The last time that Dana and I drove to Salt Lake City to see the kids and grandkids, we rented a car to make the trip. It was one of those newer cars that come with all the bells and whistles . . . which, after a while, drove me crazy. If we got too close to the side of a road . . . a bell went off until we moved closer to the middle of the lane. If we got too close to another car . . . a bell went off until we backed off. Same thing with passing. Bells when backing up. I used to think that I was a good driver, but listening to the orchestra I kept setting off convinced me that I should give up my license and walk a whole lot more!
At the same time, I have to admit that I appreciate all the warning features on the new cars. By design they are supposed to warn you before you do something that could harm you or the car . . . something stupid like backing over a garbage can! It is nice to be warned. It is too bad God didn’t design us that way . . . you know, with a built in warning system.
But, au contraire my friends, God did!
The writer in our first reading this morning even tells us about God’s warning system: “This is how we know that we belong to the truth and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence: If our hearts condemn us, we know that God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God and receive from him anything we ask, because we keep his commands and do what pleases him.”
When we give our lives over to God through Jesus, well God kicks in the warning system. The big question is whether or not we use it in our daily lives as we attempt to live as Jesus lived. Do we heed those bells and whistles when they go off as we are living our daily lives . . . or do we ignore them and keep on keeping on?
Well, the writer wants us to listen and respond to them so that we can follow God’s command: “And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us.” In other words, we are to live our lives as Jesus lived his. We are to love as he loved. To care for one another . . . to care about one another . . . even to the point of laying down our lives for one another. At least that is what the writer tells us in our first reading: “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.”
And, get this . . . we are to do it on our own accord.
Jesus did.
Are those bells and whistles going off yet?
In the gospel reading for this morning we hear Jesus proclaim that everything he said, everything he did . . . even to the point of laying down his own life . . . he chose to do it. He says, “The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord.” It is his decision . . . his choice . . . no one else’s. “I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again.” God did not make him do it, he chose to do it on his own.
Of course, he knew how much this would please God . . . and, so do we. And, the choice is ours to make. It always has been.
Those are some big shoes to fill. Jesus sets the bar pretty high for his followers. He never promised that it would be easy. Think about it . . . to love others as God has loved us . . . even to the point of giving our lives up for another! Yeah . . . that is what God expects, what Jesus demonstrated, and what the writer of our first reading reminds us: “Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.”
Hearing any bells and whistles yet? Is your heart beating a little faster . . . pounding a little harder?
Let’s be honest with ourselves . . . how are we supposed to love people who are different than we are? Who think differently than we do? Who are in the rival political party? Who won’t do things the way we like things done? Who are of a different faith than ours . . . a different religion? Of a different race or gender? How are we supposed to love people who rankle our skin and put us on edge? People who disagree with us? Who are from different cultures? How are we supposed to love when we are confronted with such issues . . . issues that depending on our choices, either put us into an acceptable or unacceptable place within the communities we live in?
In the same way that Jesus did. As the writer of John’s gospel tells us . . . like a shepherd. A shepherd who is willing to lay down his or her own life for the sake of the sheep. That is what the writer tells us in Jesus’ own words. To love as God has loved through Jesus. There it is in black and white . . . red words in our Bibles . . . spoken by Jesus. Those who choose to do this and accomplish this, God lives in them.
And, it comes down to choice.
After having watched the short series, Beartown, on television recently, I decided to read the book . . . and, I am glad that I did. The book is so much better than the show as it gives substance to the story that a show doesn’t have time to do. Plus, as many of the reviewers stated, the book dives into the heart of human behavior and what it is like to live in a small rural community.
Beartown is a dying community. Only one factory remains after the others closed in their boom time. There is only one school as the others have closed as people migrated away. The community is a shadow of what it once was, but life goes on. Central to the town and the community is their junior hockey team . . . a team consisting of 15 to 17-year olds. This is where the town and community’s identity comes . . . it is what gives them life and keeps them alive. The fate of the town and community is tied to the success or failure of the team.
At the time that the story is taking place, the team is doing quite well . . . they have won the opportunity to compete for the national championship with a victory in the semi-finals. The night of the semi-final victory there is a party . . . a wild ruckus where the alcohol flows freely. All the kids are there having a good time. But we all know that alcohol—lots of alcohol—doesn’t always mix well with teenagers . . . and, on that night it proves to be true.
Maya, the fifteen-year-old daughter of the general manager of the team, has a crush on the seventeen year old star of the team, Kevin. From the start of the party they flirt around as they are drinking. Eventually they find themselves alone in an upstairs bedroom. Some innocent kissing takes place . . . but Kevin becomes more aggressive. Despite Maya’s pleads for him to stop . . . he doesn’t. Kevin rapes Maya. Everything hits the fan . . . a week later, right before the team is leaving for the championship, Maya confesses to her parents what has taken place. The police pull Kevin off the bus . . . and, it begins.
Choices have to be made . . . whose side are the people going to take? Maya’s? Kevin’s? Who are they going to side with as they see all their hope and dreams for the future and prominence dashed against the rocks? This is where the book is so much better than the show . . . this is where all the bells and whistle noisily are going off. People have to make a choice . . . and, then they have to live by that choice. The town and community are divided. Families and friendships are destroyed. On both sides the bells and whistles sound like a deafening siren that will never cease.
In the book the author talks about this struggle . . . this struggle that we all know is real. He talks about community and asks the question: what makes a community? In the end, he answers his own question. “A community is the choices it makes.”
So, it comes down to choices . . . choices that only the individual can make for him or herself. One’s own accord. Jesus made the choice to do God’s will. He chose to do this on his own. No one made him do it. The writers in our readings this morning remind us of what God asks of us through the example of Jesus: “And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, and to love one another as he commanded us.”
And, it is our choice . . . ours alone. No one can make that decision for us, not even God. It is a choice we must make on our own . . . just as Jesus did himself. Whatever we choose will define us . . . people will know us as individuals and as a community by the choices we make. But, remember . . . “The one who keeps God’s commands lives in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us.”
Let us choose wisely. Amen.
