of the week - and with Jesus that
means obedience to his commandments:
- “Love one another as I have loved
you.” (John
13:34)
- “Judge not, and you will not be
judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and
you will be forgiven; [38] give, and it will be given to
you.” (Luke
6:37-38a)
Of course, not only are
there conditions in this scripture, there are also promises!
First, “I will ask the Father, and he will give you another
Helper...” Here, Jesus is of course speaking of the Holy
Spirit; none of the conditions can be met on our own – on my
own I cannot truly believe; on my own I cannot truly love –
but with the help of the Holy Spirit, everything is possible!
I pray you all a blessed week,
full of promise and the Holy Spirit!
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