Easter 18 Resurrection and Newness

[HKHaugan]

“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).”

This is a pivotal moment in Jesus' teaching. But first, consider the occasion, its context, the atmosphere, both in the world and the hearts of His disciples.

It takes place on a very special occasion. Jesus brings His disciples to an upper room to share the Passover meal with Him. What makes it special is the character of the occasion. Jesus is pulling them out of the world to be alone with them. The emphasis is on Him, who He is and what He is and what He is sharing with them. It is a time of preparation for their future and the future of all mankind. The Cross is coming.

This is an occasion with a special context. Every year the Jewish people celebrate their freedom from slavery in Egypt and their destiny in the Promised Land. The years of travail and suffering ended, God intervening on their behalf by having the angel of death 'pass over' the homes of the faithful Jews who had splashed lamb's blood over their door. Then Moses led them on their journey to the Promised Land. On the way they received the Law through which the Lord God whipped His people into shape to be a witness for Him in the world. The Passover became a feast that year after year they would celebrate to remember and honor God for their deliverance into a land given them to dwell.

However, this Passover was looking forward to something new, drastically new. It was to be new personally, spiritually and relationally. The context of the historic Passover was the outward picture of a new inward spiritual reality, a personal relationship with God that would no longer depend on any external physical membership. All the imagery of the past would be seen as a spiritual preparation to reveal God the Son as this personal, relational and spiritual God whose Father sent Him to bring the whole world back to Him. Jesus would accomplish this through His death and Resurrection.

That is, all of Israel's history would be pointing to the ultimate truth of spiritual reality, the whole of everything unseen, centered in Jesus, God's Word in the flesh. Egypt and its slavery symbolize the reality of the devil, slavery to his sin and its oppressive evil spirits. Jesus was going to be the Passover Lamb bearing the entire world's sin who would defeat the devil, his power of sin and his spirits. Their journey toward the Promised land would be every man’s trek in this world as they follow the Lord Jesus day by day in His new kingdom, a kingdom of the heart. Jerusalem would be the Body of Christ, the new spiritual community, the bride of Christ, traveling through this world bringing as many of the inhabitants as they can with them. The gates of hell would not be able to stop its progress. The Temple now is every believer's body filled with the Holy Spirit as part of a new spiritual family of brothers and sisters, the bigger temple of the Body of Christ, which ultimately becomes one with THE Temple, Jesus, forever.

The atmosphere of the culture and the world in which we find ourselves presents us with nothing new. It is the same old world with conflict raging within and without. Every heart is conflicted from birth with sin, the nitroglycerin that can explode at any moment in anger, depression, hate, self centered indulgence and hostility. The devil and his arsenal are still waging war on the images of God, their mind, heart and spirit, to keep them from God. The Cross of Jesus is the eternal symbol of the defeat of the devil. It is what He did in the unseen dimension, the spiritual dimension, by His death that His Resurrection accomplished, proved and justified to be the defeat of the devil and all the evil in the unseen.

But this is a different Passover meal. Jesus is the Passover Lamb. Through Jesus death would be passed over and eternal life given by faith in Him. The new, the startlingly new reality for humanity was the revelation that personal spirituality as seen in Jesus was the Father's will for every person born into the world. Jesus was the restoration of humanity to its true form and intention. No longer would nationality, tribe or blood family prescribe how one found their identity in eternity. Jesus is eternal life in the flesh. Now everyone would have access, personal access to God the Father through Jesus by faith. Not only access but eternal access. By faith in Jesus every believer is brought into the Kingdom of God.

Now we can go back to that pivotal verse Jesus gave the disciples. It was the new revelation of how humanity was not only defined but the way, the new way, to live that was the life, the new life for which every human being was designed. The way and life of love, the living truth.

But there's more to it. To simply say love is not enough. Love needs to be understood as the Lord meant it and lived it. How was it defined newly? Jesus said it was a 'new' commandment. So He uses the word 'love' four times as though it would be something radically different than what they had known of the word in the past. When you see the word in the Old Testament it is usually attached to emotional attraction and mercy, the latter being the dominating meaning. In Jesus it is radically new.

For Jesus 'agape' love is a far more in depth experience than mankind had known previously. It is the very nature of His Father, Himself and the Holy Spirit--- “God is love (1John 4:7, 8, 16)”---pouring through the faith of the believer into the world around the believer. God Himself is conveyed through any believer in Jesus wherever that believer is. This is new, totally and completely new.

Now this idea of God's nature, “God is love,” traveling through the believer to others can only take place when it comes through Jesus into the believer. This the 'new' at work. Jesus makes that very clear when He says we are to love one another “as I have loved you.” That's the clincher. He is the source of love as the Father directed Him to be when He said, “This is my Son whom I love, with Him I am well pleased. Listen to Him (Mt.17:5).”

This changes everything. It means the more we know about Jesus, the more we know about real, genuine, true love. To know Jesus is to know God who is love. When Jesus tells the disciples that there are two great commandments He is using love, agape love, in both. “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul mind and strength and love your neighbor as yourself' can only happen if we do it the way Jesus says, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love him. We will come to him and make our home with him (Jn.14:23).” It is concentration on letting Jesus, God the Son, be seen acting through us as we yield to His living presence in everything we do. This is the new, the 're-newing' of our humanity. “Behold, I am making all things new (Rev.21:5).”

The bottom line is this, to know Jesus is to experience love. To follow Jesus is to let Him love through you. To talk to Him in prayer and sense Him in His Word is to love Him and grow in His love. To obey Him is not about slavish memorization, trying to look like a picture you've seen of Him or to always be quoting Scripture. It's to let these words of His feed your mind and heart wherever you are and with whomever you relate, “Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you (Jn.14:19-20).” “I am in you.” Let them resonate within. This is the Gospel, the good news, the 'new' every morning, “I am in you.”