6th Sunday of Easter
May 21, 2017
John 14:15-21
There’s something we have noticed watching Disney
movies with our kids that didn’t stand out so much before, and that’s what
we’ve taken to calling the Disney orphan phenomenon. Have you ever noticed how
many main characters in Disney movies are orphans? Cinderella’s an orphan. Snow
White’s an orphan. Bambi’s an orphan. Anna and Elsa are orphans. Lilo and her
sister from Lilo and Stitch are
orphans. Or, if not orphan, then at least one parent is gone or inexplicably
missing, like The Lion King and Beauty and the Beast and The Little Mermaid. There’s a few main
characters that come from two parent households, like Mulan and Sleeping Beauty
and Rapunzel, yet even in those stories, the bulk of their movie still does not
involve their parents. I did a little research to find out why and there are
two reasons given by Don Hahn, who was the producer of many of those movies I
just mentioned.[1] First, he says that no
parents or only one parent help move the story along in a 90 minute movie.
These movies are about growing up and taking responsibility and it’s easier
when the parents are out of the picture. The second reason is that Walt
Disney’s mom died. Not when he was young, but just when he was reaching the
height of his fame. Mickey Mouse, Fantasia, Dumbo, Pinocchio, Bambi, and Snow
White had just come out and he bought a house for his parents. The furnace
leaked; his dad got sick, but his mom died. It sounds a little bit like Simba
blaming himself for Mufasa’s death, right?
It sounds a bit like how worried the disciples got when
Jesus talked about leaving them. The whole time he’s with the disciples, he’s
constantly hinting at the time when he won’t be with them. He’s only with them
for a little while. You don’t fast when the bridegroom is with you, but after
he leaves. This morning Jesus tells his disciples that if they love him, they
will love each other as he loves them. He’s going to send them the Holy Spirit.
And he’s not leaving them all alone, like orphans; he will be back. It’s more
like parents leaving their kids to go to work for the day; they’ll be back at
the end of the day. Jesus will be back. In the meantime, we’re to keep his
commandment to love each other as he has loved us.
Now, right there is the problem. We can love one another on our own, but we need a parent to guide us
and show us the best way to do it. Otherwise, we are more prone to put
conditions on our love or only love people who are like us. That’s why Jesus
does NOT leave us on our own! He knows we need help. We need help loving each
other in the same way Jesus loves us. That’s why Jesus sends the Holy Spirit.
We’re going to celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit in two weeks on
Pentecost Sunday, but we’ll do a preview now. The Holy Spirit is here to help
us, to guide us, to remind us, to comfort us, to be our companion on the
journey. Unlike so many Disney characters, we are not left on our own while we
grow up and figure out responsibility. The Holy Spirit is always here with us. Nudging
us, whispering to us, perhaps sometimes hitting us over the head like Rafiki
whacks Simba. Or to use the example of another Disney movie, in the Disney
Pixar production, Brave, Princess
Merida turns her mom into a bear. Her mom is still around for the whole movie,
but in the form of a bear.
So, if you’re not feeling the help at first, then
try again. And then try in a different way. Don’t get stuck in only one way of
listening to God. I saw the Christian satire website, the Babylon Bee, this
week has an article titled, “Man Sitting Literally Three Feet Away From Bible
Asks God To Speak To Him.”[2] I
think that’s called having something right in front of you and not seeing it.
Have the eyes to see and the ears to hear. Open the eyes of your heart, open
the ears of your soul. The Holy Spirit is here.
As Paul explained to the people of Athens in our Acts passage, “God isn’t far
away from any of us. In God we live and move and having our being.”[3] And
because God in the form of the Holy Spirit is here, we have a hope at loving
each other the same way that Jesus loves each of us.[4]
Jesus loves each of us by not making it about him. Love means it’s not about you. Loves
means your focus is on the other person. You know there are some people who can
make everything about them? Like saying, “Happy birthday to my favorite
person!” It’s not “Happy birthday to you”;
it’s “happy birthday to my…” It makes
it back about me instead of the
birthday person. Jesus kept the focus on the other person, though. “He loved
them by giving, not by taking. He asked not that they serve him, but that they serve
one another. He taught them how to love with his words. And he taught them how
to love by his actions. He showed how to love by the way he lived. He showed
how to love by the way he acted in the world and by the things that he did. He
showed how to love by continually looking for ways to give himself to everyone
else in the world. He showed how to love by giving of his very life for
others. And I’m not just talking about
giving his life away on the cross. The cross was only the final act. Long
before the cross, in all that he said and did, Jesus gave himself in love to
almost everyone he met.”[5]
Yes, almost everyone. When he sent out the 72 and gave them instructions about
not taking anything with them, about healing those who were sick, he also said
that if anyone didn’t welcome them, then to dust the sand off their feet and
move on. Can’t give love to someone who doesn’t want it. However, the point is
more that our efforts are on giving away love rather than focusing on ourselves
seeking to be loved. We do a lot of striving to be loved and a lot of worrying
about what if people don’t like us. It takes a mature person, someone from the end of a Disney movie, not the
beginning, to say I’m done worrying about whether people will like me or get
mad at me. I’m going to do what’s right. And what’s right is putting others
first. Not at the detriment of yourself; I read recently a quote by the
theologian Frederick Buechner, “Pay mind to your own life, your own health, and
wholeness. A bleeding heart is of no help to anyone if it bleeds to death.” You
can’t love others if you don’t have any love to give. At the same time, we are
to love our neighbors as ourselves, pay mind to our life and theirs, our health and
theirs, our wholeness and theirs.
We are to love each other as Jesus loves us, giving away love freely to all who
cross our path.
Yes, that’s right. We
are to love unconditionally. Not for what we might get out of it, not for
our sake, not to use the other person, but to accept them how they are. Period.
Warts and all. Differing opinions and all. Disagreements and all. That’s going
to happen whenever you have more than one person. No two people are going to
see eye to eye all the time. Good thing Jesus also says that “where two or three
are gathered in my name, I am there among them.”[6]
That Holy Spirit showing up, helping us to love each other so that we can move
past the disagreements or work through them or work together in spite of them. That’s why we need the
Holy Spirit. That’s why we shouldn’t be left alone. That’s why we’re not left
alone. The Holy Spirit helps us, or reminds us, to love all kinds of people,
just like Jesus.
Jesus gave himself in love to everyone he met. “He loved the
poor, the oppressed, the outcasts, the sick and diseased, the mentally ill, the
deformed, the blind, the lame, the deaf, and the dumb. He loved women and
children. He loved those inside his faith community and those from outside it.
He loved people from cultural and ethnic groups other than his own.”[7]
Jesus loves the whole world. I saw a post on Facebook this week from another
pastor that said, “Less sermons, more hugs.” Let’s put less focus on telling each other
what to do, less criticism, and more building up. Less judging, more hugs. More
love. And after having said “less sermons,” it’s kinda hard to keep preaching.
So, we’re going to move into a time of showing love to each other. Let’s take a
few minutes to greet one another this morning.
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