Meditation 285
John 15: 9-17
This passage begins with Jesus saying “as the Father has loved me so have I loved you; abide in my love. What an amazing thing that is, to know that Jesus’ love for us is as great as God the Father’s love for Jesus. This is the kind of love that is so perfect and so deep that it cannot be described in human terms, yet we receive it from Jesus, we live it, we share it and we do try to explain it.
The modern theologian Richard Rohr talks about the love of God lighting up our lives, much like we light up when we see someone that is precious to us. Rohr says, “When God gazes at us and we gaze at God we light up. . . . And God lights up with joy of being recognized by the one that God created in God’s own image and likeness for the very sake of this recognition. It’s an … intimate communion; a tender recognition of oneness that we might rest in it, resting in us . . . resting in this communion in each other, as each other, through each other, beyond each other in this endless interconnectedness of life itself, of love.” (Richard Rohr. Center for Action and Contemplation. April 2018)
The interconnectedness of being with God is only the beginning for “If we are to be a continuation of God’s way of seeing, we must, first of all, be mirrors. We must be no-thing so that we can receive some-thing. To love demands a transformation of consciousness, a transformation that has been the goal of all saints, mystics, and gurus. And the transformation of consciousness is this: we must be liberated from ourselves, which is done by somehow becoming the other. Think of Paul’s famous “I live no longer, not I, but with the life of Christ who lives in me” (Galatians 2:20). This is not fantastic religious poetry, it is the heart of the experience of human and divine love. What we allow ourselves to see is what we eventually become. (Richard Rohr. Center for Action and Contemplation. April 2018)
What we allow ourselves to see is what we eventually become. This is so simple a statement and yet it is deeply true. Our minds are very powerful and the way we interpret our world will affect our feelings and will determine the point of view we bring to our lives.
Preacher Jerry L Schmalenberger (sh-mal en berger) has this to say: Perhaps we have been misrepresenting Christ. The Interpreter’s Bible says: ‘For enter a church during a time of worship, and one finds gravity and seemliness and a feeling of reverence. But would anyone, stumbling in, sense that here are people who have made a glorious discovery, and are thrilled and joy-possessed?’
The New Testament makes plain that those who saw Jesus in the flesh were struck by a certain sunny-heartedness about him. The prim minds of the day did not easily associate good cheer with religion. Jesus stood out as one who was thrilled to know God and who was offering us a way of living that was joy-possessed. If Jesus had been like every other prophet who died at the end of his life, then we wouldn’t to expect him to invite us to any privilege or responsibility. When he was on the cross and said ‘It is finished,’ that was not the end, he cracked wide the tomb door and sprang out of death’s grip on that first Easter. Therefore we must consider that God is alive here, calling, gathering, sanctifying us, his disciples! It’s a vital sign of the true congregation of believers.
So often we live our lives on the cross side of Easter rather than the resurrected and alive side. Our Christian lives ought to reflect that joy – Jesus likened us not to a funeral procession but to a wedding reception.
Let the liturgy lift us up. Let the hymns make a happy, easy melody.
Let the preacher smile and be enthusiastic. Let the congregation radiate the warmth of it all.
Joy is what we are chosen for and joy is what we offer to all who come.