Sunday, May 19, 2019 ~ 5th Sunday of Easter
Charles Monaghan, Guest Preacher
Sermon: “Agape; Love for everyone, even the The stranger on the bus….”
Our readings this morning from the gospel of John and the reading from Act of the Apostles were originally written in the Greek language. The Greeks had then and still have six different words for love while our English tongue has just one. Our one word for love needs adjectives to qualify it, to provide translation to and from the Greek:
- Physical love that begets children; or Eros or Erotic
- Deep friendship and trust among soldiers in combat or members of sports team; Philla or as in Philadelphia the city of “Brotherly Love”.
- Playful affection love, as between a parent and a child, or Ludus.
- Selfless love, altruistic love; or Agape; love for everyone.
- Long standing/realistic love found among mature couples who have spent a lifetime in honoring and celebrating their relationship; Pragma.
- Healthy love of self, the opposite of narcissism; Philautia, or love of the self.
In today’s Gospel from John, Jesus states with the utmost authority: “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you should also love one another. By this one will know you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. The original Greek word for love in this text is “Agape” or love for everyone without qualification, in all places and all times. Agape, the fourth Greek word for love, and perhaps the most radical, speaks of altruistic, selfless and empathetic love. This was a love that you extended to all people, whether family members or distant strangers. Agape was later translated into Latin as caritas, which is the origin of our word “charity.” C. S. Lewis referred to it as “gift love,” the highest form of Christian love. But it also appears in other religious traditions, such as “universal loving kindness” in Buddhism.
And, there is growing evidence that agape is in a dangerous decline in many countries. Empathy levels in the U.S. have declined sharply over the past 40 years, with the steepest fall occurring in the past decade. We urgently need to revive our capacity to care about strangers. The mystery and mystical power of the command to love in Agape, to care about strangers to the disciples comes into its fullness in time in this morning’s reading from Acts 11:18; “Then God has given even to the Gentiles the repentance that leads to live”. In the first century Church under the leadership of Peter, the followers of Jesus the Christ were simply another group of religious folks who identified being under the broad umbrella of being Jewish. Perhaps it may have equated with the different Judaic practice forms today and such as orthodox, reform or conservative.
Perhaps, the early Jewish followers of Jesus as the Christ, the promised one, the messiah imagined they had a patent or an exclusive right to Jesus? Perhaps they forgot what is said in Genesis 12:3; when God says to Abram (before he was elevated to be called Abraham) “All the families of the earth will be blessed in you”. God’s promise was not just to Jews, but to “all the families of the earth. The reading of Acts this morning, almost has Peter on trial for consorting with non-Jewish people, and even taking a meal with unclean Gentiles. This reading provides a window to fundamental concept that the blessing and Peace brought and given freely by Jesus the Christ and his radical command to love everyone without qualification is available and to be given to “all families of the earth”. Karyn Wiseman, Associate Professor at United Lutheran Seminary in Philadelphia, PA, says: “Loving those with whom we agree or are partial to is easy. Loving the rest of the folks we come into contact with is a much harder proposition.
I believe all of us gathered here this morning, struggle with the proposition of “loving the rest of the folks we come in contact with. And perhaps we will never reach the depth of agape love as seen in the person of a Mother Theresa who labored and toiled with the poor and dying in the slums of Calcutta, India. Yet, let me provide another illustration of Elsa Brandstrom also known as the Angel of Siberia. Elsa left a life of relative comfort, heeding the call to bring empathetic agape love to the wretched men confined to prisoner of war camps in Siberia, Russia in the First World War. Elsa was the daughter of the Swedish Ambassador to Russia. At the beginning of the First World War when Elsa was only 24 years old, she looked out the window of the Swedish Embassy of the grand city of St. Petersburg and saw the German Prisoners of War being driven through the streets on their way to Siberia. From the moment on she could no longer endure the splendor of diplomatic life in the beautiful and vigorous city of St. Petersburg. Elsa became a nurse and began visiting the camps. There she saw unspeakable horrors and she a woman of 24, almost alone, fighting love against cruelty, and she prevailed.
She had to fight against the resistance and suspicion of the authorities and she prevailed. She had to fight against the brutality and lawlessness of the prison guards, the cold, hunger, dirt and illness, against the conditions of an undeveloped country and destructive war, and she prevailed. Her agape love gave wisdom with innocence, and daring with foresight. And, whenever she appeared, despair was conquered and sorrow healed. These illustrations of Mother Theresa & Elsa Brandstrom are uplifting, inspiring, and remarkable stories of humble women heeding the biblical imperative to bring agape love, as disciples of Jesus the Christ, as framed in the words of St. Francis of Assisi; “Preach the Gospel Always, when necessary use words”. We in this community of faith, where Sunday has become just another day of the week, how do we respond as disciples to Jesus the Christ’s imperative, to be known as a people who bring agape love to all the nations of the earth?
Many of us now are living our futures, today is the tomorrow we imagined 10, 25, 40 years ago. Our infant children, nieces & nephews seemed to become adults overnight, and now are blessing of us with third generation mirrors of ourselves! Time is the great mirage that we all chase, so wiser or more foolish than others, but that which we never catch. Yet if we go back in time, nearly 25 years ago, we might hear Joan Osborne singing her unique iconic and popular song “What if God was one of us?”. The song suggests what if God is just a stranger on the bus, trying to make his way home?” I want to suggest that we can and need to bring agape love to the face of God to our neighbor, who may be the stranger on the bus trying to make his way home, in all those around us both far and near. Who is our neighbor for whom we might be known simply by the bringing of agape love, where we preach the gospel always, and when necessary use words? Is it the stranger on the bus? Is it the person sitting behind you in church?
How well do you know that person sitting behind you, other than to just say “Good Morning” to, after this service? Is your neighbor your spouse, or ex-spouse, could it be a brother or a sister, a son or a daughter or any relative or close friend, that you don’t speak to anymore because of some incredibly stupid misunderstanding of years ago? Our Lord Jesus the Christ calls out of today’s gospel to find and allow for some time to make a phone call, to send an email, a text message or even just a kind hand written note that extends fellowship and syas to the stranger on the bus, to our neighbor or once close friend; “Let’s get together for coffee or lunch”. And in doing so one participates in the sharing the Peace of the resurrected Jesus, the Christ. Perhaps that person is imprisoned in the loneliness of grief from a recent loss, or starving for companionship and in need of your presence to clothe their naked chill of isolation and would love to have you just sit and be present with them for a short time?
We are social creatures and even as adults we need the presence of others in our lives to thrive. While I understand and I know that most of us are not trained psychiatric professionals and that some folk’s issues are often beyond our capabilities, let me share a new care technique being used in Neonatal Intensive Care Centers in major teaching hospitals throughout the United States. These centers have found when premature infants, some only the size of a newborn kitten, will begin to thrive when placed against the chest of their biological mother or father. The human contact and touch is powerful, sacred and healing. This new concept of placing premature infants on and against their parents own bodies has been given the name of “Kangaroo Care”, since it mimics how a mother kangaroo keeps her young close to her own body after they are born. Some of us may have the occasion to go into a hospital to visit sick relatives or friends and run out of things to say or maybe person that you are visiting is unable to speak.
Recall that when Jesus was going through His Agony in the garden, he asked his disciples to stay with Him, and just be present with Him. But, they fell asleep instead. So, when you visit the sick and shut-ins, give and get God’s grace by being awake and present with them, even for a little while, even if they are a complete boor, remembering you are not doing this for yourself, you ar just bringing the agape love of Jesus the Christ to that person. Our presence with those who hunger and thirst for companionship, or shiver from the nakedness of isolation can be a kind of Christian Kangaroo Care that helps our neighbors and strangers on the bus trying to find their way home to thrive, like the premature infant. Human contact and presence with one and another, can be that window to understanding that which is Sacred, Magnificent, Divine and All Loving, or just God as revealed to us in the agape of love of the resurrected Jesus the Christ.
That agape love is available for the stranger on the bus, the person sitting behind you in Church, the Jew, the Gentile, the Muslim, the Hindu, the Buddhist, and so on… My prayer for each of you gathered now, when this week follows, when you are outside of this Sacred Space, in the often ungodly, cruel, mefirst selfish world; is that you accept the commission of Jesus the Risen Christ to be recognized as His disciples by the love you have for one another, even for the Gentile, the Jew, or the Stranger on the Bus. And, that “you preach the Gospel always, and when necessary use words.” Amen