The International Church of Stockholm (ICS)
Worship at home with Mini Sermons from our ministers while the ICS services are postponed due to the Corona Virus.
4th Easter Sunday (2020) - Bible versions for the sermon text below
John 13:31-35 New International Version (NIV)
Jesus Predicts Peter’s Denial
31 When he was gone, Jesus said, “Now the Son of Man is glorified and God is glorified in him. 32 If God is glorified in him,[a] God will glorify the Son in himself, and will glorify him at once.
33 “My children, I will be with you only a little longer. You will look for me, and just as I told the Jews, so I tell you now: Where I am going, you cannot come.
34 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
4th Easter Sunday 2020 - Sermon Text by David
A New Commandment
In our text for this Sunday Jesus says, ”A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another.”
This new commandment is far more radical than it sounds. Once again, it is good to look at what is NOT said. The commandment is not to read the book I have given you. Neither does it say that you should follow the theological instructions I have laid out for you. The source of the love we are to live and show is his love for us. “This ain´t no book learning” as is said at times. This is not something we can study and become. It is not anything intellectual. It is not something of the mind but of the heart. The “school” where we are to learn this love and how it works is the experience of Jesus´ love for us. This is the same kind of learning that Jesus gives the children he meets in Mark 10:13-16…….and he took them up in his arms, put his hands on them, and blessed them. We today are so wrapped up in the education of the mind. Think how many years we and our children go to school. Think how important it is that they get good grades in school. But think about this. What moves us, changes us and makes us who we are is far more a result of the love we have experienced from our parents, our brothers and sisters or grandmothers and grandfathers. This is far more important than “book learning”
Then we come to the words,” … as I have loved you” Here is the source of radical Christian love. This means a love that is down to earth… not wonderful theologies here, as down to earth as where he was born, the people he called to follow him, his earth parables.. Here is a love that accepts people as they are, that gives them a human value that is in no way connected with what they have achieved. Here is a love that is forgiving, liberating and that is given freely. How much we have to learn from this love and the word “as”. Let´ go for it.
Amen
Previous Sermons:
