 |
 |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
May 1, 2005
It's Hard, but I Love It
John 14:15-21
Not long ago Judy and I had dinner at a restaurant in Anamosa. It's not been there long—as a restaurant. But the building and the family of the man, who, with his wife, had recently opened the place, had been there for a while—more than a century.
"People ask me why I quit a really good job to come do this." He explained that the place was in his bones. This is where he belonged; and this is what he is supposed to be doing. He's really into it; and it is into him. It was a delight to watch him work the tables as people ate, asking if everything was OK, suggesting something from the menu, teasing those he knew, telling stories to those who listened while waiting to have their meal brought to them. "It's really hard work for my wife and me, but we love it."
I met a man a few days ago who runs a shoe repair business in Marion. He's been doing the work since he was a boy. He learned from his father. He loves his work, and he loves to tell about it. I was twenty minutes paying for a tin of shoe brown shoe polish. "I wouldn't be found doing anything else."
I'm getting acquainted with a barber who's about my age. He's been at it since 1980. "Not so many going into it nowadays," he observed. All the little shops are disappearing. The big styling chains have taken over. He charges ten bucks a head. Even if he went full bore eight hours a day, six days a week, he's going to be luck to clear $40,000 a year after overhead and expenses. "It's made me a decent living over the years." He's really into barbering; barbering has a hold on him.
People like that are just awesome. They're not just making a living. They've found a life; they're living a life. And the life they're living, they share with others. How people get into things so deeply, and how what they're into gets into them?
That's what Jesus was getting at when he told disciples: If you love me, you will keep my commandments." At first reading, I thought he was getting at something else. You know, "If you really love me, you'll do what I want." Jesus isn't into manipulation. He's telling it the way it is. Disciples' love will show.
When I was in sixth grade, Phoebe Cox, our teacher, made a big impression on me. "It's not what you say, it's what you do that counts." There you have the fundamentals according to Phoebe. You can imagine what she'd have done with a "the dog ate my homework" excuse for being late turning in an assignment. Jesus was just stating the reality: people who love me will be seen doing what I've commanded.
But how do they do it? Especially people who are touchy about being told what to do. According to Jesus it's first of all a matter of his abiding, his hanging in there with us, and his being in us. They come to the same thing, his abiding with us and being in us. That's the way we're able to get into Jesus. So how does Jesus get into us, and conversely, how do we get into Jesus?
Once upon a time I tried to learn to play the saxophone. Drove my parents crazy. I never was any good at it. I learned the notes, how to move my fingers and I made sounds come out. But I could never make music. I remember reading something Fred Buechner — a Presbyterian who's really into writing — wrote when he was trying to help people understand Jesus' point when he told disciples that their righteousness needed to exceed that of the Pharisees. A pretty tall order. The Pharisees were a movement who prided themselves on getting it right and doing it well. Buechner says "righteousness" it's like playing a piano. You may be hitting all the keys just right, but you're not making music. You know you're really getting it right when the place starts jumping, and people's feet just won't hold still. That happens when people who play know what they're playing by heart. Helen Ridge is a member of our church; her eyesight is not what it used to be. She can't read the notes from a page. But when she sits down to the piano, music comes out her hands; the music's in her. She plays by heart from the heart.
How does that music get in there to come out to make the place jump and people's people feet a tapping? I've known a few musicians, and some good ones. I don't think I've ever known one who didn't practice. Most practice everyday. I guess they don't really have to, good as they've gotten to be; but they do it anyway. Partly they want to stay good; mostly it's just in them to do it. I think it must have something to do with loving the music, and taking delight in making music.
If you love me, you will keep my commandments. A couple of things to notice. First, Jesus is talking about commandments, not suggestions. These are things we're to take to heart, not just consider. Notice, too, he doesn't say that if you love him you'll feel a certain way about him. Commandments are for keeping. I believe there's a good reason he didn't make the way we feel the hallmark of love. That's because love is not first of all or mainly about the way we feel. It's about what we do and the way we do it. Loving one another was high among things Jesus wanted disciples to do.
Yesterday, I was part of helping Justin Adams and Allison Long get married. We did it at Westminster, but before long we'll be back to doing the like here again. That'll be good. You know, times will come when Justin and Allison don't feel toward one another the way they were feeling yesterday. We hope their feelings for one another will grow and deepen. But anyone who's been in a serious, long-term loving relationship knows there are hills and valleys. However they feel, they'll be able to keep things together by doing the things of love. Those things are about getting up, going to work every day, fixing meals, carrying out trash, keeping up the yard, getting up in the night when kids come along, reminding one another that there's more to the world than our little part of it. Those and myriad other things we do demonstrate love, however we may be feeling about one another at the time.
It's a lot like showing up at worship, putting on your name tag, singing the hymns, putting something in the offering, talking to your friends, making new ones, listening for what needs doing and doing it. However we may feel on any particular Sunday morning, we do the things that say, "I love you, Lord, and those you given to me."
If you love me, you will keep my commandments. How many are there? What if I forget some of them? Misses the point, don't you think? I mean, come on, now, when it comes to people we love, when we start lining out the rules and expectations, we know something is out of kilter. And when you're out of kilter you're in trouble; good kilter is hard to find. If you work in a place where people sit around and read their job descriptions all the time, or worry about whether their work mate in the next cubicle has got a computer with a faster processor, or is nearer the restroom, or has a window-view, then you have to wonder who really understands the situation. Keeping up relations comes to understanding one another. The point of reading the bible and learning about Jesus is not the "information," but about coming to an understand about Jesus and the Lord's way with us. Of course, we're never going to understand all about the Lord. But, the Counselor the Lord promised will grant us enough understanding to keep the commandments. Understanding the Lord and keeping the commandments go together.
I've been reading Marilynne Robinson's novel, Gilead. She won a big award for writing it, you know. Anybody, who's been around the Iowa Writers Workshop, teaching, as long as she, can hardly help but be a really good writer. I fancy she does not spend a lot of her waking hours conjugating verbs. Time was she did. But thank goodness she never thought doing so was the whole point. Else she'd never have gotten out Housekeeping before producing Gilead several years later. She's at the point in her writing of being able to tell when she is making a mess of things, is able to clean it up, or get help to make it right. Writing is in Ms. Robinson; and she's really into writing. Do you suppose maturity in discipleship is something like that?
As we learn about Jesus, we can hope to God that we don't get stuck on prizing the jots and tittles. But getting a grip on some basic stuff is all on the way to understanding the Lord and the Lord's work with us. Shakespeare had to learn the ABCs, too.
I don't care how good a musician or writer or how strong a disciple one may be, everybody's got to practice, practice, practice. I don't care how good a musician, or writer or how strong a disciple one may be we all have to come to a basic understanding of what we're doing.
Most of the good musicians and writers I know are always learning from others. Same goes for discipleship, for those who love the Lord and keep his commandments. Joyce Carol Oats it one of our most prolific contemporary writers, mostly novels. But you know, she's always reading somebody else's stuff. Bruce Springsteen has been around for a while; he's just put out another album. I heard him say on NPR the other day how much he listens to what others are playing. Do you suppose we learn things about discipleship, about loving the Lord, about keeping the Lord's commandments, by listening, and reading and watching how others go about it?
Practice. Understanding. Taking others' example seriously. They're all part of the way Jesus gets into us, and how we get into Jesus. But the main thing is not really up to us. The main thing is what Jesus promised. The Counselor. The Holy Spirit. Good as the writing may be, it takes off when the Spirit gets hold of it. Wonderful as the music may come out, it really sings when the Spirit gets hold of it. Faithfully as we may go about discipleship, what makes it living our life for Christ is when the Spirit gets hold of us. The Holy Spirit is who enables us to "get it." The Holy Spirit is the one who gets Jesus into us, and us into Jesus.
If you love me, you will keep my commandments. Practice. Seek understanding. Learn from others. Rely on the Holy Spirit.
| Return to Sermon List |
First Presbyterian
Church of Cedar Rapids
310 Fifth Street SE Cedar Rapids, IA 52401
Phone: 319-364-6148
E-mail: church@fpccr.org
Copyright © 2003-2007 First Presbyterian Church of Cedar Rapids. All rights reserved.