1. Those who love humans won’t hate their neighbors

We continue today, the readings from John’s epistles. These letters were addressed to the early church where false teachings were disturbing the fellowship of believers. Some rejected the Incarnation of Jesus by saying that God as spirit could not have a human body. They also denied the Passion of God’s Son, and our redemption through Jesus, because they thought such a belief was absurd. Their attitude damaged the joyful feelings of those who felt grateful for Jesus’ birth, and the atonement. Although those false believers departed the church, the members who stayed remained in a chaotic state.

So John wrote in his letter, “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:8-9). To admit our sins is the first step toward salvation and the beginning of the way forward for Christians, he says. Today, we will develop further those previous thoughts by reading the following part of the letter, chapter 2, and meditating on just what a Christians lifestyle should be.

The answer should be a brief “life of reciprocal love” as John taught, “My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world” (1 John 2:1-2). Even though he says not to commit sins he should know well enough our human vulnerability and weakness.

Baptism with water is a human act, so it cannot make us sinless. But Jesus Christ in Heaven atones for our sinful existence, John says. Of course, it does not mean we are allowed to commit sins, but we strive to live a faithful and pure life by listening to Jesus’ words. Jesus also has provided teaching about knowing our weakness, “We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands. The man who says, ‘I know him,’ but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But if anyone obeys his word, God’s love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did ‘” (1 John 2:3-6).

“To walk as Jesus did” signifies that we continue to listen to His teachings, and make the effort to change our ways of living. Love for God is not proved by the utterance of emotional prayers, or mystical experiences, but by obedience to God in our daily life. Then, what is exactly the essence of Jesus’ teachings ? To love each other, John concludes. Those who love Christ will not hate anyone because having faith in Him has the power to change our own life.

However some members of the early church, by insisting on their righteousness, disturbed and perplexed others before they left. So John admits the fact that they could not love each other authentically, “Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates his brother is still in the darkness. Whoever loves his brother lives in the light, and there is nothing in him to make him stumble. But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness; he does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded him” (1 John 2:9-11).

2. Don’t love the world and its belongings

Secular desires began to creep into the early Church. Lust, craving and boasting, commenced to erode the spiritual and faithful life. So much so, John appeals: “Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world—the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does—comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever” (1John 2:15-17).

Three kinds of aspirations summarize fundamental desires of human beings. The majority of us look for current satisfactions and desires. If these are incompatible with others, it will cause conflicts and wars, which may never end. Being covetous for others’ foods, wealth, loved ones, political authorities, or hierarchic status is to vandalize our neighbors’ rights. Such a self-centered lifestyle is the basis for several types of crises. As an example, excessive use of crops for lucrative fabrication of bio-fuels provoked alimentary inflation which caused famine in some under-developed countries. Japanese living environments also became much less secure and cozy due to that self-centered approach.

Perhaps you say, but, “we as Christians are free from such self-minded conduct.” You might be. But the worst thing in the church is not those conspicuous desires, but more of the underlying ones. The desire to be appreciated, respected, and honored by others, in other words, social ambition. That desire has another facet, fear of being disdained, feeling inferior or being discriminated against within social relationships. When we take that stance, earthly estimations concern us more than God’s will. Thus shame vis-à-vis neighbors becomes more important than consciousness in faith, an attitude rightly called humanly-centered minds.

False believers in John’s church considered themselves sinless and once their attitude was shunned by others, they left. They were giving priority to earthly values and appreciations regardless of Jesus’ real teachings. Such humanly-centered minds disrupted the fellowship in the church, and caused a schism.

3. To live by the law of love

I chose the Gospel of John 13:34-35 as today’s invocation verses: “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” Though it was a Jewish custom that servants washed and cleaned the feet of guests before taking a meal, there were no servants at the table of the Last Supper. The disciples wondered how to deal with the situation, because they did not want to wash the feet of others. They thought it was a servant’s job.

Then Jesus Himself, began to wash the disciples’ feet. They were strangely baffled and confused by that. To the dismay of the disciples, Jesus said: “Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet” (John 13:14). Jesus taught them, through His own actions, that those who wash the feet of others would be the most highly praised in the kingdom of God.

He said, “love one another as I have loved you” with real action, to show the disciples that to love is to serve. Judas Iscariot was among those disciples, the one who had already decided to betray Jesus. Jesus might have washed Judas’ feet too, and even prayed for his repentance. That is the love of God: to love even those who intend to be offensive.

We should come to know that true love through Jesus. Even if we advocate eagerly a fellowship of love, the authentic love will be found merely through a relationship with God. We come to love each other, thanks to God’s love for us. We can forgive others, because God granted us forgiveness. God’ love comes first before all in all. So much so, we must accept gratefully that supreme love, in which the Bible teaches.

In fact, a similar phenomena was proved by psychological studies. It is said that children who have been loved by their parents, ultimately become adults capable of being able to love others easily. But those who have not been loved during their childhood, have certain difficulties in loving others. Those who had been forgiven, should be able to forgive, and the reverse situation is also true.

John the Gospel writer says: “I tell you the truth, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony” (John 3:11). If we can’t experience the feelings of love profoundly enough, our personality would be at risk of being unbalanced. Love is the most important factor for human existence. And such love, is the love of God, perhaps similar to the love of parents for their children.

Parents take care of babies in daily life, because babies cannot survive without the care of others. Thanks to a parents’ cherishing protection, we grow into adults. And we need always that same kind of love. That love, just when we need it, is like the Spirit which feeds our spiritual life.

In reality, earthly love is an egocentric one, to love in order to be loved in return. Or we may love others because of their virtues and talents. If others will not love us reciprocally, or their features seem less attractive to us, we tend to no longer love them. I think that this tendency might explain, in part, reasons for the ever increasing divorce rates in this modern world.

This tendency reveals a weakness of earthly love, a love of give and take. That kind of love will not allow us to lead a genuine life. Because every time we lose our human love, we feel our life is closed off, and lost. In contrast, the love Jesus taught us is fundamentally different from that human love. Jesus’ love is the love which leads us to wash others’ feet. And as long as we follow Jesus, we will be changed into an existence which accepts what Jesus did. But, by staying in Jesus’ love, we are promised to become magnanimous.

To stay in Jesus’ love means simply to stay in the church, and to come and listen to Jesus’ words. To attend the Sunday service, to read the Bible, to reflect on our behavior over the passed week, all of which is to stay in Jesus’ love. That activity should lead us to know how God is always patient with our unethical conduct and nature, and how generously He loves us. At that very moment we recognize Jesus’ love through God’s Grace, which allows us dishonorable ones, to come again to the church. Through this action, we will mature into disciples of Jesus, who will be able to wash the feet of others, some day. That is the promise given at the conclusion of today’s lecture.