“Fundamentals of Discipleship. Part 2: Love (as He Loved Us)” by the Rev. Dr. Don Wahlig, May 18, 2025, Year A / Easter 5 – Acts 11:1-18 • Psalm 148 • Revelation 21:1-6 • John 13:31-35.
THEME: Glorify God by loving self-sacrificially as Jesus did.
I was in the check-out line at Wegman’s the other day and, as I normally do, I checked out the magazine rack. I picked up People magazine. As usual, it was filled with stories about celebrities: movie stars, musicians, and athletes. I wondered why we are so fascinated with them. The reason is simple. We are attracted to famous people. Famous people are what the world thinks glory looks like. But Jesus is offering us a very different picture.
Today is part 2 of our sermon series on the Fundamentals of Discipleship. Last week we talked about listening to Jesus’ voice, as the sheep listen to their shepherd. We thanked all of those in our faith family here at Silver Spring who help us hear his voice. Today, we hear his command to love one another. The question is how do you and I learn to love like he did? Lord knows, it was not easy.
Where we pick up the story, Jesus is seated at the last supper. Judas has just left to betray him. Jesus knows this, of course. He also knows that the end of his earthly life is near. His death is going to hit his disciples hard. There is no more time for parables, no more time for extended teaching. Like a coach sending his team out for the Super Bowl, it is game time. So, Jesus crystalizes his message into one, seemingly simple command: “Love one another. Love one another as I have loved you.” Before they all leave the table that night, he will tell them what this means. “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” They do not understand what he means yet, but they will.
Jesus knows that suffering, and confusion lie directly ahead for all of his followers. His disciples will be filled with fear. And their fear will threaten to pull them apart. The only thing that will keep them together is love – self-giving, self-sacrificial love. Love will help them regroup following his death. Love will inspire them to build his church. Eventually, love will lead them to give their own lives for the gospel. And through their self-giving, God will be glorified. It is difficult to overstate just how radical was this notion of glorification through self-giving. In the ancient world, the only glory that meant anything was self-glorification.
How many of you have been to Rome or Greece? Do you remember seeing all those ancient monuments? You probably do not speak Latin or Greek, but trust me. They all have someone’s name on it. “This building is the gift of Publius” or “This monument is in honor of Tacitus.” Publius and Tacitus and many others like them paid for these monuments. The point was to elevate their reputation. It was all about fame, self-glorification. Caesar was the epitome of that. His face was on the coins they used, and his name was on buildings throughout the empire. That is how Caesar came to be hailed as a god.
But Jesus turns that notion on its head. He is changing the understanding of what constitutes glory. His entire life and ministry was proof that true glory is not fame, power, or wealth. Those who seek true glory are not motivated by ego or ambition. They are motivated by love for others. And the only one who truly deserves glory is God, as we know him in Jesus Christ. True glory serves others and points to the Kingdom of God, not earthly individuals. But that is just so counter to the culture in which we live, isn’t it?
There is a line from an old Bette Midler movie that captures this perfectly. The main character is in show business. More than anything, she craves fame. She struggles mightily. Finally, she hits it big. Basking in her new-found celebrity and success, she is talking to someone after a show one night. She goes on and on about her performance. Finally, she says, “But enough about me. Let’s talk about you. What do you think of me?” The word that comes to mind is self-absorbed. That is the very opposite of what Jesus means by commanding us to love one another. And few have ever demonstrated that better than Florence Nightingale.
As a young girl growing up in a privileged household in England in the early 1800s, Florence found herself at odds with the high society in which her family moved. Her mother was a bit of a social climber, but Florence was anything but. She was socially awkward and reserved. She intensely disliked being the center of attention. What she did like was helping other people. She especially liked ministering to the sick and the poor in her village. She was a devout Christian. In helping and caring for others, she considered herself to be the handmaid of the Lord, as she put it. Like the Biblical prophets, she believed that God despises empty praise. What truly praises and glorifies God are practical acts of compassion. She believed that God is good. The way to reflect his goodness is by making the world more like his Kingdom. Healing the sick was her way of doing that.
By the time she was 16, it was clear that nursing was her path. Much to her parents’ dismay, she turned down a marriage proposal in order to train as a nurse in London. Within a year, she was running the entire program. Then, in 1853, the Crimean war broke out. It was the prototype of Vladimir Putin’s invasion of the Ukraine. Czar Nicholas I made a land grab for Crimea. Soon, England and France found themselves fighting alongside Turkey against the Russian army. It was a bloody affair. There were 18,000 English casualties. Hospital conditions were abysmal. Far more soldiers died from cholera and typhoid than from battlefield injuries. As word of this got out back home, it caused a scandal. Parliament knew they had to act.
They turned to Florence. At Parliament's request, she took a team of 34 nurses to Constantinople to correct the problems at the military hospital there. She began with basic hygiene. She ordered hundreds of scrub brushes. She gave them to the less ill patients and told them to scrub the hospital from floor to ceiling. Every waking moment, Florence went around the wards checking on patients. At night, the wounded soldiers got used to seeing her walking the dark hallways carrying a lamp, and ministering to patients, despite the risk to herself. Her courage and care gave them comfort. Her compassion gave them hope. They began calling her the lady with the lamp. Others called her the Angel of Crimea.
But, by whatever name she was called, her methods worked. Florence and her nurses cut the hospital’s mortality rate by two-thirds. When the war was over, she returned home to a hero’s welcome, which of course made her cringe. What gave her great joy was seeing that the methods she brought back with her were revolutionizing hospitals in England and all over the world. She soon became known by a new name: the pioneer of modern nursing. Throughout the rest of her long life, Florence received awards and adulation from kings and queens alike. She was deservedly famous, but she gave all the glory to the one who truly deserved it: God himself.
She did all that she did out of love. The same sort of self-giving love that God shows for you and me in Jesus Christ. The same sort of love that Jesus commands us to show for one another. But how do we do that? It is easy to love the ones who love us. The hard part is loving and serving the needs of others, the ones who are hard to love, the ones we would rather not love.
Let’s remember, Jesus loved and served even the one who would betray him. When he was working his way around the table washing his disciples’ feet the night of his arrest, he did not stop at Judas and say, “Sorry – not you.” Jesus washed Judas’ feet, right along with all the others. Friends, that is what you and I are called to do, too. So let me ask you, who in your life needs your love? And how do you go about loving them?
It starts by listening to them. It builds with a simple word of encouragement. We begin to pray for them, and for God to show us how to love them. In our interactions with them, maybe we don’t make much progress right away, but we learn patience and compassion, anyway. Eventually, we learn what they need to feel whole. And we look for opportunities to provide it, even if it requires sacrifice.
Does this guarantee that we will suddenly be able to make them whole and they will love us in return? Maybe. Maybe not. The worst thing that can happen is that we learn to love better – more like Jesus did. And that glorifies God himself.
May it be so.
