Easter 6 Year C 2025: John 14:23-29

My middler, or second, year in seminary, I was pregnant with my first daughter. I was a member of the schola cantorum, the advanced vocal group, and a section leader in the regular seminary choir. The schola was officially a student group, so it wasn’t led by a faculty member. Therefore there wasn’t the coordination of repertoire you might expect. So in the fall, the schola sang Thomas Tallis’ “If Ye Love Me”. Then in the spring, the seminary choir also sang Thomas Tallis’ “If Ye Love Me”. AND THEN, toward the end of spring semester I was in class for Liturgical Music. And the professor played a classical example of Reformation era compositional style: Thomas Tallis’ “If Ye Love Me”. And my daughter had apparently heard it enough. She kicked so hard that other classmates saw my stomach move and our poor professor, who had no idea what had happened, was perplexed by what was so funny about Tallis.

But that year of Tallis might have been accidentally making a theological point in our lives. The full text of the motet is taken from William Tyndale’s translation of the Bible, which was in common use in the Church of England during the English Reformation. It uses verses 15-17 from John 14, which is reiterated in verses 23-25 of today’s gospel text: “If ye love me, keep my commandments / And I will pray the Father / and he shall give you another comforter, / that he may 'bide with you forever; / E'en the sp'rit of truth.”

Some version of “if you love me, keep my commandments” is said dozens of times throughout our scriptures. Keeping God’s commandments is one of the ways in which Israel demonstrates their love of the Lord, and the giving of the Law is a gift from God - not an imposition. Although sometimes - oftentimes - doing the right thing, keeping God’s commandments, is hard, God’s instruction throughout most of scripture isn’t described as a burden laid on the people.

People don’t particularly like being told what to do. But have you ever just wished someone would tell you what to do? I was working at a parish as a layperson where we had a four month period between when the rector retired at Christmas and the interim arrived in Lent. And that February, we had four parish funerals. And I wanted nothing more than a priest in that office next to mine to just tell me what to do. I declared our cat The Rev. Pumpkin with the hopes that her newly granted authority might give me some guidance. At least it gave me some  comic relief, because The Rev Pumpkin never chimed in with any guidance. Being told what to do, being given some guidance, can be a great gift.

In the Gospel of Mark, one of the scribes asks Jesus a question - “which commandment is the first of all?” To which Jesus responds, “The first is, ‘Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one; you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” It is important that we hear this in Jesus’ cultural context. Jesus is not saying anything new here. He is quoting Deuteronomy 6: “Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. Keep these words that I am commanding you today in your heart.” (Deut 6:4-6) Love is commanded as the fullest measure of the loyalty that Israel owes the Lord, who is Israel’s only divine sovereign. The heart connotes the human intellect and will, and the soul, meaning the vitality of self-hood, and the two - heart and soul - are often conjoined in Deuteronomic rhetoric. The final item, “might”, could also be translated as “capacity”. So we are to love the lord not just by feelings, but by giving our wills over to Him - like in the hymn Take my life and let it be, “Take my will and make it thine / it shall be no longer mine”

Former Presiding Bishop Michael Curry often says “if it’s not about Love, it’s not about God.” The focus of Bishop Curry’s ministry is the call to view our actions on God’s behalf through the lens of love. In the introduction of his book Love is the Way, Bishop Curry writes, “Love - unselfish, sacrificial, unconditional, and liberating love - is the way, frankly the only way, to realize God’s dream of the beloved community, on earth as it is in heaven. It’s the only thing that can, and that ever will, make the world a better place.” (6)

The first letter of John, which reads like a commentary on or summary of the Gospel of John, combines these instructions well - how to love as a way to keep God’s commandments. In Chapter 2, he writes, “Now by this we may be sure that we know him, if we obey his commandments.” (2:3) In Chapter 4 he writes, “Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love. God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him.” (4:7-9) And it is bookended in Chapter 5: “By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. For the love of God is this, that we obey his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome, for whatever is born of God conquers the world.” (5:2-4)

The Easter Bunny brought that same Tallis-loving daughter The Beginner’s Bible this year. She’s fascinated with it and loves having it read to her. And although I oftentimes make additions to things that have been left out - like Jonah being angry that the people repented so Ninevah wasn’t destroyed - there’s one theme throughout her Bible that I really like. And that is how often it is simply stated that a character does something because they love God. The myriad of people in the Old Testament who wouldn’t pray to idols or to kings, or who wouldn’t stop praying to God, simply because they loved God. Not in a transactional way. It never says, “so-and-so loved God because of all the neat stuff they got from God”. Just that they loved God. Full stop. Sometimes people are complicated. Our motivations are mixed, our emotions are mixed, there are shades of grey everywhere. So it can be helpful to return back to that call to love God above all else, and to do so by making God’s will ours and remembering that if it’s not about Love, it’s not about God. Amen.