Bible Passage: John 13:33-35
Pastor: Joel Jenswold
Sermon Date: May 15, 2022

Bulletin May 15, 2022

In the name of, and to the eternal glory of, Jesus,

Who or what has made the biggest impression on you in your life?  Who or what has had the biggest influence on who you are and what you are like?  I suspect for many of us the quick answer is that mom or dad made the biggest impression.  Maybe some would say some teacher along the way, or a coach.

I want you to think carefully for a moment about what that means when we say someone has “made an impression” on us.  To “impress” really means to press something onto something else and leave a mark.  That’s why when they put that little tray of cement into your mouth and then tell you to bite down, they are taking “impressions” of your teeth.

In our text today, Jesus talks to his disciples about an “impression” that has been made on them.  An impression that in turn causes the disciples to make an impression in the world.  What is it that has created an impression on the disciples?  What is it that has been “pressed” onto the disciples and has left its mark?  Jesus tells us.  We have been Impressed with His Love.

It is Maundy Thursday night and Jesus is in the upper room with his disciples. Judas has excused himself.  Jesus has spoken to the disciples of what we might call the “reciprocal glory” that is going to result from Jesus’ work.  Jesus will bring the Father glory, and the Father will give glory to the Son.   A “reciprocity of glory,” if you will.

And now Jesus wants to prepare them for what comes next.  Dear children, I am going to be with you only a little longer, and just as I told the Jews, so I tell you now, Where I am going, you cannot come. (v. 33)  Up to now, they went everywhere with Jesus.  If Jesus went anywhere, he said to the disciples, “Come with me.”  But Jesus will soon ascend into heaven.  On the day Jesus ascends, he will not say, “Come with me.”  They will stay behind.

But Jesus will not leave without making an impression.  He says, A new commandment I give you:  Love one another.  Just as I have loved you, so also you are to love one another. (v. 34)  Why does Jesus say the command to love is a “new” command?  Isn’t that what God always commanded?  Isn’t this the way the Second Table of God’s Law is summed up?  Jesus once summed up God’s Law this way,  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, [and] love your neighbor as yourself.  (Mark 12:30-31)

It’s interesting.  In the Old Testament, God commanded you to love your neighbor “as yourself.”  The reference point is “me.”  The command makes me ask, “How do I treat myself?”  That was the guide for loving my neighbor.  Here’s the new part:  Jesus says as I have loved you.

It is Jesus’ love that leaves its mark on us!  And what do we see when we see Jesus’ love?  It is love that is at all times selfless and self-sacrificing.  It is a love that always puts the other first.  How do we sum up love so amazing, so divine?  I was thinking about the height of love as we might think of it.  For us, maybe that is the promise a bride and groom make on their wedding day.  What does a groom promise his bride?  The groom is asked, “Will you be faithful to her, cherish her, support, and help her in sickness and in health?”  And he answers, “I will.”  This is what our heavenly Bridegroom has promised!

The emblem that has come to symbolize Jesus’ love is the cross.  That is where it reaches its height.  Love caused Jesus to seek, to want, to insist on the cross.  Love caused Jesus to stay nailed to the cross enduring the agony of hell.  Love caused Jesus to face a punishment, a curse, we all deserved to face.  He would rather endure it himself than see you be cursed.  He cannot give you any more than what he did on the cross.  He cannot love you any more than that!

And that love of Jesus on the cross doesn’t just impress us so that we say, “Wow, that’s impressive!”  It “presses down” into us.  It leaves a mark!  It shapes us and forms who we are.  Here is the reform in our lives:  Love one another.  Just as I have loved you, so also you are to love one another. (v. 34)  Hold it.  That seems odd.  The “old” commandment seemed to tell us to love everybody; in this new one Jesus is just telling his disciples to love one another.  So which is it?  Are we to love everybody, or just one another?

God’s will remains that we love EVERYONE.  Jesus even said, Love your enemies. (Matthew 5:44) But here Jesus is telling us that the love we show to one another will have an impression on the world.  By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another. (v. 35)  You see, the love that we show to one another sends a message.  It says, it SHOWS, the world that Jesus has left his impression on us.  And this love is a different thing in the world.  In the world where men are governed by nature’s impulses, we see hatred and discord and jealousy and rage.  When the world looks in the window of the church, it should see men governed by something else.  Not the impulses of the flesh, but the impression of the cross.

Remember, Jesus spoke this new command against the backdrop of his ascension.  He is no longer walking in flesh on this planet.  People are no longer able to walk right up to a man who in his divine essence is LOVE.  But Jesus still wants the people in this world to see his love in the flesh.  But now it is in and through his body, the Church.  Will the world ever see Jesus’ love perfectly in us?  No.  Even our best is but a dim reflection of Jesus’ perfect love.  But Jesus’ new command certainly deserves our best efforts, not so?

But in the end, it isn’t about us.  Whatever the world sees in us, is but a means to an end.  The goal is always that people might see Jesus, and by the impress of his love be saved.

Amen.

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