That prayer that I always use to begin preaching is a version of a prayer that one of my mentors used to say at the beginning of his sermons.  It speaks to me week after week.  I hope it speaks to you too.  This past week I saw a wonderful quote from Andre Gide, the French novelist.  Perhaps you know it.  “Believe those who are seeking the truth.  Doubt those who find it.”  And I thought I’d better make sure that you know that I don’t think I’ve found it.  Rather, truth is something that I hope we’re seeking together.

      Our Gospel passage today is the next installment in what is called Jesus’ farewell discourse in the Gospel of John.  The scene is the Last Supper.  Jesus was about to be arrested.  It is a stunningly long goodbye – spanning four chapters in John – approximately one-fifth of the whole Gospel.  In John, Jesus has a lot of parting instructions.  It reminds me of the instruction list that my mother used to leave before my parents went away for a trip.  If you love me, Jesus says, you will keep my commandments.  The word ‘keep’ in Greek means watch over, pay attention to, guard, hold dear.  And what are Jesus’ commandments according to John? 

      Well I thought I knew the answer to this question, but I went back and read through the Gospel of John just to make sure.  In the Gospel of John, Jesus gives a lot of speeches, but says very few things that could be called commandments.    I counted ten things that Jesus said in the Gospel of John that might be considered commandments.  So here are ten commandments (it’s a familiar number).

1. Do not complain among yourselves  Jn. 6:43
2. Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment. Jn. 7:24
3. Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone (at the woman caught in the act of adultery…. No one did.) Jn. 8:7
4. Walk while you have light, so that the darkness may not overtake you…while you have the light, believe in the light, so that you may become children of light. Jn. 12:35-36
5. Wash one another’s feet. Jn. 13:14
6. Love one another. Jn. 13:34
7. Love one another. Jn. 13:34
8. Love one another.  Jn. 13:35
9. Do not let your hearts be troubled. Jn. 14:1
10. (from last week’s Gospel portion) Believe in God, believe also in me…but if you don’t believe in me, believe in my works. Jn. 14:1-11

      The word for commandment, mitzvah in Hebrew and entoláy in Greek, doesn’t mean in either language quite what we tend to think in terms of a demand or a constraint.  Rather a mitzvah or an entoláy is a charge or a commission – an indication of intentionality – an expression of divine desire or longing and a statement of faith in people – a statement of belief that people can do the right thing if we’re told what the right thing is.  I often think that the amazing thing about scripture is that it is a vast collection of stories of God believing in people against all odds, in spite of all of the evidence!

      A commandment in the Bible really is not a finger-shaking kind of order.  It’s a behest – an urgent request –  a divine directive that describes what God hopes for God’s people and what it means to be God’s people.  And the best clues to that are in the verbs – the action words.  In the commandment “love one another,” the verb love is in a form (1) which indicates continuing action.  Grammatically, the verb is not in the form of a demand or a constraint.  So too, in Hebrew, commandments to love are in the imperfect tense (which indicates incomplete action).  If you love me, Jesus says, you are loving one another.  When you are loving one another, that’s what loving Jesus is, according to John.  It’s all of a piece.

      Jesus’ commandments are the consequences of the central commandment – the most important commandment of the Torah – the Sh’ma – is in the form of a direct order:  Listen.  Listen very deeply. God is one.  The order is to listen.  The promise is that when you listen deeply, you will love God and you will love one another.  That’s what happens when you listen deeply, according to the Torah.  Indeed, the exercise of love is evidence that you’ve been paying attention – that you’ve been listening deeply.  The theology is quite circular here – listening deeply results in love.  Loving enhances listening.  Loving God and loving neighbor is the way to love Jesus.  Loving Jesus is a way to listen to God. 

      Now inevitably, the question comes up, well what if I don’t?  It’s related to the questions What if I can’t?  What if I don’t want to?  Jesus’ answer in this passage is that God’s spirit will advocate on your behalf.  God’s spirit is an advocator, advisor, counselor, consoler, exhorter, comforter, encourager, appealer, helper – I know that sounds a little like Rabelais, but there it is.  God’s Holy Spirit in this passage can be understood to be all of those things (and more), which is to say, whatever is needed to support the mission.  Jesus is saying to his followers, “I will not leave you orphaned.”  That is, Jesus will not leave his followers without comfort, without protection.  Being orphaned in his time meant slavery or death.   Jesus is promising that his followers will not be onlookers to a love that they can never experience. (2)  Jesus is saying that in him his followers have a home in God even if they’ve been thrown out of other homes.  Remember, John the Evangelist was writing to a community that had been torn apart by conflict.   In a community that has been torn apart by conflict – anxiety about abandonment is high.

      So think again about that list of commandments and how they might apply to us.  Which ones surprised you?  What jumped out at you?  What connections can you make?  I’ll read them again.

1. Do not complain among yourselves 
2. Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment.
3. Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone
4. Walk while you have light, so that the darkness may not overtake you.
5. Wash one another’s feet.
6. Love one another.
7. Love one another.
8. Love one another. 
9. Do not let your hearts be troubled.
10. Believe in God, believe also in Jesus …but if you don’t believe in Jesus, believe in his works….

      How do these apply to us as a parish?  How might Jesus’ commandments apply in our families, in our neighborhoods and our workplaces?  How do they apply in our cities and in our country?  Where do we need God’s Holy Spirit to advocate, advise, counsel, console, exhort, comfort, encourage, appeal?  Where do we need God’s Holy Spirit to help, so that we are not just believing in Jesus’ works, but we are doing them.