By This Everyone Will Know

“They’ll know we are Christians by our love.” Remember that one? Maybe you still sing it. Maybe it was overused. It was a camp song, years ago. And when we got back to church, we’d try to get everyone to sing it. “By our love, by our love, yes, they’ll know we are Christians by our love.” It was easy to learn, to sing, to remember. But maybe not to do. At least when we start including others. Loving Jesus is easy, sort of. But other people? Not so much.

There is a fine line between being too independent and not dependent enough. We want them to be confident in our love, but not be burdened by it. We want them to know that they are loved, but not be smothered by it. We want ... well, to be honest we almost wish that Jesus hadn’t made it such a big deal. We almost wish that this faith thing had been an internal, belief relationship just between each of us and Jesus. But no, he had to go and include the whole world and especially those within the community of faith.

Loving one another is not just a good idea, not just a clue to better living, not just a suggestion for health and happiness; no, Jesus made it a commandment. Love one another. And not only that, but also the sign. The sign that we belong, that we are a part of the fellowship, a part of the family—not by how many Bible passages we read, not by the acts of charity that we perform, not by the hours of pew time we put in throughout our lives, the lives of pure moral character - none of that is the sign that we belong to Christ. All of that is good stuff and stuff we ought to be doing. But the sign is something else entirely: “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” It is not about what is inside of you, but what comes out.

How do you show your love for one another? That’s the question in front of us. And who has shown you love like Christ’s love? We gather on Maundy Thursday to remember him, remember what he did for us, what he endured for us. But we can’t help but hear the words he left his followers with. We can’t help but hear the command, see the sign that we are to be. When we receive the sacrament, when we kneel at the rail, or stand before the cup and the bread, we hear the words echo in our heads – “love one another.” And we come confessing that it is harder than it should be, harder than we want it to be.

Except that we have the benefit of living in community, the community of faith. We have the privilege of loving in community. Being loved. And learning to love. Who in our church family has made a difference in your spiritual life, in your growth as a disciple? Who has been the “one another” for you? Teaching you how to be the “one another” for someone else. For some of those “one anothers,” it is the words that you say; for others, it is the deeds that you do; for some, it is the gifts that you give, and for others it is the presence and attention that you give. But the blessing is that here is the place where we can practice in an atmosphere of forgiveness and grace. We can learn how to love as he loved us. For today, we gather to say thank you to the one who called us together, but also to thank one another who show us love day by day. That’s not an easy task, to be sure. Loving takes time, takes sacrifice, takes effort. Especially when we look back and see that what Jesus actually said was not “Love the best you can, love with what is within you.” No, he said, Love as I have loved you.” That’s the sign; that’s how the world will know we are his.