Love, Sweet Love

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[May 10, 2026, Saint Barnabas Lutheran Church, Howard Beach, Queens, N.Y.]

As I was reading Jesus’ farewell discourse in John 14, a lilting melody was swirling through my head. 

Lord, we don't need another meadow
There are corn fields and wheat fields enough to grow
There are sunbeams and moonbeams enough to shine
Oh listen Lord, if You want to know

What the world needs now is love, sweet love
It's the only thing that there's just too little of
What the world needs now is love, sweet love
No, not just for some, oh, but just for every, every everyone

Love, sweet love.

This is what Jesus is promising his disciples as the time comes to leave them.

Love. 

Not merely the love of country or the love of family.

Not merely the love of a mother for a child. 

Not merely the romantic love between two people.

Jesus is talking about the very love that brings the universe into existence. The love we know as truth. The love we know as God.

Agape love. The highest form of Christian love, defined as unconditional, sacrificial, and volitional love aimed at the highest good of others. It is God’s selfless love for humanity and the core of Christian theology, guiding believers to love God and neighbors, even enemies.

“In John’s Gospel, love originates in God, who demonstrated ultimate love by sending his Son to save the world,” writes Professor Yung Suk Kim of Virginia Union University. 

“This love transcends self-interest, prejudice, and parochialism; it embraces all people and creation. For Jesus, true religion is practical and tangible, expressed through acts of love that mirror God’s own. His commandments, therefore, are not arbitrary rules, but invitations to participate in God’s loving mission.”

I like to reflect that the power behind the Big Bang, the power who formed the stars and planets, the power who set into motion the laws of physics, the power who so meticulously produced the right conditions to beget life, the power who is the ground of all being, the fundamental, creative, and sustaining source of reality: that power is love.

As we sing the beautiful Psalm 66 this morning, we can share in this ancient understanding of the God of Love.

“But truly God has listened; he has heard the words of my prayer. Blessed be God who has not rejected my prayer or removed from me his steadfast love.” (19-20)

God so loved the world that we gave his son to testify to the truth of God’s love. 

 “And I will ask the Father,” Jesus said, “and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever. This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him because he abides with you, and he will be in you.” (John 14:15-16)

The writer of First Peter declares that “Christ also suffered for the sins of all, the righteous for the unrighteous, in order to bring you to God. He was put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit.” (I Peter 3:18)

In John’s gospel, “God is truth—the ultimate reality and source of all that exists,” writes Professor Kim. “Jesus, as the incarnate Word, entered the world to bear witness to this truth, revealing God’s character and purpose through his teachings and actions (18:37). 

“He embodied truth in his very being, demonstrating its transformative power in his interactions with others. The Advocate, upon arrival, assumes the critical role of empowering the believing community to faithfully continue this mission of bearing witness to God’s truth, now definitively and fully revealed through Jesus, the Messiah, the Son of God.”

Be that as it may, as Jesus gathers his disciples to say good-bye, these lofty truths are not foremost in their hearts.

Instead, the disciples are facing the reality that Jesus is about to leave them. They have to wonder: Is he going to abandon them?

It is said that in the hierarchy of things people are afraid of, death is number one. Public speaking is number two. Incapacitating illness is high on the list.

But abandonment is also a common fear. If you are suddenly abandoned by a parent or lover, you may never trust in a relationship again. Young children may begin to panic when Mommy steps outside the house despite reassurances that “I’ll be right back.”

Even pets fear desertion. It is said that if you leave the house, a dog instinctively assumes he’ll never see you again. This may be true. When we close the door behind us our puppers complain with howls of despair.

Jesus is quick to reassure the disciples, “I will not leave you orphaned.” (John 14:18)

“In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me; because I live, you also will live.” (John 14:19)

"This is a compelling vision of the Christian life, one characterized by living in love, obedience, and constant reliance on the Advocate’s empowering presence,” writes Dr Kim. 

The passage highlights that true love for Jesus is shown by following his commandments, which reflect God's inclusive love for everyone. The Spirit of truth supports and guides believers, enabling them to share this love with the world.

Jesus, through the Holy Spirit, is no longer limited by physical embodiment and can be present everywhere. The Holy Spirit, sent as an advocate, enables Jesus to walk alongside us without physical constraints, making his presence accessible at all times.

Throughout church history, when the Spirit has been prioritized, barriers of sexism, classism, and prejudice have fallen. The spirit of truth helps us recognize justice, mercy, and peace, guiding us beyond limitations of ethnicity, gender, class, or personal experience.

“Jesus, is ever present with each and every human being as we walk through this journey of life with the unrestrained guidance and wisdom of the Holy Spirit,” writes Professor Samuel Cruz of Union Theological Seminary in New York.  

“This same spirit would not allow for the exclusion of a woman who was a Samaritan from the blessings of the Kingdom, as the Spirit will not allow for the exclusion of any among us today.”

One might even suggest that those who would restrict the spirit’s power to the male gender are blasphemous.

The Roman Catholic Church and Eastern Orthodox Churches do not ordain women to the priesthood. Pope John Paul II affirmed in an apostolic letter that the church has no authority to ordain women. A recent book by a Greek Orthodox priest and an Orthodox woman professor discussed the subject carefully and concluded there were no biblical or theological reasons that women should not be ordained, but it won’t happen. Southern Baptists won’t ordain women because they embrace a Chrisitan nationalist preference for Good Ole Boys.

The historic torpor of these churches throws up heretical roadblocks to the holy spirit because tens of thousands of women attest to their profound calling to be pastors, priests, or bishops. The recent investiture of Dame Sarah Mullally at the 106th Archbishop of Canterbury has raised hopes that it may be time to reopen the discussion of women’s ordination. But when asked about it, Pope Leo XIV simply responded, “It’s church law.” He did, however, look very collegial when he welcomed Her Grace to the Vatican last week.

I would love to hear an interpretation by a pope or patriarch as to why this exclusion could be consistent with the Holy Spirit who excludes no one.

And who resides in each human heart as the closest we will ever be to God’s universal and unconditional love.

What the world needs now is love, sweet love
It's the only thing that there's just too little of
What the world needs now is love, sweet love
No, not just for some, oh, but just for every, every everyone
Love, sweet love.

Selah.

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