You may have noticed that a good number of folks at SAKLC make the sign of the cross at certain points in the liturgy – usually when the name of the Trinity is invoked. This is a solidly Lutheran thing to do. As Martin Luther instructed in the Morning Prayer section of his Small Catechism: “In the morning when you get up, make the sign of the holy cross and say: In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Then, kneeling or standing, repeat the Creed and the Lord’s Prayer. If you choose, you may also say this little prayer…”
I must confess that whenever I make the sign of the cross, I think not only of the Holy Trinity, but of relationships which are bidirectional. The vertical relationship is between God and the human; the horizontal relationship is that which exists between neighbors. (This is also true of the two tables of the 10 Commandments: the first establishes our relationship with God; the other our relationships with each other.)
Turning to the Gospel text for this week is to return to last week’s parable of The Vine. God the Father is the Gardener, tending to the soil in which the Vine is planted, and engaging in judicious pruning; Jesus is the Vine; the branches are the disciples (including us!). The parable is the symbolic description of a series of relationships (gardener, vine, branches). The explanation of the parable is the macro description of these relationships (Father, Son, disciples). Now, as Jesus’ sermon continues, we see the micro description – the fine detail, so to speak – which is love.
The relationship of love which exists (preexists!) between Father and Son (and Holy Spirit) is now extended to include humanity – in particular, disciples, which are now named by Jesus as “my friends” (vs. 14). You see now, why I preached last week on this text as a “comfort the afflicted” text, which we ought not fear. Now we see why. Creation and redemption come from a place of love (“As the father has loved me, so I have loved you…” vs. 9f). And this love now forms a new Commandment (here meaning a teaching that comes with authority and with emphasis), “Love one another as I [Jesus] have loved you” (vs. 12). Then, once again, the macro (love) becomes micro (detailed) in the greatest example and embodiment of love: “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (vs. 12).
Self-sacrifice, clearly, describes Jesus’ love for his friends (which include us!). And it holds up an ideal not just to us, but for us – we are to do likewise. The implication is simple; death is the ultimate. And, if we are called to love each other even unto death; then serving each other, supporting each other, acting kindly toward each other, forgiving each other, being merciful and kind to each other, ought to be a piece of cake!
