Radical love

Betty Stroud

Year C Easter 5 2025

John 13: 35

Professor Isaac Asimov, was a master of science fiction. One of his books is called “The Naked Sun”. In it he weaves a story about a future planet called Solaria.

On Solaria each person lives in absolute luxury but also in extreme isolation. This isolation is both physical and emotional. Direct contact is forbidden. Communication is through viewing an image on a video screen. For the Solarians obscenity is any form of human caring or closeness. The most filthy of all words is the four letter word “love”.

How different to what Jesus challenged his disciples to do.

Jesus at the last supper called on his disciples to allow love to be the key to their lives together.

If we are not careful, we can take these words of Jesus out of context – ignoring what happened before he said them, and what happened after.

Jesus has just washed the feet of his disciples, shared a meal with them, and then, Judas leaves the room – leaves it to go and sell his soul, and plot Jesus’ downfall.

The next moment, Jesus talks about loving each other, which is how people will know that they belong to Jesus. Peter – that most tempestuous of disciples, fervently proclaims his courage and his loyalty to Jesus. But we know, that some hours later, he denies that he was one of Jesus’ disciples.

Later that night, Judas’ betrayal will bear its malign fruit, and Jesus will be arrested and taken to the cross.

Jesus’ commandment to love each other describes the core of discipleship – a core, bracketed by betrayal and denial. We are asked to love (and wash the feet of) those who might betray us, deny our relationship, or even cause us harm.

It’s almost impossible to define love abstractly.

If I was to ask you how you would define love, I don’t think I’d get too many answers that were airy fairy. Your answers would probably include examples of things that showed what the practise of love entails. For love needs to practised. Better still, it needs to be embodied. Only when love is practised and embodied do we recognise the real thing.

Love in action makes all the difference.

It’s been said that a loving person is the best definition of love.

Think for a moment about a person who has demonstrated love to you and what it was about that love that made it special for you.

Jesus asked his disciples to love each other with the radical quality-love that his own life demonstrated.

So let’s look at four facets of the radical love of Jesus as they apply to us both as individuals – but, more particularly, to us as a Christian community.

Firstly, the radical love of Jesus respects others.

Respect takes seriously each other person, – their dignity and rights; their gifts and idiosyncrasies.

Respect recognises the God-given unique nature of the other person. It doesn’t look down on another, nor talk about, or put down the other.

Respect sees each person as being of value – to God and to other people.

Jesus, in his life, demonstrated respect for everyone – and particularly those who were looked down on by society: the outcasts of his day – lepers, sinners, tax-collectors, women.

Even in his dealings with those with whom he disagreed, he respected them and always allowed them to have their say.

Secondly, the radical love of Jesus is honest.

Not long ago I read a quote from a psychiatrist – it went something like this: “Many church members are not loving enough to be honest with each other.”

Jesus loved enough to be honest. He was never evasive.

He could be annoyed with people about their lack of faith, or question their materialistic values. He was able to praise Nathaniel, rebuke Peter or James and John, and deal with doubting Thomas in an understanding way.

When things needed to be said, he was prepared to say them rather than smile sweetly and pretend everything was okay.

When there were problems within the group of disciples, he didn’t look the other way and hope they might go away.

For Jesus, problems needed to be spoken about and sorted out in the open.

His love was open and honest – whilst at all times having those qualities of respect which I referred to earlier.

Thirdly, Jesus’ radical love offered pro-active forgiveness.

A forgiveness which took the initiative and reached out to those who had offended.

Let’s take one instance.

On the night of Jesus’ trial, Peter denied three times that he knew Jesus.

After the resurrection, Jesus met his disciples on the shore of Lake Galilee?

Did Jesus take Peter to task?

No! He asked Peter three times whether Peter really loved him? He gave Peter three opportunities to annul the previous three denials. Now that is pro-active forgiveness.

And then of course we have the ultimate example of Jesus’ pro-active forgiveness. His words as he hung on the cross: ‘Father, forgive them – they don’t know what they are doing.’

Fourthly, the radical love of Jesus is sacrificial. With some notable exceptions, self-sacrifice in our day is often low on the ratings.

So often our society seems to be a “me first” society; “A society made up of people who say,

‘I want to get the best for me and to hell with everyone else.’

To me this selfishness seems to be in some way, exemplified by politicians who put the economy ahead of everything. I realise that it’s a good thing to have a strong economy, but when it is the be all and end all of everything – regardless of the consequences to our planet; regardless of the effect that putting profits first has on the lives of many people’s lives then maybe we need to take stock of what we’re doing.

There is no Jesus-type love which does not include self-sacrifice.

And Jesus highlighted this throughout his life.

Throughout his ministry, Jesus gave his life for others.

Mind you, he also knew how to take care of himself – he took time to re-group, to reflect, and to get in touch with God.

Of course Jesus’ sacrificial life ended up on the cross because he called out those parts of society: the rulers – both Roman and Jewish, who were self-serving and who had little regard for those who found life tough.

Respect, honesty, pro-active forgiveness, self-sacrifice.

These are some of the things that show Christ’s radical love.

These are some of the things that he called his disciples to live out when he said to them:

Love one another. Just as I have loved you, so you must love each other.

Any way we look at it, this commandment is directed primarily at the church community.

For Christians, love must begin at home. Not in any exclusive sense, and certainly not as an excuse to evade our mission of love to the wider world. Rather, love begins at home with the church as the training ground, the resource base, and the support team for our wider outreach. Unless we practice Jesus’ radical way of love in our church community then the final words in this verse will mean nothing. And what are those words: ‘By this love everyone will know that you are my disciples.’

We can do all the good works and all the loving we are capable of in the wider community, but unless we practice love amongst ourselves then we will stand accused of double standards and hypocrisy.

Statistics show that in many places in Australia, mainline denominations are declining. Also, the church in general does not have the same ‘standing’ as it used to. There are many and complex reasons for this, but I have no doubt that the failure by many churches to practice Jesus’ radical love within their own Christian community has significantly contributed to their current problems – you’ve only got to think about the abuse that has gone on within all denominations to see that this is so. Or, to note that judgmentalism and exclusiveness turns people off.
Just as Jesus called his disciples 2,000 odd years ago, to be a community of love and all that that entailed, so he calls us to live out that love amongst each other.

As we do this we will then be witnesses to, and enablers of, Jesus’ radical love – a love which will touch not only our own lives, but the lives of all with whom we come in contact.