John 14:5-21 NRSVUE

15 “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever. 17 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.

 

18 “I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you. 19 In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me; because I live, you also will live. 20 On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. 21 They who have my commandments and keep them are those who love me, and those who love me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to them.”

For the Past 3 weeks we’ve been working our way through readings from the gospel of John learning that:

• When the Gospel of John blames “the Jews” – this is not an endorsement of anti-semitism — it’s an argument between Jewish Christians and Jews – an argument between siblings
• Creator, Christ and Spirit all have the same personality – so there is no Angry Father God.

If you want to read those sermons they’re on the church website Montavillaumchurch.org 

Today we’re dealing with one more horrible interpretation of the gospel of John.  The idea that love equals obedience.

The idea that love equals obedience, has been used to justify the oppression of many people by the church.

It was used to justify the oppression of people who were enslaved.

It has been used to justify harsh parenting.

It is still used in certain sects of conservative Christianity to justify the oppression of women.

The idea being that if we are “good Christians” who love God, then we must be obedient to all the commandments of God.  Which is fine 

 But in fundamentalist branches of the faith, what those commandments are is interpreted by people who love power not God.

Those advocating for slavery said that if you love God you will obey your earthly masters.

Those advocating for child abuse say that if you love God you will obey your parents – and if you don’t then we’re required to discipline you harshly to save your soul.

Those advocating for the subjugation of women say that if you love God you will obey your husband, your Pastor and all other male authorities…

And when clergywomen and other Progressive clergy say, that’s not biblical they will say:

But It’s right there in verse 15:

“If you love me, you will keep my commandments.

Yes….but this passage is part of a whole conversation that starts in chapter 13 at the footwashing and last supper of Maundy Thursday and the only commandment that Jesus gave them was John 13:34-35:

I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. 

The Commandment is LOVE.

And you might, reasonably, ask – but it says commandments, plural, not commandment, singular.

Absolutely!  

And in Matthew 22:37-40, Jesus says that all the Law and the Prophets come down to LOVE – Love God and love your neighbor.

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the greatest and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.

Love is obedience to the commandments.

Oppression is not love.

Slavery is not loving our neighbors or loving God – whether we are talking about America’s original sin of the generational enslavement of African Americans, or the modern slavery that still happens today in the forms of the new Jim Crow, sexual trafficking and labor trafficking… ask any United Woman in Faith and she’ll explain modern slavery to you!

Child abuse is not loving our neighbors or loving God – whether we are talking about high control parenting that is advocated for by ultra-conservative Christian groups, or just plan assault pretending to be discipline- that’s not compatible with the Christian teaching of love.

Oppression of women is not love – trying to remove our voting rights, our reproductive rights, silencing the voices of victims of assault, unequal pay for equal work, and the idea so prevalent in some ultra-conservative Christian spaces that women are to be subservient to men – that’s not love.

Love looks like justice.

Love looks like fairness.

Love looks like compassion.

Love looks like safety.

Love looks like respect.

Love looks like being listened to.

Love looks like the free will that God created us to have.

What else does love look like to you?

As a part of the United Women in Faith Mother’s Day celebration, we’ve collected some thoughts on the women in our lives who showed us love.