John 15:9-17

How disappointing it must have been for the Jewish people to be waiting hundreds of years for the Messiah to come and then when he did appear he was not at all what they had expected. They wanted a powerful, political Messiah who would free the land of Israel from the Romans. They wanted someone who would get things done. They wanted someone who would sort things out – a mover and a shaker. Instead of this, they got someone who saw himself as a God-man and talked of himself as a servant-king. He said that he had to come not to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many (Mk 10:45). It was upside-down; it was inside out and it was not how they wanted things to be. They wanted someone to push the ‘Jewish’ agenda and to make things happen. They wanted planning meetings and committees and strategies. They wanted action. What they got was this lonely, enigmatic figure who allowed himself to be taken advantage of and crucified.

How disconcerting that he left similar ideas for us to follow. We are told not to take the highest seat (Lk 14:9); to consider others better than ourselves (Ph 2:3). Wouldn’t it make sense to have charismatic, televisual, media savvy Church leaders to put our ideas on the map – spin and soundbites about God in order to get people on board. However, it seems that God does not want us to play the fame game. He does not want us courting popularity and power. Instead of this, we are asked to take up our cross daily and follow him (Lk 9:23).

Dostoevsky (1958) writes a story about a Grand Inquisitor who has to deal with the situation of Jesus coming back to earth. The Grand Inquisitor put Jesus in prison but then visited him to explain why he needed to do this. His opinion was that Jesus made three mistakes during his temptation in the desert. The first mistake was that in deciding not to turn the stones into bread he refused to do a miracle (Mt 4:4). The second mistake was that in refusing to throw himself down from the highest point of the Temple he refused to create a mystery out of his identity as the messiah (Mt 4:6). The third mistake was that in refusing the kingdoms of the earth he was careful not to allow himself to be seen as a man of authority (Mt 4:9). The Grand Inquisitor explains to Jesus that miracle, mystery and authority are the three things that people need to feel confident in making a decision about God. Jesus’ desire for people to make a decision based solely on free will meant that instead of firm foundations for appeasing man’s conscience you chose everything that was exceptional, enigmatic and vague (Dostoevsky 1958:286)

The Church, explains the Grand Inquisitor has corrected Jesus’ great work and has based the Christian faith on miracle, mystery and authority. It is for this reason that Jesus needs to be kept in prison because if he is let out then he will make the same mistakes all over again.

How striking that you come to church and I want to tell you about the mysteries of God. I want to explain to you all the law and the prophets. I want you indignant with Amos at the injustice in the land of Israel. I want you soothed by the lyrical beauty of the Song of Songs. I have spent years studying the Scriptures and I want you to know it all. When it comes to the crunch though, I can’t tell you any of this. However, all I can actually say is love one another (Jn 15:17). I am not asking you to love the whole world in a flurry, blurry way but to love one another. This is a much more prickly thing to ask of you. We are asked to love our enemies (Lk 6:27) and so I am asking you to love one another, not necessarily to like one another. Augustine was asked if he could sum up all the law and the prophets in one sentence. He replied “Love God and do what you want’.

How hard to be so simple:

• How do we love our families when we live on the opposite side of the country and may only see them once every six weeks.
• How do we love the neighbours on our street when we do not even know who they are?
• How do we love ourselves when we struggle with disappointed expectations or the conflicting set of demands that life can throw at us?

The easiest most straight forward way to show love is to listen