Christian Commandments?

April 27, 2008     Easter 6A

Acts 17: 22-31           Psalm 66

1 Peter 3:13-22         St. John 15-21

Today's gospel concludes Jesus' response to Philip's request: "Show us the Father" (14:8). The beginning and end of this passage repeat the same idea but in reverse: "if you love me, you will keep my commandments" (v. 15) and "those who have my commandments and keep them are those who love me" (v. 21).

Such a literary construction is called an "inclusion" characterized by "reverse parallelism". The text "included" within these verses is intended to be viewed as a unit. The unit (vv. 16-20) contains three basic ideas, also repeated in parallelism.

(1) The Spirit is coming to the community as advocate, helper, counselor (v. 16); Jesus is returning (v. 18). This pattern repeats itself throughout the farewell address. Jesus alternates the expressions "I go to send the Spirit" with "I myself shall return." One and the same basic fact, that God does not abandon the community but remains ever with it, is captured in each statement.

(2) The forces of evil neither see nor know the Spirit (v. 17a); the disciples see the risen Jesus, source of their life (v. 19a). Seeing and failing to see are major themes in John's Gospel. Here the forces of evil (the world) stand in contrast to the force of Risen Life (the disciples).

(3) The disciples know the Spirit because he abides with and in them (v. 17b); the forces of evil do not see the risen Jesus, but the disciples recognize his abiding presence in the mutual love that they express freely and openly (w. 19b-20).

In other words, love is the motivation for keeping the commandments of Jesus: "Whoever has my commandments and observes them loves me." That is, keeping the commandments is the expression of love, put another way, love is revealed in action.

Keeping "my commandments" is motivated by love and is the expression of love. Both love and keeping Jesus' commandments are different expressions of the same reality, namely, that the disciple is totally dedicated to Jesus.

The two references to "commandments" in this Sunday's gospel are plural. Elsewhere in John, we also find the singular In 13:34 and 15:12, the commandment of Jesus is to "love one another as I have loved you."

Such a statement forms the heart of Jesus' message on the night of betrayal. As Jesus sits and shares the Passover Meal, his last supper, Jesus gives the disciples a new commandment. This commandment is to "love one another."

Whether singular or plural, two points are noteworthy. First, the commandments of Jesus are summarized by love and are expressive of a disciple's entire way of life. Second, the commandments are commandments of Jesus.

The fact that there are commandments in Christianity goes against the understanding of many. The concept of obedience flies in the face of the understanding of Christianity as a liberation from commandments.

Martin Luther is perhaps the first one to divide the Old and New Testaments on the basis of "Law" and "Gospel." There are those who have incorrectly understood Luther and thus believe that Christianity is freedom apart from any commandments of God. Luther did not throw away the Ten Commandments but understood them in a way that the other Reformers also understood them.

If we look at the Heidelberg Catechism we can see how Luther and the Reformers understood the Ten Commandments. The Ten Commandments are placed in the third section of the Catechism. By their placement in the section dealing with gratitude, their purpose and function shifts from prescriptive to descriptive.

The role of the Ten Commandments for Christians is not to fix something or to progress toward something. In other words, the Ten Commandments do not serve to make us into something: people obedient to God's will. Rather, the Ten Commandments, as their position in the third section of the Catechism and not the first section, demonstrate the point of our Gospel Lesson today.

The Ten Commandments are descriptive. They describe and demonstrate the kind of life that is pleasing to God. They do not make us into something, but show what we already are, by the grace of God. This is a very important distinction and one that allows for the concept of commandments in a religion based on grace and the free gift of God.

The Christian life is not an external observance of Christ's commandments but an intense relationship of the community to the three Persons of the Trinity, each with a specific role to play in this relationship. But this intense personal relationship is not dissolved into mere emotion; it is concretely and soberly manifested in a life of obedience to Christ's commandments.

The obedience to Christ's commandments, the chief of which is to love one another as Christ himself has loved us, demonstrates who and whose we are. This is exactly what the Gospel lesson is telling us today.

Obedience to God is not something foreign to the Christian life. It is part and parcel of who we are as people created in the image of God, redeemed by Christ's death, resurrection, and ascension and the coming and indwelling of the Holy Spirit. We do not obey the commandments of Christ to make us into better people. We obey the commandments of Christ because Christ has made us perfect. We do not obey the commandments of Christ because we have to. We obey the commandments of Christ because we want to. It is this desire to obey that is expressed in the prayer following the sermon that contains the words, "to serve you is perfect freedom."

Obedience to Christ's Commandments is not bondage, it is the freedom to be and live in loving demonstration of who and whose we are. Sin no longer reigns in our lives. We are free to be who God created us to be: a community in fellowship with each other and with God.