If you love me

In tomorrow's Gospel reading Jesus says,

If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever.

The Reverend Angela V. Askew, priest-in-charge of St. Ann and the Holy Trinity Church in Brooklyn has written on this passage saying,

There may be absolute, unconditional love for us on God's side of things, but on our side, Jesus poses a condition: if you love me, you will obey my commandments.

The clue, of course, lies not so much in the "if" but in that word "obey." We need to decide precisely what command- ments John wants us to understand at this point. Are we to understand the whole tradition of command- ments, from Sinai on down, or are we to infer the new command- ment that Jesus handing over to his friends in John 13:34: "A new commandment I give you, that you love one another even as I have loved you"?

It may be, of course, that the distinction is beside the point. The Ten Commandments in the Sinai covenant tradition can be seen as a gift that describes a life for humans – individually and socially – that is consistent with the life God wants for us. Rather than assuming that Jesus requires a militaristic kind of obedience, we do better to think of God's commandments, right from the start, guiding and guarding us in learning how to love him and each other. It is therefore not so much "if you love me, you will obey," but "in loving me, you are obeying."

When we follow this guide and guard, we are taking in the Spirit of Truth. This Spirit is what helps us to see and respond to God's life in Christ in ourselves and each other. The reference to the Holy Spirit that Jesus is sending, of course, reminds us that Ascension is round the corner and Pentecost is looming. By assuring us of the continuity of God's presence in our lives, Jesus is also assuring us of the ongoing availability of God's absolute and unconditional love.

In the wonderful, treasured words of St. Paul, we may therefore be sure that nothing, "neither death nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come ... will be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus."

The full text of her sermon is online here: Sixth Sunday of Easter, Year A.