There are two visual images that we need to put in our heads this Sabbath.  We may also think of these images as part of Mothers’ Day.  These images are of persons embracing and people involved in a service activity.
 
      He is the vine.  We are the branches.  Jesus provides the nutrition we need in order to produce fruit.  And the fruit he describes in the passage is love.  I believe when we daily trust in Jesus that the energy we receive ought to be used for love.  Indeed, it should be used for love.
 
      I believe that Jesus describes this love in four ways.  First of all, he talks about love as a commandment.  I think this kind of surprises us.  We tend to associate love with feelings and sentiment.  For example, if a spouse doesn’t have loving feelings toward his or her spouse for a period of time that is often regarded as sufficient reason for thinking about a divorce.  However, Jesus is not just talking about feelings.  He is talking about the love that always looks to the best interests of the other, even when feelings are not present.  Sometimes intense emotional feelings will be there, sometimes they won’t.  Nevertheless, we are expected to love.
 
      There is the story of an elderly man who was grieving over the death of his teenage grandson.  The boy had been shot in a robbery at the family’s grocery store.  A reporter asked him if he wanted revenge.  He said no.  Why not?  The man replied that he could not take revenge because he was a Christian.
 
      The old man was correct.  A Christian is expected to do what is in the best interests of the neighbor in every situation.  It does not make any difference whether we feel like doing it.  Jesus commanded us to do it.  “Love is a decision,” someone has said. I believe that is exactly correct.  In every situation we are to decide to love.  That may seem impossible, but that is the expectation.
 
      Jesus’ second point about love is that this kind of love is going to produce joy.  Again, most people tend not to believe this, and even Christians struggle with this.  We all tend to believe that a fierce competition for our own personal interests is how we achieve joy.
 
      Occasionally, I listen to “All Things Considered” on National Public Radio.  A family therapist told the following story as part of his interview.  He was invited to visit the fourth grade classroom of his son.  That day one of the teachers was organizing a balloon stomp for all the classes.  You know what a balloon stomp is.  Each kid ties a balloon to his ankle and the object is to destroy the other person’s balloon while at the same time protecting yours.  Only one person can have the joy of winning.  When the teacher gave the signal, the war began.  Each child tried to stomp the other’s balloon.
 
      Then another group of kids was brought in for the balloon stomp.  It was a group of mentally handicapped kids.  He says that his heart sank when he saw them.  He was afraid of what this kind of game would do to them.  When the signal was given to start stomping, they seemed to have no idea of what to do.  It was clear that they had missed the spirit of the game.  Each kid went about offering his or her balloon for stomping.  In fact, one girl carefully held her balloon in place so that her friend could stomp on it.  He then did the same for her.  When all the balloons were gone the whole group cheered in unison.  They transformed a competitive game into a cooperative one and in the process each person became a winner.
 
      Are we looking for joy?  Jesus says that we are not going to find it in the kind of competition our society so often encourages.  We will find it only in love.   We will find it only in looking to the best interests of the other.
 
      Then, Jesus makes a third comment about the kind of love he expects from us.  He calls it friendship, and he lifts up his own life as a symbol of what real friendship is.  He has this to say about it.  First, real friendship is sacrificial.  He says, “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (v 13).  That, of course, is why Christ died for us, and we lift it up and remember it every time we participate in Holy Communion.
 
      Next, Jesus tells his disciples and us so many years away that not only is real friendship sacrificial, it is also characterized by openness toward each other.  Jesus tells his disciples that he has opened his heart to them and made known all that the Father has made known to him.  Likewise, we are to open our hearts to each other.  We are to share our hurts and our hopes.  We are to give up constantly hiding and being self-protective because we are afraid of how others will respond.
 
      I once heard a story about an elderly woman who was a wonderful, loving and caring person who was asked to lead a small prayer group.  She opened by saying that she had never led a prayer group before, but she supposed that the best way was to begin by sharing what was on everyone’s hearts and what the small group thought they should pray for.  She started and proceeded to share her hurts and hopes, and of course that freed some of the others to do the same.  She was open and loving to complete strangers and certainly a model of what Jesus asks us to be.
 
      Then, Jesus makes one final commandant about love, but perhaps it is the most important of all.  He says that we cannot pull this off on our own, and he tells us where we can find the strength that we need to love in this way.  He says to his disciples, “I chose you.”  That is the word we need to take to heart today; Jesus chose us.  We are precious to him.  We are his friends.  We are created for a purpose of serving him.  Jesus wants to give us the joy we long for.
 
PRAYER:
      Heavenly Father, we want to be a church that loves and doesn’t just talk about love.  We want this especially for the sake of our children, so that they seeing true love in action might be inspired.
      We sometimes think that we are of little value.  Help us always keep in mind that you value us and have chosen us as your friends in Jesus.
      We pray for both spiritual and physical healing as you remove from us all the obstacles that keep us from being wholly yours.  We pray this in Jesus’ Name.  Amen.