What’s So Hard About Love

“What’s So Hard About Love?” 
REFLECTION Sunday May 5, 2024 
Churchill and Gilford United Churches 
Krista Moore 

Scripture:  
John 15:9-17 Jesus: “Love one another as I have loved you.”

Introduction to the Scriptures:  
Jesus has gathered his flock.  
It is before the crucifixion, and he has many things to say…. The disciples are worried, quiet, or questioning him.  
He speaks in riddles and parables.  
They are growing impatient, afraid.  
Just tell us the truth!  
Love one another, he says.  
But how do we do this?! They cry inwardly. 
And where are you going?  
Jesus looks at them quietly, patiently.
 
I am sending you as God sent me. I have given you everything you need.  Follow my commands, to love one another, and I will be with you.  The Holy Spirit will come soon, and then you will know everything.  

Don’t worry. You will see me again.  
Until then, love one another as I have loved you.  
And then my happiness will be complete,  
and you will be with me always.

The disciples are quiet.  
There is nothing more to say  
But to puzzle deeply over his words for a long, long time. 

REFLECTION  
INTRO: WHAT IS LOVE? 
LOVE. 
It’s a powerful word.  
But what does it mean?  

Have you ever been so deeply in love with someone that you lost track  of time? (I hope so!)  

Or have you ever looked into the eyes of a child convinced you were  seeing God’s love for the first time? 

Or maybe you saw it in a beloved dog (or cat, or bunny or goldfish) that  you thought, Surely! God has come down from heaven to spend some  time with me… 

There are many kinds of love: 
• Eros is sexual or romantic love.  
• Philia is brotherly/sisterly or familial love,  
• Agape is the highest form of love, the love one has for God,  and God has for us – it is charitable, sacrificial, forgiving,  including, kind.  
• It is a love that never ends. 

Of romantic love, Shakespeare said:  
‘The course of true love never did run smooth’  (A Midsummer Night’s dream)  
He must have known what he was talking about.  
But it can be quite fleeting. Hard to grasp. Difficult at times.  Whether romantic or familial, LOVE is not easy.  
If it were easy to love, why would Jesus have to tell us to do it? So my topic today is: “What’s so hard about love?”  Or, for those rock lovers out there, “What’s love got to do with it?” 

BIBLE: JESUS’ LOVE 
Jesus knew what he meant when he told his disciples to “love one  another.”  
They had been travelling together for 3 years,  
listening to Jesus, sleeping eating, teaching,  
praying, and healing people together.  
They were likely exhausted, elated, terrified,  
jubilant, afraid, amazed, all at once.
 
Love is like that, too.

Jesus’s love was so powerful, perfect, unlike any other…. 

This strange man from Galilee approached them while they were fishing, or sitting by a tax collector’s stand.  

There was Jesus, towering above them, glistening in the sun, smiling. With profound statements of love no one had ever said or heard before. 

They loved him in an instant. It made no sense.  
But suddenly He was there, God’s Love incarnate. The LORD. They dropped everything to follow and serve him.  

That is Agape love.  

STORY: FLORIDA ROAD TRIP 1977 
But back to familial love for a moment.  
Because we can all relate to that!  

Who here has brothers or sisters? And who was told by your parents,  “Now, you two (or three) get along and stop fighting, or else!?!” 

When I was 7, my parents drove me and my brother through the states  down to Florida. We stopped along the way to see Graceland, Elvis’s  home, and his birthplace.  

And when we were getting tired and cranky, we stopped at one of these  huge American tourist stores and getting a big rainbow swirly pop. It  was late at night, maybe 11, and we had been driving all day long.  
We had pillows in the back, and the candy to appease us for awhile. 

My brother and I got along most of the time. He is 4 ½ years older than  me. But you put two people in a car for over 12 hours and see what  happens. Unless they are madly in love! 
My brother and I started playfighting, maybe some pillows were  involved, pinching or screeching, I can’t remember.  

Well, my dad’s last nerve was hit! I saw this big hand reach around the  passenger’s seat, trying to swat us to settle down! 

It’s still a pleasant memory to me, and probably just made us laugh and  fight even harder.  

But it’s not always sunshine and lollipops, literally.  

Siblings, or family members are bound to fight with one another. Or children in school.  

The more parents or teachers tell them to get along. the more they fight  with each other! 

It’s no coincidence that Jesus called us children;  
because sometimes we act that way!  

He calls us brothers and sisters because we are one family.  Beyond our familial ties.  

It’s hard enough to love our family,  
But Jesus stretches our love to include EVERYONE,  
even our enemies! 

Now that’s hard! 

SO WHY IS IT SO HARD TO LOVE? 

WHY IS LOVE THE GREATEST COMMANDMENT?

Let me see… The 10 Commandments… 
Thou shalt not steal,  
thou shalt not murder,  
thou shalt not bear false witness…  
thou shalt not covet….  

I know! Because it’s the hardest one of all!  
All the other commandments are to stop us from hurting each other or losing our connection to God.  

But THE GREATEST COMMANDMENT is LOVE 

As Paul the Apostle says in Corinthians.  
Of Faith, Hope and Love, the greatest of these is…  LOVE. 

LOVE is the greatest, but it’s also the hardest.  

LOVE is the reason we shouldn’t do all those other harmful things.  

If we loved each other, we wouldn’t steal,  
or covet, or murder,  
or bear false witness… etc. 

But Jesus goes beyond the law  
and asks us to LOVE more than usual.  
Agape love. 
It goes beyond family ties or romantic ties.  
It goes beyond laws to abide by, following the rules.  It is self-sacrificing, forgiving, generous, kind. 
Unconditional. Spiritual. Eternal.  
It’s FOREVER!  

God’s Love is like that. 

Jesus’ loves us like that.  
And Jesus wants US to love like that.  

SO HOW CAN WE LOVE LIKE THAT? 
EXAMPLES OF AGAPE LOVE:  
• call a friend, or reach out when you think of someone • sit with someone who is crying  
• feed someone who is hungry,  
• forgive someone who has hurt us  
• laugh with someone who needs some cheering • give up your day off to help someone in need 

We can love like that  
Because God loved us first.  
Jesus loved us first.  

BIBLE: JESUS CALLS US FRIENDS 
Jesus loves us SO much,  
he not only called us brothers and sisters – 
in his final hours he called his disciples FRIENDS. 

FRIENDS are people you can tell the truth to  they don’t judge you  
or criticize and condemn you  
They build you up and make you stronger.  

Jesus’s love is like that.  
And he wants us to love like that. 

But…  
It’s hard sometimes.  
That is why he repeatedly says, “love one another.”  

Even friends fight sometimes. Even the disciples fought over who would  sit beside Jesus in heaven. 

IT”S NOT ALWAYS EASY TO LOVE 
Whether it’s 
• in marriage,  
• or with siblings,  
• children,  
• coworkers,  
• employers and employees,  
• churchgoers, groups, committees…
 
Relationships take work, patience, love, and forgiveness.  The longer you’re married, the more you must choose to love.  

And the longer you know people, the more you must learn to love  and forgive them.  

It’s a process.  

God knows, if You can’t change’ em, you might as well accept them,  and grow to love them! (Right, husbands and wives?) 

HOW: BUT HOW DO WE LOVE like JESUS?

Krista’s Three Things:  
1. When you find yourself getting angry, impatient, resentful,  imagine the person you are with is Jesus. Then smile or laugh.  
2. When someone new comes to church, welcome them with open  arms. Agape love goes beyond familial ties. Jesus stretches our  love to include everyone.  
3. This summer, if you go on a road trip with loved ones, be warned:  pack some candy, pillows, a good book, & some headphones! 

Closing:  
Jesus is the glue that holds the family of God together. Jesus says, “Love one another as I have loved you.”  

But He doesn’t just leave us to figure it out by ourselves.  

He assures us, “I will be with you.”  
He will send the Holy Spirit at Pentecost (SOON) 
Which will give us MORE LOVE and POWER to FORGIVE and  HEAL our relationships. If we ask him.  

As we get closer to God, everyone becomes a friend:  
• The grumpy guy at the store,  
• the impatient driver who beeps at you in traffic 
• the new person who doesn’t speak your language.  

Even the cattle and sheep, the dogs and cats, the birds, and bees! 

TRUE LOVE is a Gift from God. 
It doesn’t come easy, but it can be received, perfected and shared.  So let’s learn how to accept this gift of agape love, and share it with  everyone, so everyone can become a friend. 

As Shakespeare wrote:  

He that is thy friend indeed,  
He will help thee in thy need:  
If thou sorrow, he will weep;  
If thou wake, he cannot sleep:  
Thus of every grief in heart  
He with thee doth bear a part.  
These are certain signs to know  
Faithful friend from flattering foe.  
Let us “love one another” as Jesus loves us.  With TRUE LOVE, Agape Love.  
The GREATEST LOVE OF ALL. 
Amen. 

SPECIAL MUSIC: “All You Need is Love” (Beatles)