Crazy Love

 Jesus said,

         “This is my commandment, that you love one another.

         Just as I have love you, so you love one another.”

 

That commandment was not just 

         for those disciples there with him at the time,

                  but it quickly became the distinguishing mark 

                           of all followers of Jesus after that.

We are called to love – 

         that New Commandment that Jesus gave his disciples          

                  on the night of violence when he was then betrayed 

                  and taken and tortured and handed over for execution. 

 

If that is what he asked of us 

                  at that incredibly tense and challenging moment in his own life, how can we not take his words without absolute seriousness?

 

So how are we doing with that?

         Looking at the Church as a whole, 

                  not just this congregation 

                  or this denomination of the Episcopal Church, 

                  but the whole enterprise, the whole institution,

in some ways it looks like Christianity is dying out.

 

U.S. church membership has fallen below the majority of the population          

         and continues to dip.

In the eyes of the general society we may appear to be irrelevant.

 

However, yesterday our Bishop and the Episcopal Church in Spokane

         was very relevant to a significant portion of our community,

                  as Grand Marshall of the Pride Parade,

because our bishop and diocese

         stepped in and responded to hateful and spiteful actions

                  with a loving response of support and solidarity.

So our group of Episcopalians marching behind a large 

         “The Episcopal Church Welcomes You” sign,

was met by loud cheering and applause all along the entire parade route.

                  It was truly stunning to hear that prolonged cheering

                           rising as we passed by.

We had made a difference to a group of fellow human beings 

         often marginalized and maligned.

 

This is important, I believe, for bringing us back to the realization

         that Jesus at the center of the life and ministry of the Church

                  calls us with an unconditional love for us,

                  which we then must share with all others.

And remember it’s not just our own efforts to carry out that mission

                  of loving one another in truth and action.

         We can’t put the world right 

                                    just by the way we humans ordinarily do things.

         It is God’s mercy, grace and love working through us.

         

It is not through a political answer, 

or by making the best deals, or by wielding power

                           that the world can be put right.

Our society lives in that space

         and people suffer as a result: 

                  especially the weak, the powerless, the alien, the marginalized,

                  women and children,

                  those who all get exploited, taken advantage of,

while those at the top, the ones with the power,

                           secure their power and wealth for themselves.

 

Jesus was not about that,

         even though some have gone so far 

                  as to use their faith beliefs as a rationale 

                           for judgment and moral exclusiveness.

 

A king is what the people asked the Prophet Samuel for,

         even though he warned them this was not a good idea.

A king is so different from the liberating, healing power of Love

                  that a Crucified Savior brings.

 

No, Jesus is out of his mind.  

That’s what they said about him in the Gospel reading for today.

                           “He has gone out of his mind.”

         He’s crazy.  

That’s how this society, this culture would have characterize him also.

         Say he’s crazy 

         and you can discredit that whole love one another thing.

That’s a familiar tactic used over the ages.

         Call your opponent a liar, discredit their work.

And the culture we live in today has such a pervasive effect on us

         that we unconsciously start to accept those lies.

 

But when we let down our guard 

         and our tight grip on that pervasive belief in a merit based morality,

and instead take our suffering in all its many forms to Jesus

         then there is a huge break through 

                                    in the spiritual potency of the Church.

We can experience the stunning intimacy of Love in the Presence of Jesus

         and we can discover how to love one another

                  with authenticity and genuine intention.

And that can rock the world.

 

Crazy – The Cross of Jesus is a mass pardon. 

                                    a mass pardon for all our sins – Crazy.

The Cross stands between us and the condition of suffering in the world.

 

One might think Jesus was out of his mind to attempt that 

                           – you know, saving the whole world – 

         but then he went farther and in one huge Resurrection appearance,

                  Pentecost when the Holy Spirit, 

         the Resurrection Spirit and Presence of Jesus rests on us,

                  into which we were baptized

which provides in us a continuous source and process of sanctification

                  provided in that space of the Cross, which we call salvation.

 

This is the experience accessible to all in the Church,

         accessible through our spiritual practices of 

                  prayer, meditation, 

                  the liturgy and sacraments, 

                  reading and hearing and reflecting on the scriptures, 

                  breaking bread together, forgiving one another.

That being in the Presence of Jesus style of Love

         is what liberates us to freely love one another.

 

This is not the way of a king or any other type of political leader.

         They called Jesus crazy, out of his mind.

         And he didn’t do a thing to deny that.

They said to him, “Your family is here to collect you,

         your mother and brothers and sisters.”

And he looked around at those sitting there with him and said,

         “These are my mother and my brothers and sisters.”

Those doing the will of God, 

         those yielding to experiencing that Divine Presence 

                  as it was coming to them through Jesus at that moment.

Brothers and sisters in the same craziness as Jesus.

 

And mother also, in whom the divine seed is planted and grows

         and is born and comes forth into the world.         Crazy.

 

Matthew chapter 25, the story Jesus told 

about when the king would come and separate the sheep and the goats,

         you know the one I think: 

“Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, 

         or thirsty and gave you something to drink? 

And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, 

         or naked and gave you clothing? 

And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?” 

 

And the answer, “Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least 

         of these who are brothers and sisters, you did it to me.”

 

Jesus tells us in this story that these are the people he identifies with,

                                                                        not the power brokers.

         Crazy the world would say.         

                                    Those people?!         Those losers?!

Just look at how our society treats the homeless poor, 

         the aliens seeking refuge and asylum at our borders, 

         those needing to access health care, 

         and the incarcerated,

         those marginalized in any way, shape or form.

But I have seen that those people, the ones in need, 

         are those who get it about Love.  That’s where Jesus really is.

Crazy.

 

This way of Love in the heart of Jesus is craziness to the world

         that will call it names 

         and call what is good evil and of the devil

                  and seek to discount, discredit, ignore and push it aside.

But when you experience being loved by Jesus 

         then you can get crazy too

                  in that life-giving, liberating way for others.

 

So at the heart of it all, this is all that I want to say.

         Don’t be afraid to get close to that Love, 

                                                               to get close to Jesus.

Give up resisting, give up the merit based theology  

and accept the fact that you are just as much in need of a free gift of Love                   as anyone else.

Let yourself be loved by Jesus, 

                                    and go crazy in that good way with him.