1. Preaching under threat

Last Sunday we read the first half of John 15, in which Jesus said ;-I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.(John 15:1-2)
“The true vine” suggests the existence of feigned ones. In John’s time the church was receiving oppressions from Jewish authorities who condemned Jesus’ followers as heretics. In such circumstances many believers dropped out from the faith and left the church. But John says if they abandon the faith in Jesus, the Son of God, and convert again to Judaism they loose the real life. So John sends the message to encourage destabilized believers by means of Jesus’ words ;- Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.(John 15:4)
Today we continue the lecture on the same theme by reading form the verse 9 chapter 15. The portion begins with Jesus teaching ;- “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love.(John 15:9-10)

” Remain” is ¦Ìέ¦Í¦Ø,v (men’-o) in Greek, which means also “not to depart.” By choosing that ward John appealed for their persistence in the faith and the church. Then Jesus’ very important command comes;- My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.(John 15:12)

The verse above reflects Jesus’ talking at the table of the last supper ;- “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."(John 13:34-35)

John repeated the same expression to emphasize the importance of mutual love because threats of persecution were putting the congregation at the risk of breakdown. Indeed, already some of members had left the church. Besides believers who remained might become suspicious of each other. Therefore John insisted on fraternal love which must support their faith. The word “love” here indicate such as the love shown by Jesus. This verse tells us its nature ;- Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.(John 15:13)

In order to save us Jesus died on the Cross then was resurrected by God. We encountered that Jesus, the Son of God, and are now gathered in the church. Thus we must love each other without getting suspicious of others whatever happened. That is the John’s message.

To be honest, John’s church was not a ideal one. Though, by witnessing Jesus’ ministries, numerous persons were baptized and became believers many of them abandoned the faith because of the accusation of heresy. The fact is revealed in this scene. ;- Jesus said to them, “I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.(John 6:53) And many of his disciples reacted this way ;- On hearing it, many of his disciples said, “This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?"(John 6:54) and they left Jesus.

They yielded to the earthy power which threatened then condemned them to expulsion from the community. Therefore John wrote ;- From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.(John 6:66)

Last week I talked about the Japanese Holiness church. During world war II Japanese people were forced to worship the emperor as a god. If they refused they were arrested and sent to prison. Nonetheless, despite the danger, few faithful believers persisted in the faith openly, especially those of Holiness church. Because the denomination is charactrized with the belief in the Second Coming of Christ and realization of God’s kingdom on the earth. Therefore
authentic believers could not accept whomever as ultimate rulers of Japan. But under the menace of criminalization others left the church, similar to the situation of John’s church.

Therefore John must encourage those who remained by noting Peter’s response ;- Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We believe and know that you are the Holy One of God."(John 6:68-69)

Once they recognized the fact that Jesus has the words of eternal life they could remain in the faith and become spiritually fruitful. The Gospel of John itself is one of fruits produced thanks to such a faith.

2. Agape and Eros

We use the word “love” very often for as the love between man and woman. But it is clear that “love” in Jesus’ greatest command doesn’t indicate such a live. We find 3 words in greek vocabulary corresponding to the English word “love.” However each of 3 has specific meaning. The first is “Eros” which signifies lustful love. The second is “Philia” of which meaning is almost similar to ” fondness.” The last and most important one is “Agape."* A Catholic priest, father Honda Tetsuo explain difference of the three types of love this way.:

• All 3 categories of love support life by pouring energy into humans. But mixing up different natures of them should generate confusions of understanding. Eros is a natural and spontaneous love between man and woman. Philia is that of brotherhood. Agape takes direction toward all of the others, regardless of their behaviors or qualities. Eros and Philia, both of two might be temporary because they depend on personal feelings, which are not always stable. If others’ attitudes and features or surrounding conditions change they might disappear. In contrast, Agape won’t be destabilized because it is independent from humans’ personal emotions. It is based on respect of others’ existence itself. Therefore as long as life continues Agape won’t wane. Once we decide to love others with such a love we can love them like ourselves. •

Eros and Philia come from humans’ nature. Originally we love others in a sort of ego-centered way. For example a man loves a woman because she is beautiful or kind to him. But her beauty is not eternal and behaviors might alter along with situations. Then, if love disappears due to certain circumstances, we feel lost or get disparate. I give other examples. Perhaps many of you have experiences of being betrayed by friends. Some of you are laid off by management-staff of the company which you trusted totally. In those cased we feel depressed or hopeless.

All most all of our sufferings come from breaking out of human relationships. So much so we must learn to love with Agape. But, as a matter of fact, Agape is beyond our nature. We can arrive to that level of love only through the Cross of Jesus. John says ;- “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son,that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.(John 3:16)

That is the very love “Agape” and we receive it from God.

When we arrived to know Agape Jesus calls us “friends” ;- You are my friends if you do what I command. 15I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.(John 15:14-15)

Jesus called disciples friends even though he knew their cowardly nature and weakness after the Cross. They fled from the scene of crucifixion and ,on the morning of the Resurrection’s day, were concealing themselves in the locked room, filled with fear. But Jesus considers them to be friends. Furthermore ;- On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!"(John 20:19)

Jesus’ love of forgiveness changed disciples into courageous and fearless ones. The command ” love each other is expressed also this way ” forgive each other”

Though man and woman might be attracted and tied each other through Eros, the love which establishes the real family relationship must be Agape. Eros makes us look at each other’s eyes whereas Agape directs our gaze together towards God.

Jesus taught us to love with Agape. And when we fill our inside with such a love we can forgive others, regardless of whatever they did or do. Because we learn to respect their existences as human beings. Jesus said ” Love each other as I have loved you. And we can say that in other words, ” Forgive each other as I have forgiven you”.

3. Love each other

Todays’ invocation verses are John 8:10-11 ;-Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” “No one, sir,” she said. “Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”

Jesus says to the women, who was condemned to stoning and brought before him, simply “Go now and leave your life of sin.” She was forgiven but not because she had repented. As the verses above show she had been forgiven so that she should leave he life of sin. We too are all weak and sinful because of our weakness. Nonetheless God forgives us. At that very point we see Agape working. As a result we arrive to forgive others even if they commit sins. We love with Agape for the reason that we are forgiven. Forgiveness is the attitude of acceptance. Those who were forgiven, even remaining sinful, must repent and commence a newly born life. The concerning woman is said to be Mary Magdalene who became afterwards one of Jesus’ followers. she remained until and after the day of Jesus’ crucifixion.

Jesus said to the crows gathering around him ;- “If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her."(John 8:7) ”
Hearing his words they recognized their sinful nature because it must be only and uniquely God who is free from sins. Pretending to be sinless means we not understanding the meaning of the Cross. It is not by happening that we are gathered in the church today and reflected on the theme in John 15. Because Jesus said ;- You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. (John 15:16)

God gathered us so as to give us the command, “Bear fruit, forgive and love each other”, which must encourage us to establish a solid christian community.

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*Agape http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agape