Think about filling up a cup with water. You can fill it only so far, right? Once it has been filled to the brim, what happens when you try to add more water to it? It overflows, of course. The same is true of a sponge that, submerged in water, becomes so saturated it can no longer absorb and begins to shed what cannot swell it further.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Can we apply this scientific truth to the human spirit? Can we imagine someone becoming so filled up, so saturated with something, that she or he can\u2019t take in any more? Like a filled-up cup that can only overflow onto others, beginning to fill them?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
God\u2019s love is like that, isn\u2019t it? Picture God\u2019s love overflowing from the filled-up one to the nearby one who benefits from the overflow. In today\u2019s Gospel, we hear Jesus saying to his followers, \u201cLove one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.\u201d The love that our Lord called them to display has a special definition: Jesus-like love.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For those who knew him best, it was his love that produced their love for others. It was like water overflowing from the filled-up glass. Jesus\u2019 love filled them up, and yet he kept on loving them, pouring more love into them, so Jesus\u2019 love could overflow onto others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the same way, Jesus\u2019 love fills us up so we can let the continuing love that God sends to us overflow onto others. Thereby we can fulfill his commandment: \u201cLove one another \u2013 just as I have loved you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jesus\u2019 love is God\u2019s love \u2013 gracefully and freely given, with no strings attached. Sometimes we think of this love as \u201cthe peace of God that passes all human understanding.\u201d And yet in another sense, in today\u2019s Gospel, Jesus helps us understand much of that peace-giving love. For God gave us Jesus to show us what divine love looks like in human form.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
God gave us Jesus, who is love, as God is love, so we could see it \u2013 see it not so much as a feeling, or excitement, or emotion, or the longing of one person for another \u2013 but rather love that is known by the life and teachings of one who shares the same humanity with each of us. God\u2019s love is in fact Jesus, the person: love in action; love in life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is the love that fills us and overflows from us. It is the sacrificing love of the cross, the exemplary love of the Good Samaritan, the care-giving love of the Good Shepherd, the inclusive love that reaches out to outcasts and the under-served, the difficult love that embraces our enemies, the forgiving love of the prodigal son\u2019s father.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The prayer we attribute to St. Francis focuses on this Jesus-like love. It reminds us that love can make us instruments of God\u2019s peace \u2013 the very active expression of God. It gives love rather than hatred. It is love that seeks faith over doubt; love that lives through hope rather than despair; love that promotes joy in the midst of sadness; love that allows us to die to self so we may be born to eternal life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As soon as Jesus had given his followers this new commandment \u2013 to love one another even as he had loved them \u2013 he gave them one thing more. He gave them a test to determine if they were indeed overflowing love onto others. The test was to examine the response of those within reach of the overflow. He said, \u201cBy this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.\u201d Many of us know this from the words of the popular hymn \u201cThey will know we are Christians by our love.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As we think about the quality of our lives, as we step back to see how others might view us through our actions, what will they see? Will they see in us what Jesus commanded? Will they see that we are so filled with God\u2019s love that it overflows onto others?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Of course, this testing is not only about us individually. Does God\u2019s love fill our congregations enough that it overflows to others? How effectively are we acting for the benefit of those in need of God\u2019s love in action?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
How aware are we that God\u2019s love \u2013 Jesus-like love \u2013 fills us? How well do we help it overflow onto others in the form of active care for others? How well do we measure up to the test by which everyone will know that we are Jesus\u2019 disciples because of our carrying out his command?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This sermon was written by the Rev. Ken Kesselus<\/strong>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Think about filling up a cup with water. You can fill it only so far, right? Once it has been filled to the brim, what happens when you try to add more water to it? It overflows, of course. The same is true of a sponge that, submerged in water, becomes so saturated it can…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":201212,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_tec_requires_first_save":true,"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"_tribe_blocks_recurrence_rules":"","_tribe_blocks_recurrence_description":"","_tribe_blocks_recurrence_exclusions":"","_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","ep_exclude_from_search":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1955,43,52,1953],"tags":[200],"class_list":["post-511831","sermon","type-sermon","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-easter","category-sermons","category-sermons-that-work","category-worship-and-prayer-menu","tag-easter-5c"],"acf":[],"taxonomy_info":{"category":[{"value":1955,"label":"Easter"},{"value":43,"label":"Sermons"},{"value":52,"label":"Sermons That Work"},{"value":1953,"label":"worship_and_prayer_menu"}],"post_tag":[{"value":200,"label":"Easter 5C"}]},"featured_image_src_large":false,"author_info":[],"comment_info":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sermon\/511831","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sermon"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/sermon"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sermon\/511831\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3478506,"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sermon\/511831\/revisions\/3478506"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=511831"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=511831"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=511831"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}