2026-05-10 Easter 6

Scripture Readings

Christ is Risen! He is Risen Indeed! Alleluia!

A little boy was furiously riding his tricycle around the block over and over and over again, all the while tears streaming down his face. He was holding a teddy bear and his blue blanket was dragging on the ground as he went. A nearby police officer, having seen the crying boy go around and around, stopped him and asked him if he was OK. The little boy told the cop that he was running away from home! The officer thought for a minute and then asked him why he kept going around the block in circles if he was running away. The little boy responded with big ol’ crocodile tears in his eyes: “because my Mom told me I’m not allowed to cross the street!”

“If you love me, you will keep my commandments” (JN 14:15). Maybe Jesus had Mother’s Day in mind when He said these words! Probably not, but Happy Mother’s Day just the same to all of our moms while we’re on the subject! It really is wonderful that we have a day in our culture to celebrate and give thanks to God for the gift of Mothers. The people who so selflessly give to their children and families deserve to be honoured and loved and shown the utmost respect.

God dedicates a full ten percent of the Ten Commandments to exactly this. To this end, in the Small Catechism, Luther writes in the 4th Commandment “Honour your father and your mother. What does this mean? We should fear and love God so that we do not despise or anger our parents and other authorities, but honour them, serve and obey them, love and cherish them.” It definitely sums it up nicely.

This dovetails into our Gospel reading for this sixth Sunday after Easter as well. Jesus connects love for God with the ‘keeping’ of commandments. The inherent problem we have is that when we hear the word ‘commandment,’ we understand it in a legal way. It’s the same way we hear the word ‘law.’ It’s like speeding through a school zone. You break that law, you’re gonna get a big fat fine! The law or the concept of Torah in the Old Testament is better translated teaching. It’s God teaching us as His people the best way to go. And so we seek to ‘keep’ this teaching in His commandments rather than legalistically obey or else face divine wrath that will hurt a whole lot more than a school zone speeding ticket!

This point gets driven home in Mark’s Gospel: “28 And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, asked him,”which commandment is the most important of all?” 29 Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30 And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ 31 The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these”“ (12:28-31).

This is why St. Paul writes what he does in Romans: “8 Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. 9 For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 10 Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law” (13:8-10). The whole Torah, the whole teaching of God is summed up and fulfilled with love. Love God. Love your neighbour. This is the way we keep the commandments.

It sounds easy and all, but in reality this is a pretty tall order. We are poor, miserable sinners. We don’t really want to love God or each other as ourselves. Our first inclination isn’t love. For a real-world example of this, just take two toddlers and put one toy on the floor between them and watch what happens. Do they intrinsically take turns sharing the toy and playing nicely together?? Hardly! Our Moms know exactly how this gongshow is going to end! It’s going to be a total debacle with screaming and fighting and crying and weeping and gnashing of teeth!

Similar thing happened with Joseph back in Genesis. We just talked about him not that long ago in the Confirmation class. Jacob gave him a splendid coat of many colours, that veritable technicolor dream coat! But there was only 1 coat and there were 12 brothers. Do you remember how that went? “3 Now Israel loved Joseph more than any other of his sons, because he was the son of his old age. And he made him a robe of many colors. 4 But when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him and could not speak peacefully to him” (37:3-4). You’ll notice the brothers didn’t congratulate Joseph on this preferential treatment! They didn’t compliment him for this fancy fashion statement! They didn’t take turns taking selfies with him to post on Instagram or the book of Faces! In just a few short verses later in the chapter they say “Come now, let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits!” (37:20).

Hatred is the core of breaking commandments. Love is the core of keeping them. But by nature, we don’t want to do this. We need help. We need a Saviour who shows us the very definition of love. “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends” (JN 15:13). We see love defined by Christ Jesus our Messiah as He lays down His life on the cross for us and our salvation. He shows us the ultimate way of love by dying and rising again to life. This is how He brings us the very promise of life and abundant life at that!

And further to this point Jesus says “I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, 17 even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you” (JN 14:16-17). Jesus promises us the Holy Spirit, our Helper. He will be the one to cause us to be born again, born from above by Water and the Word. In Holy Baptism, the Helper comes to us and dwells in us. He helps us love God and each other with the love of Christ. He helps us keep our Lord’s commandments. He helps us put others first. He helps us repent of our sins and ever grow in love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

He will help us keep Jesus’ commandments—not out of cold duty or fear of punishment, but out of the very love that has first been poured into our hearts. This is the Christian life: not a frantic circling of the block, afraid to step out because we might break a rule, but a life set free by the risen Christ. The little boy on the tricycle was trying to run away while still obeying his mother. In Christ, we are enabled to run toward our Father’s house, gladly keeping His teaching because His love now lives in us.

Mothers, you know this better than most. You love your children even when they fight over toys, even when they make messes, even when they break your heart and do not do what you want them to do. You keep giving, serving, and forgiving. In that sacrificial love you reflect Christ Himself. And today we thank God for you and pray that the same Holy Spirit who dwells in you would strengthen you for every day of that high and holy calling.

Thanks be to God that the promised Helper has come. He is here in our midst. In the water and promise of Baptism, in the Word read and preached into your ears. He helps us taste and see that the Lord is Good in Holy Communion. He is turning your heart toward God and toward love for your neighbours. He is growing the fruit of love where once only selfishness grew. Therefore, love our Triune God with all that you are. Love your neighbour as yourself. Honour your father and mother. Forgive as you have been forgiven. Serve as you have been served. And do it all with great joy, for Christ is Risen! He is Risen Indeed! Alleluia!