Faith Lens: Ordinary, Household Acts of Love
Faith Lens is a weekly Bible study that engages youth and young adults in connecting world events with the Bible, faith, and everyday life.
Prepare:
The Gospel of John has a very different character than the other three Gospels (Mark, Matthew, and Luke, which are called “the Synoptic Gospels”). Whereas the Synoptic Gospels tell many similar stories about the life and ministry of Jesus, John emphasizes the mystic spirituality of Jesus’ life and mission. Together all four Gospels combine into a wonderful overlapping kaleidoscopic vision of Christ. The author of John especially wants their audience to understand that Jesus is God, and (for better or worse) they go about it with very circuitous, and sometimes confusing, language. Remember that this text is from an ancient spiritual document; it’s okay that it’s confusing to us sometimes!
In today’s text, Jesus is speaking to his disciples in the upper room on the night before his crucifixion. This is part of what’s called his “farewell discourses”. Think of it as Jesus saying goodbye to his friends, and they’re saying, “no, don’t go!” He’s comforting, preparing, and instructing them for what happens next. In this passage, Jesus promises that the Spirit of God will be with them. He reassures them with ways to know that even after he’s gone, they are still part of what God is doing in the world.
Opening Exercise:
Think about people that you love, people who you are in regular, close relationships with. It might be family, roommates, friends, etc. List three of them specifically.
What things do you do for them that you wouldn’t normally do for a stranger?
Do you have to do those things, or do you choose to?
What changes about your relationship when you do these things (or don’t do them)?
Text Read Aloud:
Ordinary, Household Acts of Love
I don’t think anyone really likes being told what to do, do you? (seriously, do you?)
Even worse is when someone tries to leverage you by saying things like “if you really loved me, you’d [fill in the blank]” It’s bad enough they’re telling you to do something you maybe didn’t want to do, without them adding an extra layer of manipulation to it. I hope that this is a scenario you’ve only seen play out in movies and you’re not actually having to navigate your own Mean Girls/Regina George situation.
Without context, this text from John 14 might sound like Jesus is being manipulative. But when Jesus says “if you love me…”, he means it in a very different way. God’s love isn’t needy or insecure, it’s the opposite! The love of God is secure and giving; it builds us up, supports us, encourages us, and is absolutely steadfast. God’s love is the foundation of all creation; it is our source, our origin, our road, and our destination.
Knowing that, it’s better to read the start of this passage basically as the inverse of how Regina George says it: Jesus is saying “if YOU want to be sure that you love me, you’ll know it because you’ll be keeping my commandments.” How do we know we love people around us? We feel it, and we help out – around the house, we take care of our responsibilities, we pick them up from the airport, we help them move, we share meals, we make them food, we look after them when they’re sick, etc. That’s the stuff of loving relationships that we can look to and be confident that we’re doing our part.
Ordinary, Household Acts of Love
Jesus is comforting his disciples here who are terrified because they know that he’s about to be taken away from them. They’ve been with him for years, and they’re scared about life without him. Jesus is saying: “it’s going to be ok, and you’ll know that it’s ok because when you follow my commandments, you’ll experience the love and presence of God.”
Do you remember the story about the lawyer who asked Jesus what the greatest commandment is? Jesus said: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” (Matt. 22:34-40) That story doesn’t appear in John’s Gospel, but Jesus says something similar just before today’s passage; in chapter 13, he says “34 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.”
When we love someone, it’s so much easier to let our lives be interrupted by them. It’s like we don’t even need to be told what to do; acts of love just flow out of us. Jesus calls us to extend that to not just our friends, but to all our neighbors, and even our enemies. That’s how we’ll experience the presence of God.
Reflective Questions:
The presence of God can be hard to “get” if you’re not sure what to pay attention to. It’s like recognising an ingredient in a recipe: once it’s pointed out to you, you’ll taste it. You’ll probably start to notice it everywhere, actually. Jesus says that when we obey his commandments (i.e. love), we’ll experience the presence of God. Do you have a story about that?
You might have heard about some US legislators wanting to put the 10 Commandments up in schools. Without getting into the weeds of whether that’s a good idea or not, how do you think the conversation around this idea might be different if it were these “greatest commandments” instead?
“Everybody wants a revolution, but nobody wants to do the dishes.” This quote is varyingly attributed to Dorothy Day and/or Tish Harrison Warren. What does it mean to you?
Closing Activity:
The greatest commandment from Matthew 22 has three parts: Love God, Love your neighbor, Love yourself. In John 14:15-21, Jesus says that when we do this, we’ll experience the presence of God.
Make a dot point list of three things you can do to obey each part of this commandment. Think about things you can do today, and things that have a longer-term scope.
What stands out to you on these lists?
What parts are easy? Which parts are difficult?
Which one will you start with immediately?
Listen to or sing a hymn together, “They Will Know We are Christians By Our Love”
Final Prayer:
(take a deep breath and exhale)
Holy One, we trust that you tell us the truth. Loving people can be really hard; loving ourselves can be even harder sometimes. You know this; and we trust that you will help us. We want to know you better and follow you more closely. We trust that when you say you’ll fill us with your Spirit, you’ll do it. So, help us love one another, help us love ourselves, and help us love you; help us recognize you in the midst of it all.
Thank you for loving us, and thank you for making your home with us.
In Christ’s name, Amen.
Bio:
Rev. Rory Chambers is the Pastor for Youth and Young Adults at The First Presbyterian Church of Dutch Neck, NJ. Rory is Australian, and looks for any excuse to share a meal with people. If he’s not at home with his family, you’ll find him leading karaoke at a pub with his neighbors.
