Sermon Tone Analysis
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TITLE: Love Knoweth No Law SCRIPTURE: John 13:31-35
Jesus gave us a new commandment.
He commanded us to love one another.
That is a tough commandment.
Anytime you get a group of people together, there will be disagreements; there will be frictions; there will be personality clashes; there will be problems.
Unfortunately, that is true even in churches.
It is true in this church.
We have our disagreements.
Some people want to do it this way, and others want to do it that way.
Some people want to spend money, and others want to save it.
Some people want to place the emphasis here, and others want to place it there.
Some people are very, very sensitive and have to be handled with kid gloves.
Some people just drive other people crazy.
How can Jesus come into an environment like that and command us to love one another?
He might suggest that we love one another.
Better yet, he might suggest that we try to love one another.
Even better, he might suggest that we have a goal of loving each other a little more each year.
But it seems unrealistic for him to command us to love one another.
I am reminded of a Peanuts cartoon.
Lucy says to Charlie Brown: "You know what I don't understand?
I don't understand love!"
Charlie says, "Who does?"
She says, "Explain love to me, Charlie Brown."
He says, "You can't explain love.
I can recommend a book or a poem or a painting, but I can't explain love."
She says, "Well, try, Charlie Brown, try."
So Charlie says, "Well, let's say I see this beautiful, cute little girl walk by."
Lucy interrupts –– "Why does she have to be cute?
Huh?
Why can't someone fall in love with someone with freckles and a big nose?
Explain that!"
Charlie says, "Well, maybe you are right.
Let's just say I see this girl walk by with this great big nose.... "
Lucy shouts, "I didn't say GREAT BIG NOSE."
And Charlie, admitting defeat, says, "Not only can you not explain love –– you can't even talk about it."
Love isn't easy.
It isn't easy to get it right.
In another Peanuts cartoon, Lucy is talking to Schroeder, who is highly focused on playing his piano.
Ignoring his concentration, Lucy says, "Schroeder, do you know what love is?"
Schroeder stops his practicing, stands to attention, and in very somber, straightforward tones says:
Love: Noun, to be fond of,
a strong affection for or attachment
or devotion to a person or persons.
Then he quickly reassumes his position over the keyboard.
Lucy gazes into space.
Then she says, "On paper, he's great."
That is true of most of us, isn't it!
On paper, we're great!
But in real life, we have bad breath.
In real life, we say the wrong thing.
In real life, we blow up over nothing at all.
And Jesus comes into this very messy picture, saying, "I give you a new commandment, that you love one another."
Not easy!
But it depends on what Jesus means by love.
What does he mean when he tells us to love one another?
After all, the word "love" is used in many ways.
It has many different meanings.
Next Sunday we will celebrate Mother's Day.
Mothers probably know more about love than anyone.
A mother's love is special, isn't it!
Most of us remember our mother's love as the most important influence of our childhood.
Mothers love tenderly.
A child with a scraped knee or a broken heart is likely to go to mom for comfort.
You can't count on dads.
Sometimes dads say, "Get tough!
Suck it up!" Moms are more dependable when we need sympathy.
Mothers tend to be gentler than fathers, but they can love ferociously too.
Don't ever stand between a mother bear and her cub.
The mother who thinks that you are a threat to her children can turn deadly in a heartbeat.
Mothers love tenderly, and they love ferociously.
But there are other kinds of love.
We speak of a young man and a young woman as being "in love."
What does that mean?
Sometimes it means a deep, passionate relationship that has the potential to undergird a lifelong marriage –– "in sickness as in health, in adversity as in prosperity, until death do we part."
Sometimes love means very little.
Sometimes it just means his excitement over the curve of her waist or her excitement over his muscular build.
People talk of "making love."
What does that mean?
Sometimes, it means nothing at all.
I recall a story some years ago of a young woman who asked a pastor for help identifying the soldier who had gotten her pregnant.
She didn't know his name.
She just remembered that he drove a red Chevrolet.
How can "love" mean less than that?
But Jesus doesn't let the word "love" melt into a soggy mush.
He commands us to love, and then he tells us what that means.
He says:
"I give you a new commandment,
that you love one another.
Just as I have loved you,
you also should love one another."
Jesus calls us to love "as I have loved you."
How did Jesus love us? Listen to this passage from Paul's letter to the Philippians.
It does not use the word "love," but it clearly describes what God's love –– Christ's love –– looks like.
Paul says:
"Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus,
who, though he was in the form of God,
did not regard equality with God
as something to be exploited,
but emptied himself,
taking the form of a slave,
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