Sermon: "A Clear Vision"
The Right Reverend Charles G. vonRosenberg
Third Bishop of East Tennessee

[This sermon by Bishop vonRosenberg was delivered using the following notes.]

A wise and thoughtful parishioner in another diocese once repeated to me some advice that I have heard several times since seminary. We were discussing communication. He was a lawyer, and in our two professions, communicating a message certainly is crucial. He recommended a sermon outline which corresponded to his addresses to a jury. He said, "First, tell people what you are going to say. Then, secondly, say it. And finally, tell them what you've said."

That principle of repetition of a message certainly is good educational theory, too, by the way. In fact, I had heard the same advice earlier - when I was a school teacher. Educators, as well as lawyers and preachers, know that by means of such repetition, we learn and remember.

I thought of that parishioner and his words as I read the Gospel for today - and in particular, the last portion of that Gospel. Jesus said, "I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another."

Now, I do not know if Jesus had access to educational theory or to good lawyerly advice. But he surely got the principle of repetition right. And I think that his hearers at the time and readers of these words ever since have gotten the message. Love - the new commandment which Jesus gave - stands right at the center of what he says to us. And if we do not get it the first time, then maybe the second or the third will do. "I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another."

It is important to note that this is a commandment from Jesus. Therefore, he is not talking about love as a feeling - as a warm, fuzzy sensation at the tip of our nerve endings…or, as a tug on our heart stings. The love of which Jesus speaks is a commandment, and he would not - indeed, could not - have commanded a feeling.

Perhaps a word of explanation will help here. I may tell you to feel a certain way about an event or about some person. That is, I may try to command a feeling from you. But that would be pointless. I would be wasting my time. Feelings are outside the realm of commandments. Even our own feelings are beyond our command. That is, how often have we wanted to feel a certain way in a particular situation - but we failed? Feelings cannot be commanded.

What Jesus commands in the Gospel today - love - is therefore not a feeling. Rather, love is an action of the will. To will the best for someone and to work for that person's best interests - that is love. And Jesus says, "I give you a new commandment, that you love one another." You see, we can do that. We can will the best for one another and work for the best interests of each other. We cannot will to feel attraction or happiness or any other feeling about anyone. Jesus gives us a commandment - one that we can follow - the commandment to love.

Of course, Mothers' Day comes next week, and mothers certainly know what other Christians should also know. We may feel differently about other people from day to day - for instance, our children. And that is perfectly understandable. However, the command to love always is present.

This is also the beginning of the time of year that we anticipate afternoon thunderstorms. The humidity and haze of the day settle around us - and that provides a fertile environment for a storm. Then, after the storm passes, the oppressive haze and humidity typically disappear. The air seems cleaner. We can even see better.

In a similar kind of way, the commandment to love blows away the haze and humidity and oppressiveness which seem to gather in the low pressure cells of our practice of Christianity. We sometimes need a good rainstorm to clear up the mess which seems to settle in around us. And the wind which will blow the mess away is the principle of love. "I give you a new commandment, that you love one another."

Sometimes we get confused about what Jesus stood for. We may become overwhelmed by two thousand years of accumulated theology. Current issues in the church may even make our practice of Christianity problematic. But Jesus actually was pretty clear, and the spirit of the wind which he blows may disperse the mess in which we sometimes find ourselves. In the Episcopal Church - and in other churches - we do well to distinguish between the haze of current church issues and the clean air of Jesus' command to love.

Jesus came into the world as the personification of love from God. "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son" (Jn 3:16). Jesus lived in the world and encountered people of the world as the primary manifestation of God's love. Jesus died on the cross and, then, rose from the dead as a proclamation of the supremacy of love. And Jesus' message to his disciples and to us is this: "I give you a new commandment, that you love one another."

The history of the church, though, reads like a spring or summer weather prediction in east Tennessee. Afternoon and evening thunderstorms, followed by clean air, followed - the very next day - by more afternoon and evening thunderstorms.

The very first generation of Christian people - including Paul and Barnabas - encountered controversy, as we heard in the first reading. "The whole city gathered together to hear the word of the Lord" - that is, the word which commands love. "But when the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy; and blaspheming, they contradicted what was spoke by Paul" (Acts 13:44-45). Can you sense the low pressure rolling in? The haze and humidity are beginning already to oppress the clean air of Jesus' command to love.

And, now, listen well to the response from Paul and Barnabas. "It was necessary that the word of God should be spoken first to you" - the word which involves the command to love right at its center. "Since you reject it and judge yourselves to be unworthy of eternal life, we are now turning to the Gentiles." Pay attention, please, to the disciples' evaluation of what happened to those who rejected the basic word of God. "You reject it and judge yourselves to be unworthy of eternal life."

Following - or not following - the new commandment from Jesus does have consequences. Indeed, I would suggest that the command to love is the object of what Paul and Barnabas say: "You reject it and judge yourselves to be unworthy of eternal life." I really do believe that Jesus is quite serious about the new commandment which he gives. I believe that Paul and Barnabas are quite serious about the consequences of not following that commandment. And, even in the haze of our confusion, I believe that we need to renew our seriousness about this commandment from our Lord.

The collect for today points us to the same theme. "Almighty God, whom truly to know is everlasting life." Remember that the Bible says quite clearly, "God is love" (I Jn 4:8). Thus, it is this God, who is love, to whom we pray. "Grant us so perfectly to know your Son Jesus Christ to be the way, the truth, and the life, that we may steadfastly follow his steps in the way that leads to eternal life." That way which we pray to follow is the way of love…the way that leads to eternal life.

I want to conclude with another idea from the field of education. Our educational system has been based on the technique of analysis. That is, we try to master individual parts of some subject so that we may understand the whole. The implication is that education is hard at first and, then, easy. If we can only get the parts right, then the whole will become apparent. … But our faith is different from that. The principle at the center is easy at first. That is the command to love. However, I do not suggest that living out the principle is easy. In the various occasions of low pressure in life, therefore, may we not lose sight of "the way, the truth, and the life" - for that way leads to eternal life. And that way is the command to love. "I give you a new commandment, that you love one another."

Copyright © 2007 The Episcopal Diocese of East Tennessee