Love Is Necessary
Rev. Dennis Ureche
Pastor, St. Peter’s UCC, Inman, KS
"Love."
—Shortest Sermon Ever Preached,
John Albrecht, an Episcopal priest in Michigan[1]
"What's love got to do, got to do with it?"
—Tina Turner[2]
"I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another."
―John 13:13-35 NRSV
We live in challenging times. A year-old global pandemic that has resulted in over 550,000 deaths in this country alone. The end of one political administration, and a new one that has begun with a bold plan. Divisions in our country have become so vast that some question whether or not our democracy will survive.
We, a "so-called" Christian nation, seem to have forgotten the new commandment that Jesus gave us: "Love one another. In the same way I loved you, you love one another." This new commandment is so vital to our lives as disciples of Christ that it appears in all four Gospels, a rare occurrence indeed.
Earlier this year, I preached on the Book of Jonah, something else that is rare! I preached on it because I believed that it had a message that spoke to us here today in our troubling times. The message has God calling a very reluctant Jonah to carry out a task that Jonah didn't want to fulfill.
God didn't like what was going on in Nineveh, "their wickedness has come up before me." God wanted Jonah to carry a message to the Ninevites and told Jonah to "Go at once to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it; for forty days more, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!" God didn't like what he saw happening in Nineveh and planned to destroy the city if it didn't change its ways and repent. Forty days more, and Nineveh would be no more.
Nineveh, the Assyrian capital, represented the enemy camp to Jonah, at its most powerful and wicked. No Israelite in their right mind would have wanted to lift a finger to help the Ninevites; this is why Jonah didn't want to do God's bidding. Likewise, nothing in the historical record suggests that the Assyrian king and all his people ever turned to the Hebrew God.
Finally, after much misfortune, Jonah carries out God's call. Much to Jonah's surprise, every resident, including the King of Assyria, repents, and Nineveh is saved. No one would have expected that a message from God delivered by an Israelite would save the Assyrian city of Nineveh from destruction.
Sisters and brothers in Christ, I believe that today the United States is finding itself in much the same place as Nineveh in the eyes of God. We are Nineveh. In no way, shape, or form can I believe that our God is pleased with what is happening in our country.
The point of the book of Jonah is this: if God intends salvation for all people, then in all seriousness, we must at least talk to our enemies. Jonah brings a timeless message that speaks loudly to us in the United States, where divisions have grown deep. We have Republicans versus Democrats, blue states versus red states, relatives not speaking to each other because of their political views, and many more divisive feuds in our land.
Modern fears and hatreds match the ancient story of Jonah and Nineveh perfectly. Today we find ourselves in a serious mess, and the only way to avert total catastrophe is to talk. We need to begin living as Jesus called us to live: "Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another." If we chose to ignore this call, I fear we will also see the country that we love perish, just as Jesus also told us, "Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and no city or house divided against itself will stand." (Matthew 12:25, NRSV)
We need to reach across the chasm, the aisle, the fence, the pew, and begin to love one another. We don't have to agree with a person's views that are the opposite of ours, but we need to love that person because Jesus has required it of us. The time has come for us to begin working with those that we find ourselves at odds with. The time has come to rise up as one authentic United States of America and begin to close our divides before it is too late. I pray that God will lead us there.
I will close with a prayer from Saint Thomas Aquinas that we could pray every day.
"Grant me, my God, a mind to know you, a heart to seek you, wisdom to find you, conduct that pleases you, perseverance to wait for you, and the hope of embracing you when everything ends…"
Amen.
[1]https://christchurchepiscopal.org/i-am-as-i-love/
[2] https://www.lyricsfreak.com/t/tina+turner/whats+love+got+to+do+with+it_20137655.html