No Greater Love

Zephyr United Methodist Church

Early First United Methodist Church

May 29, 2005

Rev. Eddie Smart

John 15:12-17 (NRSV)

"This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. ¹³No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends. ¹⁴You are my friends if you do what I command you. ¹⁵I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father. ¹⁶You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name. ¹⁷I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another.

Memorial Day was officially proclaimed on 5 May 1868 by General John Logan, national commander of the Grand Army of the Republic, in his General Order No. 11, and was first observed on 30 May 1868, when flowers were placed on the graves of Union and Confederate soldiers at Arlington National Cemetery.

To this day any active-duty or retired service member can be buried at Arlington. Chaplains at Arlington National Cemetery are called the “Virginia Planters” because of all the funerals they perform for the nation’s military. But the Rev. Ted Hepner gave himself a new title when he served as United Methodist Army chaplain at Arlington from 1982 to 1985. “I changed my title to ‘launch control officer,’” he says. “The Virginia Planters were planting them in the ground, but as launch control officer, I was launching them from this world to the next.”

During the time he served at Arlington, he averaged about 25 funerals a week. Though it was not an assignment he wanted, he says it turned out to be one of the most significant of his career, because of the depth of the contact he had with so many people.” Rev. Hepner says the cemetery is getting full. It will probably be full about the year 2020, and other national cemeteries will have to be used, he says.

Tomorrow is Memorial Day, the last Monday in May, a day on the civil calendar for remembering and honoring those who have given their lives in battle. The day is also known as Decoration Day for the custom of placing flags at the graves of the patriotic dead. It resonants with today’s reading from John’s gospel: "No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends."

Jesus goes on to say that you are his friend if you keep his command to love one another as he has loved you. Earlier in this gospel Jesus says he is the Good Shepherd who lays his life down for his sheep. Maxie Dunnam reminds us that Christ’s death was a death absolutely self-determined. He laid down his life, it was not taken from him. To know the gospel is to know that Jesus made the choice.

The story is told of a man who worked construction with his son. One day the man saw his son in a ditch that was about to collapse. The man jumped in to save his son just as the sides caved in. The other workers immediately started digging them out. When they got to them they discovered two things. One the father was hit in the head and died. Two, the father’s body protected his son and provided some space with air to breath. The father gave his life that his son might live.

Paul wrote to the Romans that they could know that God loves us because while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Jesus laid his life down for us. But then Jesus laid down his life for us long before Calvary. “Though [Jesus] was in the form of God, [he] did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death--even death on a cross.” Philip. 2:5-8 (NRSV) Jesus laid down his heavenly life to live like you and me. He ate with sinners. He would be hungry, have a rock for a pillow, depend on others for the 3 years of his ministry. He would know the pain of a close friend’s death and the pain of a torturous death. Yes, Jesus laid down his life for us long before Calvary.

So, for Jesus to lay down his life means far more than death. Oswald Chambers tells us that is true for us as well. He writes, “Jesus does not ask me to die for Him, but to lay down my life for Him...It is much easier to die than to lay down your life day in and day out with the sense of the high calling of God.” So to lay down your life, what does it mean? How do we lay down our lives day in and day out.

The ways are endless. They all have to do with loving one another as Christ loves us. To lay down ones life is to love is selfless ways. Joan Speich volunteered at Good Samaritan Ministry every Wednesday. There were regular clients who would come on Wednesdays because Joan was there. Many of you teach in our Rotation Sunday School. We have been able to serve the children in our community because some of you were willing to be here on Wednesday evenings for COOL Kids. United Methodist Youth Fellowship happens on Wednesday evenings because you provide leadership, education, fellowship, music and food. We have special music on Sunday mornings because some of you share your God given talent.

We all have the opportunity to share with others the Good News of Jesus Christ. Jesus commanded us–all of us–to make disciples. You offer leadership as trustees, with church finances, evangelism, worship, UMW, Christian Education, and Special Events.

We are called to share the love of Christ through mission activities. We provide food and clothing to Good Samaritans. We are current with our financial support of ministry through our annual conference and general conference. Our youth are planning a mission trip to Lubbock and will need our help. We set as a goal for our church this year to carry out 3 mission projects. We are still praying about that person who is willing to lay down their life for mission work in the name of Christ. Once that person is in place, he or she will need the help of others to organize our mission efforts.

A few years ago a man in Dayton, Ohio, found a unique way to propose to his girlfriend. He hired an airplane to fly over the city towing a banner that read, "Judy, I love you. Will you marry me?" Judy accepted his proposal by asking, "How can you say No to that?" We look at God's love for us, especially as it is expressed in Christ and his cross and ask, "How can you say No to a love like that?"

Just as Christ emptied himself, becoming a servant to all, we are called to love and serve one another. Just as Jesus made the choice to lay down his life for us, we are called to lay down our lives for others. The choice is ours. There is no greater love than this, that we lay our lives down for one another.

Jesus laid down his life for us. “How can we say No to a love like that?”