Love is Radically Political and Personal Year B, Easter 6: John 15:9-17 May 25, 2003 Elizabeth H. Wheatley Church of the Resurrection, Starkville, Mississippi Blessed be the Name of God. In a letter to a young activist, Thomas Merton wrote: "Concentrate not on the results but on the value, the rightness, the truth of the work itself. And there too a great deal has to be gone through, as gradually you struggle less and less for an idea and more and more for specific people. The range tends to narrow down, but it gets more real. In the end, it is the reality of personal relationships that saves everything." Christianity cannot be summed up as an ideology -- a set of beliefs, doctrines, or convictions to which one might aspire or claim allegiance. Christianity is not a political idea or an agenda to be taught or pushed upon others or, even, just to be held by individuals according to one's personal preferences. Certainly, there are beliefs, ideals, and agendas associated with what it might mean to be a Christian or to live a Christ-like life; however, it seems to me that the problem with limiting Christianity to an ideology are the trappings which leave Christianity hollow, abstract, and impersonal. If we read and listen to the stories of our Gospel heritage, in particular today's reading from the Gospel of John, we will find nothing abstract or idealistic about what Jesus set in motion with the simple and direct commandment: "Love one another as I have loved you." The love ethic set forth in the Gospel of John is straightforward: First, who are we to love? This broad-reaching, inclusive commandment to "love one another" sidesteps debates over who is my neighbor or who is my enemy. It is direct in calling us to love one another, not exclusively people like us or only some of the people gathered here, but anyone outside of ourselves, anyone who is "an -- other." "Love one another." Secondly, how do we love? In the same way Jesus loved us. This is the part where simple and direct break down. If we are commanded, commissioned, even empowered to love one another as Jesus loved us, then we need to know more about that love, Jesus' love, and what it means to love like Jesus loved his disciples. Jesus' love is not ideological or individualistic, but it IS radically political and personal. Yes, love is political. That is to say, according to the American Heritage Dictionary, "(Politics are) the often internally conflicting interrelationships among people in a society." Therefore, love is political because love has everything to do with interrelationships among people. In fact, it is the restoration of those "often internally conflicting interrelationships" that seems to be a major focus for Jesus through his life and ministries -- the restoration of people's relationships with one another and with God. We need restoration because we -- people -- seem to be caught in the trap of being internally conflicted in our relationships. Be they familial, romantic, friendly, work-related, or even outreach-oriented, relationships are a struggle and often conflicted. Part of what seems to drive us amuck is the way we define so many of our relationships in terms of what a person, a group of people, or even God can do for us: What do I gain? What benefits do I receive -- connections, security, financial stability, good feelings? People tend to approach relationships from the position of an economist, one who manages resources according to supply and demand. We dole out or engage in relationships as we have needs or demand arises. Our relationships are self-serving. We bargain for the best deal, and it's always about timing. Do I have the time or energy to invest in this or that relationship? Is it worth it? Yes, there are those relationships that we define in terms of what we can do for other people, or what other people may need us to do for them, but even those relationships tend to have a self-serving component -- self-gratification. If there is no observable or experienced benefit or need being met by the other person, group of people or God then the relationship is dispensable. Relationships tend to disintegrate until another need or demand arises and the relationship rollercoaster begins again. In keeping with today's Gospel, let's look specifically at the relationship of friendship, the relationship on which Jesus bases his relationship with the disciples, the proto-type of the Christian community. In our society, a friend is someone who is loyal, dependable, trustworthy, and willing to be there in times of need. Friends are people who let us cry on their shoulders and allow us to be vulnerable with them. Friends are the people we allow to see us at our worst, warts and all. They will tell us the truth even when the truth hurts. They stand by us, abide with us, through thick and thin. And, it is likely that we would do all of these supportive, caring and self-giving things for someone we consider to be our friend. However, if a person is not trustworthy, tends to be petty or jealous, or abandons you at a critical moment, that person probably will no longer be included in your circle of friends. That person has not fulfilled the need or demand of what it means to be a friend. I know I have people in my life whom I used to consider friends but who broke our bond of trust or simply stopped replying to correspondence over the years. I no longer think of them as friends. For whatever reason, internal conflicts arise and the relationship no longer retains the Christ-honored title of friendship. And, yet, the model of friendship provided by the Gospel of John has Jesus naming the disciples as his friends. From the periphery that seems perfectly natural; however, if you look more closely it is contrary to common practice. Jesus addresses his disciples -- people who have doubted him, people who have feared him and expect him to be super-human, people who have let him down and will fall asleep in his time of need, people who will deny him -- and he calls them his friends. Jesus' model of friendship turns our typical human politics of friendship on its head. He called the disciples his friends, not because they liked him or did something for him nor even because they loved him, but because HE LOVED THEM. For Jesus, friendship is not about how the disciples relate to Jesus and what they will do for him, how they earn his trust or fulfill some need. Friendship is about how Jesus relates to the disciples and what he will do for them to show them love -- how he will be "for" them and remain with them. He extends to them friendship, not as a prize, a payment or an obligation, but as a gift. Friendship for Jesus is self-giving rather than self-serving. Jesus stepped out of his position as "teacher" or "leader," as the one "above." He humbled himself and created an environment of equality and mutuality by emptying himself and revealing God to the disciples. He moved from speaking abstractly about vines and fruit to speaking concretely about the risks of love. Remember, "love -- agape -- is not primarily a feeling, nor is it a synonym for 'like.' To love is to be 'for' another and to act 'for' another, even at cost to oneself." The risk of love as expressed in Christ-like friendship means being willing to give up one's life, to die to self and life as you know it, to literally die for the sake of loving and giving life to a friend. It is not about time and energy. It's not about bargaining. For Jesus, love in friendship is about being willing to endure the most radical internal conflict of interrelationships among people, and not just people in general (in the abstract) but people who you know personally, people whose flaws and weaknesses you know, people you know might let you down or desert you. Jesus, in a radically political and personal move, chose these very human people -- the disciples -- to call his friends. And so we, fellow disciples, followers of Christ, are chosen to be friends of Jesus, too. With the gift of friendship comes the same commandment: "Love one another as I have loved you." The love to which we are called is not an abstract idea, although we could spend a lifetime struggling to understand love as an idea, as a concept, as something to be managed, manipulated and mastered. What is important is not "how" we love, "why" we love, or even precisely "what" love is; it is simply that we LOVE. The range tends to narrow down, but it gets more real…" Christianity is made real -- it is made concrete -- radically political and personal -- through Jesus' expression of self-giving love for his friends. Jesus empowers us -- his friends -- to love one another as he loved us. There is nothing abstract or idealistic about what Jesus set in motion. Now, it's just a matter of us -- you and me -- struggling less and less to understand the idea of love and more and more to love specific people in real and personal ways, not conditioned on results or individual benefits but, predicated on the willingness to wash one another's feet and to give freely of ourselves expecting nothing in return. I know it sounds idealistic and unachievable, but can we imagine that Jesus knew what he was talking about when he said: "Love one another as I have loved you…. You are my friends." Love is radically political. Love is practical and realistic. Love is personal. "In the end, it is the reality of personal relationships (LOVE) that saves everything." Blessed be the Name of God.