‍Acts 16:9-15

John 14:15 – 29

It is so good to celebrate 150 years of being Church in this place as happened last weekend. There have been many changes over those years, and much wondering about how to be what you proclaim to be. We heard Glynn outline the many changes in emphasis that took place to meet changing times and circumstances: wars and the depression, wealth and poverty, social inclusion and social exclusion, and shifts in theological understanding and spiritual expression.

Some changes, I’m guessing, were made with confidence and some with uncertainty and hope,

The readings set for this time in the liturgical calendar are mostly drawn from what are called the ‘farewell discourses .’The writer, John, writing most probably in the decade of the 90s, is framing reassurance for his audience in that time of great uncertainty and turmoil.

Jesus’ words to his disciples that evening, as John tells it, were words of reassurance. But within them there is also a challenge! It is an evening of immense uncertainty for Jesus and his friends, and Jesus is preparing his companions, for what would appear to be his inevitable death.  Just a few verses earlier Jesus promises to send them a helper, the Holy Spirit, so they will not be alone; and they are full of questions:

Simon Peter “where are you going?”

Peter “Why can’t I come”

Thomas “We don’t know the way”

Philip “Show us what’s going on”

Judas (not Iscariot) “why will you only tell us and not everyone?)

They all know what the likely outcome will be once they get out into public in the morning. But then what? What will happen to them once their leader is gone?~they are struggling to imagine their future…

Remember, John, as we call the writer, knows the outcome of this journey to Jerusalem, just as we do, just as his contemporary audience did. But as he tells the story of that night Jesus is reassuring his friends. He is speaking to their anxiety about what is going to happen as the religious and political elites close in on him, Jesus, the ‘rabble rouser’, and his friends.

As John presents it, this seems to be a last-ditch attempt by Jesus to help his disciples to understand his ministry, who he, Jesus, is and what his life’s commitment had been about. Now it is crunch time, will they, or wont they, continue to preach his message and hold to the vision of justice and inclusion, peace and participation, if the inevitable happens and he is killed.

There is a lot about ‘love’ in these chapters: not least Jesus words or challenge “If you love me you will keep my commandments”(14:15) and those who love me will keep my word...” (14:23). But what is love at a time like this, what use is a nebulous notion like ‘love’?

John’s Gospel was written about 60 years after the crucifixion and is a powerful testimony to how the early Jesus-followers had come to understand Jesus. It speaks to their deep desire to understand, and to experience what Jesus speaks of.

In the face of the hostilities of the late  1^st C from both Romans and the community of Jews, who are struggling to survive the reassertion of Roman rule, John is offering reassurance, reminding them of Jesus words on that night before his death.

He reminds them of the power of love; the love Jesus spoke of. Love that manifests in the strength of inclusion in community, and in the hope of peace in the face of turmoil. Its moving and powerful stuff.

“Those who love me will keep my word… and my ‘Father’ will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.”

This is more than a theological concept; it’s an invitation. An invitation into a love that doesn’t simply exist, it is a love that ‘dwells in’ those who keep to the plan— a life changing experience of love, and it will move through them/us into the world.

I’ve spoken about this kind of love here before: it is the love upon which justice is founded; it is a love that is confident enough to embrace diversity, to desire the best for those with the least, and is willing to take collective action to overthrow oppressive powers and destructive divisive attitudes. Our nation and world is in need of such love now!

Last week we heard about the women who emerged in years gone by, as leaders from this community, and you know and experience the strong leadership from among the women of this community today. In the reading from Acts set for this morning, we hear of Lydia, a business-women with housing and economic security sufficient to be able to invite Paul and his retinue to stay in her home. The curious thing we often overlook is that Lydia is possibly, according to Luke’s recounting of this time in Christian history, the first woman in Europe to be baptised! … And so the Community of Christ in this place grew around her home, and through he love. Luke sets before us many stories about the significance of women to the Jesus movement and the early church. (23 or there abouts) We do well never to underestimate the significance of women and the work women do. It is often the most undervalued work in a community and yet essential to the wellbeing and quality of life for the community. (The rescinding of the pay equity act in our nation is a travesty from this point of view). It is the testimony and the love that women shared that ushered in the ideas of new life after the crucifixion, and that opened the way for the vision of a new and different community, living out relationships of respect and of mutual care, of courage to act in the face of injustice and pain. This they understood was Jesus’ vision and message.

In a progressive theology, we understand that God’s presence is not limited to sacred spaces, or religious rituals, or pious words but is woven into the fabric of daily life— and is found especially in places where love is demanded, people are in need, where justice is needed, where peace feels distant.

Love, in Jesus’ teaching, is not passive, it is not just a nice feeling—it is an act of resistance and of transformation. Jesus doesn’t ask his disciples to simply feel love for him. He asks them to live it. “Those who love me will keep my word.”

We might be excused for thinking an action filled love like this that demands change, and is prepared to take action for  change, is a far cry from peace!

In our world ‘peace’ often points to an absence of something, no conflict, no violence, no destabilising changes – rather a subdued place – a place after victory is won through war; it’s a transactional notion - powerbroking, as we see being played out in the Ukraine and in Gaza.

But the peace Jesus is speaking of is not “peace such as the world gives…” Its more  than the absence of conflict, its shalom. Shalom is wellbeing characterised by healing, abundance, reconciliation, social harmony, spiritual and physical wellbeing. The four pillars of wellbeing in Māori wisdom are similar: mental and emotional wellbeing, physical wellbeing, spiritual wellbeing, social wellbeing. John’s Jesus is speaking into this wholistic framework, into the psychological and spiritual needs of frightened people.

“Remember to love as I have loved you, you will not be abandoned, you will find me in many places and I will abide with you, dwell with you, make my home with you when you love this way, so be at peace.  

I want to say that over 150 years St Luke’s Remuera has sought, in various ways, to remind people of this love of God that Jesus speaks about, and the justice and peace that flows from it. It has been prepared to change to meet the needs of the times, to step out hopefully, faithfully, into the risk of being different.

In our time we find ourselves needing once more to find the courage to love like this, and to remind ourselves not to be afraid, not to be shaken by the fearful and distressing times we see in the world around us. God’s peace is given to us,

As followers of Jesus the Christ, we are invited not just to believe but to be—to be a people who love through action, in spite of everything! To be a church where God’s presence is felt in the work of justice, to be a community where peace is not passive but transformative.

To be a church engaged in social justice, means that love manifests in advocacy, in standing with the marginalized, in dismantling systems of oppression, and in creating a world where all people can flourish, in advocating for the women and men who care for our social needs without the recognition and value they deserve. It means resisting … protesting where love is threatened.

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