When I was younger, I used to love to listen to Dr. Leo Buscaglia. Dr. Buscaglia, commonly referred to as Dr. Love, was a professor at the University of Southern California, which is where he earned his bachelors, masters, and doctorate degrees. He often appeared on PBS. He was a bestselling author and motivational speaker. He was a big, warm-hearted, funny, expressive, passionate Italian who loved pasta as much as he loved people. It is ironic that he died of a heart attack in 1998. Love — the name of one of his books — was what Dr. Buscaglia was all about. We need to love ourselves and one another. That was his message. It’s that simple. Some of my favorite Buscaglia quotes are:
- Love is always bestowed as a gift — freely, willingly, and without exception. We don’t love to be loved; we love to love.
- Love is life. And if you miss love, you miss life.
- A single rose can be my garden…a single friend, my world.
- Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, a compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around.
Buscaglia never really talked about his religious views, but it was clear that he believed in God. He was raised Roman Catholic and was highly influenced by Buddhism later in life. That makes sense, since both traditions focus on a higher calling and love being the guiding principle of life. That is certainly what Jesus believed.
Today’s Gospel lesson from John comes towards the end of Jesus’ earthly ministry. The story is about to end. We are about two and a half chapters away from Jesus’ arrest. He knows it, too. That is why what he has to offer here — being his last lesson — is of the utmost importance. And what is it about? Leo Buscaglia could have preached it. It’s all about love.
As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.
Some of Jesus’ teachings are confusing. What does he mean when he says that in order to be his followers we need to hate father, mother, wife, children, brothers, and sisters? Why does he often tell people whom he has healed not to tell anyone what he (Jesus) has done for them? Why is blaspheming against the Holy Spirit the only unforgivable sin? And of course, there are others that even the most ardent believer finds confusing. But today’s Gospel lesson is not one of them. It is crystal clear.
Jesus is coming to the end of his earthly ministry. We are in the middle of chapter fifteen. In two-and-a-half chapters he will be betrayed and arrested. It’s almost as if he sits his prize students down for one last lesson. He wants to make it clear. It’s almost as if he says, “Listen, you’ve been following me for three years. I am not sure if you’ve figured this all out yet, so I am going to break it down for you. Here it is. Are you ready? It’s all about love. That’s it. Love. I have loved you, just as God has loved me. If you want to continue to be my followers, if you want to go forth and minister in my name, then there is one requirement: love one another as I have loved you. It really is that simple.”
And yet, we get it wrong. Time and time again, we get it wrong. We take advantage of each other. We exploit each other. We torture and kill one another, and what’s worse is that we sometimes do it in God’s name. That wasn’t what Jesus was about. Terry Jones of Monty Python fame put it best. At a reunion of Python several years ago, thy troupe was talking about their film The Life of Brian, a movie in which a common Jew named Brian gets mistaken for the Messiah. Jones said that in preparing to write the film they read everything: The Bible, commentaries on The Bible, theological texts, you name it. He said that at the end of the day the message of Christianity was clear: Jesus wanted us to love one another. Yet, for 2,000 years we’ve been killing each other, Jones said, because we cannot quite agree on what he meant when he said that!
The heart of Christ’s teachings is clear, yet we keep getting it wrong.
A student of mine, who does not believe in God per se, shared with me what she believes when it comes to the afterlife. “We are made up of energy,” she claims, “and so is the universe. When we die, our energy is released from our bodies and returns to the universal energy that fills and surrounds the cosmos.” Her idea, which is not unlike what Buddhists believe, in that all of life is ultimately interconnected; all of life is ultimately one. In an online article, Venerable Pomnyun, Zen Master and Chairman of the Peace Foundation Join Together Society and Good Friends, writes, “Buddhism views that everything in the world is interconnected. When Buddha gained enlightenment, it was the realization that interconnectedness is the true nature of all beings. We are not only connected to other people, but to the air through our breathing and to the universe through light. Thus, severing these interconnections means death for all beings.” Although this is a beautiful philosophy, it is not a religious view that I embrace — and yet I do. When Jesus tells us that we are to love one another as we love ourselves, and that we are to love one another because God is love and this is the ultimate commandment, is he not ultimately saying that love is what connects all of us?[1]
Leo Buscaglia was right. He once said, “You can be a follower of Muhammad or Jesus or Buddha or whomever. Always, they said that the most essential factor is to love your neighbor. And to love you.” True — this is a common theme in all of the world’s religions, but I believed it was expressed fully in the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. His life was a life of love. His message was one of love.
In a moment we come to the Lord’s table where we will share the bread and cup of Holy Communion — the sacrament that was once associated with the Agape or Love Feast of the early Church. Indeed, this is a love feast in that here we taste and see that the Lord is good, as the Psalmist wrote.[2] It is here that we experience the love that conquers all — the love that was, and is, and will always be manifest in everything Jesus was and did and said. Come Lord Jesus, be our guest, and let these gifts to us be blest. Amen.
[1] huffingtonpost.com/venerable-pomnyun/we-are-interconnected-beings_b_8579002.html
[2] Psalm 34:8