Sermon for the 2nd Sunday after Trinity, 2021

Sermon for Trinity 2, 2021

Fr. Tony Melton

You know the scene. It is in dozens of movies. A man suspects he is being followed. It is dark. He is walking fast and listening hard, watching for whoever might jump out of one of the bushes bordering the path. His heart beating in his ears, something rustles a bush behind him to his right. He turns his head over his right shoulder and bolts forward, away from the sound, and runs face first into the clutches of his attacker.

Our victim was spending so much energy to avoid an attack from the front, but the sound from behind drew all his attention so that he didn’t see the greatest threat standing right in front of him. What’s the principle here? Big reactions leave big blind spots. We must beware of the Enemy’s tactics. Often he will throw out a legitimate threat in order to produce a justified reaction, but only to get us to turn our head and miss the lethal trap right in our path.

The greatest example of this, again from the movies, is in Jurassic Park, near the end, when the Australian hunter goes out into jungle to hunt the velociraptor. He hears the raptor rustling in the bushes. He walks forward with a self-confident grin, stalking his prey. He trains his gun and prepares to fire, when the head of the other raptor comes straight out of the bushes on his left. The moment before he is eaten alive, he says with a mix of fear and amusement, “Clever girl.”

There have been a lot of things in the last two years that warrant big reactions. If you have given the news agencies the ability to constantly interrupt your life of prayer with notifications about this or that shocking story, then your life will be one perpetual reaction. You are nearly guaranteed to miss the biggest threats. But the question must be asked, in our reactions to legitimate threats, what are our blind spots? Big reactions leave big blind spots. Big reactions often make us miss the most basic and obvious things, and leave us vulnerable to Satan, who is far more clever than any raptor.

I ask the question because our Epistle from 1 John 3 lays out our life in the simplest of terms. “This is God’s commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment.” Believe on Jesus. Love one another. Believe and Love.

This morning, I simply want to expound our Epistle, that the simplicity and clarity of what we are to do as Christians might be perceived. Then, lest the shining clarity of the command fall into one of our blind spots because of our many and great reactions, I’ll point out some things that may keep us from the commands to believe and love.

First, our Epistle. Please turn to page 4 of your booklet. We are going to walk through each verse of 1 John 3:13-24. In the first few verses of our Epistle, St. John contrasts the Way of Christ with the Way of the World. Those who belong to Jesus love one another. They abide in life. The World hates one another, and especially those who follow the Way of Christ. Those who hate abide in death. The Way of the World is marked by hatred, murder, and death. But we are called to love.

“MARVEL not, my brethren, if the world hate you. We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death. Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him.”

The love that Christians show one another isn’t because we are such great guys and gals. We can be different from the World for two reasons. We have the example of Christ before us and the Spirit of Christ within us.

“Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.” And at the very end of the passage it says, “And hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us.”

So Jesus’ Way to Life is to love one another, and the World’s Way to Death is to hate one another.

What does it mean to love one another? What it mean to hate one another? St. John is very clear. We hate one another when we see someone else struggling and we leave them to fend for themselves. We love one another when we see a brother or sister in need and we are moved with compassion to meet that need, whatever it is.

“But whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?”

To recap, the Way of Jesus, the Way of Life, is to love one another, which is to see and then to help a brother or sister.

It is one thing to see. Many are so far from love that they do not even see those in need. We all fall into this from time to time, don’t we? We miss the downcast face. We miss the beggar trapped by his addictions, yes, but also his trauma. We miss the burdens that each and every one of us carry because we don’t press passed the facades we show each other. Do you really think that everyone here is “Fine”? It takes attentiveness to see. “But whoso seeth his brother have need.” It takes courage to see, to ask.

But it is not enough to see. The love is in the doing. “My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.” This is why we try to insist that when there is a need at the church, people ask for more than prayer and people give more than prayer. It is not because Prayer is unimportant or ineffective. It is the most important and effective thing. We insist upon tangible action because we are aware of the danger that St. John mentions. That, often, people stay in the Way of Hatred and Death, because they speak but do not do.

“My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.”

This is the first section of our Epistle. The idea here is simple to understand. Hard to do. We are called to Love one another, to remember how Jesus saw our need and laid down his life for us, to see need, and to love in deed and in truth. This is the Way. We are called to flee the Way of Hatred and Death, which ignores the needs of others, and hoards this world’s goods, which has no pity or compassion. This is NOT the Way.

The next section is a bit more complicated, but the basic idea is when followers of the Way love one another it is a testimony to themselves that they belong to God.

“And hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him.”

Do you ever doubt that God loves you? Do you ever think that you are outside of Grace? We know that we are in Jesus when we begin to love like Jesus. We know that God is our Father when we start to act like His children.

“And hereby [meaning, when we love in deed and in truth] we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him. For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things. Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God.”

This confidence that we have in Him changes everything. When we love one another, we know  we are in God. We know that we please God. We know that God hears us, and gives us the good desires of our hearts.

“And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight.”

And lest there be any confusion about what the commandments of God are, St. John reminds us again.

“And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment.”

To believe on Jesus and to love one another. These are the commandments. This is the Way. And the purpose of all this is Communion. We say it a lot, but it is true. The purpose for all things is Communion with God. Listen.

“And he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him. And hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us.”

To sum it up, the Way of Jesus is the Way of Life. To walk it is to Love one another, to see need and to meet it out of compassion. This love that we share is a witness to the work of God among us, of God’s presence in us and with us. His presence in and with us is our ultimate purpose and our greatest joy.

The Way of the World is the Hatred and Death. If the Way of Jesus can be so simply described, and the primary dangers so simply named, then how could anyone miss them? Our biggest blind spots come from our biggest reactions.

The last two years have given us much to react to, much to distract us from the Commandment. There has been a pandemic, a real threat of disease. It was completely understandable to be cautious. In our reaction to this threat, it was easy to see one another, not as brothers and sisters made in the image of God, but as a possible source of sickness or germs. How can we see a brother or sister in need if our primary conception of them is a droplet dispenser? In our legitimate reaction to a medical threat, we must avoid letting THE COMMANDMENT to love one another fall within our blind spot.

We have had the real threat of personal liberty, even religious liberty. It was understandable to be concerned, even outraged. Yet in the turning to face this secondary threat, whether it be political or idealogical, we often can’t see the brother or sister in need right in front of us. We miss the Way of Jesus, which is to love one another. Even worse, in our distraction with worldly things, we fall pray to the attack of the Enemy. Before we know it, we are walking the Way of Death, which seeks the preservation of the Self and its Rights to the exclusion of the needs of the brother or sister.

There has been much political dissension. Politics are important, and there are pernicious ideas infecting the political landscape. Real threats. But in our reaction to these things, human beings become enemies very quickly. Their humanity falls within a blind spot because we are fixating on this or that debate.

There has been a great deal of spending. Many feel it was unjustified. Whether or not it was justified is beside the point. If our reaction to our governments economic approach causes us to consider human beings in mere economic categories, then we have lost the Way. The destitute are not takers. The jobless are not leeches. The Way of Jesus is to see human beings made in the Image of God, to see their need, their brokenness and hurt, to enter into the tangled mess of life and to love in deed and in truth.

This month is so called "Pride Month”. Words from this very passage of Scripture are ripped out of context and thrown in our faces. Love, by which they mean full acceptance of behavior. Hate, which they mean any moral limit to individual’s behavior. This calls for some reaction. It is okay to be frustrated. St. John says, “Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you.” But in our reaction to this real threat, this twisting of Love, we must not shy away from biblical Love! Love is the Commandment! To see and to act for Christ’s sake. This is the Way.

In closing, I urge you this week to consider what it means to love one another. Ask yourself what blind spots your reactions have given you. Are you truly seeing your brother or your sister? We should be experts at reading faces. We should be courageous enough to ask hard questions. “How are you really doing? Why are you so downcast, or anxious, or angry? How can I walk through that with you?” This week, ask yourself, “Am I truly desiring the Good for my brother or sister? Am I willing to step into the mess to show the love of Christ?” Are you actively involved in someone else’s struggle? Are you using your resources of wisdom, hospitality, comfort, finances, and prayer to help a brother or sister untangle their mess?

This stepping in the gap is also a stepping on the Way of Jesus, which is Life. And in that Way we dwell in Him and He in us. We commune with Him both as we eat and drink at the Heavenly Banquet, and as we share table with those within the family of God and those without.

“My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.” Amen.