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The New Commandment: Love One AnotherhMay 6, 2007, Fifth Sunday of Easter
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fs Message gLetfs Play Catchh or gFrisbee LovehJesus gave a new commandment. He said, gA new commandment I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. All men will know that you are my disciples if you love one another.h
This mutual love looks like playing catch or Frisbee, as we love and return the love. And like playing catch, it takes practice to be good at it.
There are also the commandments to Love God and to Love Your Neighbor and even Love Your Enemy. But this mutual love is a special love for those in the fellowship of the followers of Christ. It means we have to respect and be nice to fellow church members. It means we also have to respect and be nice to other Christians who are not in our denomination but who are disciples and followers of Christ.
I say this second meaning because of today
fs Bible Reading from Acts 11. You see, Cornelius was a Roman centurion who believed in Jesus, but he was not Jewish. And Jews did not want to do anything with Gentiles. Peter was a Jew but God gave him a vision of a sheet being let down from heaven which held all sorts of animals that the Jews thought to be unclean. But God declared them clean and edible.In this vision, God meant more than animals for food. This was a vision, like a parable, which meant that all people of every nation and race are clean through Jesus Christ. And so, Peter had the faith now to go to the home of Cornelius, have fellowship with him and proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Now they too could enjoy mutual love as they love one another.
The basis of this love was in the new commandment that Jesus gave,
gAs I have loved you, so you must love one another.h Peter saw that God loved Cornelius and so Peter must love Cornelius in the same way Christ would love Cornelius. This love means respect, kindness, thoughtfulness, and fellowship.This is also the basis of our love for one another. We love each other as Christ loves the other: respect, kindness, and all the characteristics of I Corinthians 13. Jesus said,
gAs I have loved you, so you must love one another.h How did Jesus love us? He died on the cross to save us. This is the way we must love others, too. Love means that we give our life to others, whether we die for them or live for them; we live and love like Christ did.When Peter had fellowship in the Word of God with Cornelius, the Holy Spirit filled everyone there. And so it is with us. In the power of the Holy Spirit, we love each other as Christ has loved us.
Amen.
Michael Nearhood, Pastor
Okinawa Lutheran Church