GospelJN 14:23-29
“Whoever loves me will keep my word,
and my Father will love him,
Whoever does not love me does not keep my words;
yet the word you hear is not mine
but that of the Father who sent me.“I have told you this while I am with you.
The Advocate, the Holy Spirit,
whom the Father will send in my name,
will teach you everything
and remind you of all that I told you.
Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you.
Not as the world gives do I give it to you.
Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid.
You heard me tell you,
‘I am going away and I will come back to you.’
If you loved me,
you would rejoice that I am going to the Father;
for the Father is greater than I.
And now I have told you this before it happens,
so that when it happens you may believe.”
I was talking to friend of mine few days ago about how challenging is love Jesus calls us to love others:
It’s not enough to love your neighbor as yourself
Jesus commend is to love neighbor as he loved us
How he loved us?
Totally. Completely. Not expecting anything in exchange.
Look on the cross. He doesn’t want anything back. He simply loves everyone of us dying for us.
We cannot offer him anything back for his love.
In some ways God wastes his love loving us
Because many of us won’t appreciate it,
Some of us would be forever angry on him for some things in our lives that aren’t even his fault
Other of us don’t really care about knowing him and. Stepping out of my comfort zone because we don’t have time for such intense relationship with God
And some of us here don’t really believe that he is real person, that he really died, that he has right to demand from us to fallow him..
Fallowing Jesus we are called to love that same way he loved us.
Totally. Completely. Not expecting anything in exchange.
Giving without expecting anything back
And so we are called to give people chance again and again, to love them even if they waste and don’t appreciate our love
We are called to such insane way of loving
Only because we are loved that way
And because only such love makes difference in us and around us,
I had a gift for friends of mine son who had 1 communion yesterday.
I got him electric guitar with small amplifier. Something for the beginning.
And as I was testing it I figured out that guitar is not working properly..
Not enough time to get him another in the shop. It wasn’t here in Mobile
And it happen I had my favorite electric guitar with amplifier in the trunk.
It took me a while to come to conclusion that I can simply give to this boy my own guitar. My favorite one.
And it was difficult to agree in my heart for such choice because
He may not even learn how to play
2nd as it is with children, the guitar that was safely stored in the heavy duty Levi case, now might be destroyed in few days.
3rd I just like that guitar a lot. I was emotionally attached to it. It was gift from my cousin from Minnesota.
Made for 20th fender anniversary strato caster, unique white color, perfectly tuning.
With inscription on the back: Fender- Freedom of expression
And as I was thinking about giving it away, the words of Jesus came to my mind from last Sunday
To love as he loved. Without expecting anything back, risking not being appreciated, giving away heart on the palm of your hand…just for the sake of loving the way he loved us
I’m not saying that to Bragg about how loving I am..
I have 5 other guitars left any way…
It was just humbling experience to see that I’m attached to some things more than I would like to admit
And that I need to have in my heart this strength and painful openness to give away anything if somebody is in need…
Because often it can be easier to give somebody money rather than give my time, or share things I have
What is left for me is satisfaction that I gave this boy my favorite guitar.
And he may never know about that. He may never appreciate it as I do.
He may break it in few days not being enough careful … Doesn’t matter…
I made a choice to give away part of my heart locked in this guitar.
And I was able to do it only because Jesus did it first and challenge us to fallow him too
And yes you have right to say that I’m childish and silly. I am. It’s true. I’m big kid in many ways
You have right to say that this story is completely out of touch with reality because I struggle with giving away my favorite guitar, while you may struggle with keeping your kids in school, paying loans, having much more serious struggles in life than me
And I agree with you.
But I have this suspicion that in your lives, you encounter such moments like I did too
When you are challenged to love somebody who doesn’t deserve it, who may not even notice it
to forgive somebody who will hurt again,
to help person who won’t appreciate it…
In all these situations you and me are called to love which is more that just nice feeling,
To love that may not make to much sense, love that is insane,
wasteful in some ways, love that share its heart, love that is not noticed,
Such love is reward in itself.
Because it brings so much freedom, joy and peace to us who dare to love in such ways
Love one another as I love you.
Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you.
It’s my 10 th moves as I’m going to tallassee
You still may say I have a lot of toys
And I do. I have 6 guitars.3 amplifiers,
2 cars,
1 motorcycle, 1 bicycle,
2 surfboards, I kite board , 7 kites, 4 kites, 4 skateboards,.
Many of those things I didn’t have 2 years ago. Many of them I’ll give back to people who let me use their toys like surfboard and kites
Some I’m giving away because I don’t need them any more
But the most difficult part for me is to give away what I really treasure
vessel4him 