Read John 14:15–21
Last week we heard one of the greatest promises spoken by Jesus. He is preparing a place for you in heaven. He will come back to take you to heaven. He himself is “The Way, the Truth, and the Life” to get to heaven. Our hearts have enough to explode with comfort from just those words. But Jesus fills us with even more with the very next words he spoke. He promises you the gift of the Holy Spirit, a Counselor, a lifelong companion living in you and filling you with life, the very same life Jesus had him himself. If you commit to heart and mind no other words from our gospel today, commit these, Jesus says, “Because I live, you also will live.” Verse 19.
The action of Jesus living is a present condition. Yes there is a future implication here. Jesus has not yet died and risen again. He is most certainly about to. And through the resurrection we see confirmed the reality of this living Jesus produces. He produces life in himself, to himself, and now through himself. That living is communicated to us. “You also will live.” In that case there is a future tense to the verb, a future that began at that moment for all Christian people, extends throughout our whole lives, and carries us through death into our eternal life. You will live.
You can’t say that to dead things. You can’t say that to things that have no life in themselves. Before Christ revealed himself to us by the Holy Spirit, you were not alive. Though alive in our mother’s womb, we had nothing to look forward to but the dead man’s tomb. And without Christ in our lives, our lives would have showed it. When all you have to look forward to is the tomb, then you will live as much as you can for pleasure, personal comforts, and selfish priorities. In the end, that’s a life without purpose, without a meaningful purpose, an impactful purpose, a purpose that cares about the eternal nature of the soul. But Christ says, “You will live.” With the very life he had in himself when he rose from the dead, he gave life to you. Caring only of his love for you, he died on the cross. Caring only of his love for you, he rose from the dead. Caring only of his love for you, he gave you life.
It is in this life “you also will live.” Not grasping and clamoring around for purpose, but counseled and guided by God the Holy Spirit. Like a good counselor for graduating high school seniors who have no idea what to do next, they look over each student’s potential and point them down a path. Here we stand with life in our bodies now and a world in front of us, yes, I know with some limitations and government restrictions, but still, the world is in front of us and the Holy Spirit gives us our path, our one path, a meaningful, purposeful path and here is what he says, “If you love me, you will obey what I command.” With Christ in our lives, Christ calls for a life of, that’s right, obedience.
“Talk about your punch in the gut. I mean you put the world out in front of me, and I was expecting a life of freedom. A life that is free for me to act and think and speak as I like.” Only here’s the problem: Christ knows that living a life you like will not look or sound at all Christ-like. So instead of what I like, the Holy Spirit lives in me to be Christ-like. And if what you like is entirely Christ-like, then great. But just mention the word “obey,” whether it’s with Christ or any other authority, and what do you feel? What does your heart say? Don’t you want to say something like, “You can’t tell me what to do!”
Think of the act of wearing a mask covering. Whether you agree with the idea or not, it’s a simple command. “Wear a mask. It can be a scarf, a kerchief, or an old cut up sock. I don’t care. But wear a mask.” “Well, my face is my personal space. I like it perfectly well without a mask. Who are you to tell me to wear a mask anyway?” And just like that, we take an entirely simple task and blow it out of proportion. We question the validity of the act. We question the authority of the one telling us to wear it. We even question ourselves to see if this is something we would like to do. And now we’re back to what I like.
And that’s something so simple as a piece of cloth on your face. Now what will we think for all the ways we can be more Christ-like? Christ was compassionate to people who were lost in a sin-darkened world and in need of guidance. I like thinking of myself first no matter how inconsiderate it makes me. Christ considered no act of service or sacrifice below him but made himself nothing, daily, for anybody. I like returning favors to those who do nice things to me and withholding kindness from those I really don’t like. Christ loved like it mattered, like people’s lives would be something far less if he didn’t show up and love them that day, like he knew that the only way to overcome hate was with an overabundance of love, so much that as love poured into their lives there would be enough to fill them so they would love too. I like, well, being loved.
All this is not what only what Christ likes, it is what Christ is like. What I mean to say is that Christ did not give us a command he did not in his own life first obey perfectly himself. The Holy Spirit guides us to understand what Christ is like. Christ-like is living, living with love, living with life, powerful life that raises dead people to life. And if Christ says, “Because I live, you also will live,” then you also will live Christ-like.
Let me put it this way, Christ-like living is living to imitate Christ. Because maybe you’ve heard this before, “Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery that mediocrity can pay to greatness.” What a beautiful idea that is. And it’s true. If you’re going to imitate someone, that says a lot about you. That says not only have you taken the time to observe their work but you also like it enough to replicate it. “This is something that now I like.” With Christ in my life he gives me a life that needs no improvement, no innovation, no variation, only imitation.
Christ says, “If you love me, you will obey” and that’s not a punch in the gut. That’s only a bad thing when you don’t like what you’re being told. And you won’t like what you’re being told when you don’t like the person telling you. But when you think about your relationship to Christ instead of whether or not you like what he commands, then it doesn’t matter what he commands. From something as simple as wearing a mask without complaining because your government tells you to, to something as unique to Christ-like love as showing love to those who hate you and praying for your enemies. Love won’t care what it’s asked to do. Love has a higher, nobler reason for doing than just, “Because I said so” when it hears Christ say, “Because I live, you also will live.” Love understands that I am loved so that I can go and give love.
I like these words of our gospel today, if you can’t tell. I like that Christ lived for me. I like that Christ died and rose again for me. I like that the driving reason for all of this was not so that Christ could order me around like a power hungry leader, but so that Christ could show me his love, fill me with his love, and send me the Holy Spirit so I can live in his love. I like his guidance, his counsel because it’s true. It is the one thing I know to be true above all else, so that Jesus is proved true when he says, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life.” I like that because Christ lives, I too will live Christ-like.
Amen.
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