“Do You Love Me? Pass it On – whether
in
About six or seven years ago there was a popular movie called “Pay it Forward,” based on a novel by the same title written by a woman named Catherine Ryan Hyde. The main character was a 12 year old boy named Trevor whose teacher gave a voluntary extra-credit assignment, namely “Think of an idea for world change and put it into action.” Trevor came up with quite an idea, which he described to his mother and teacher in this way: "See, I do something real good for three people. And then when they ask how they can pay it back, I say they have to Pay It Forward. To three more people. Each. So nine people get helped. Then those people have to do twenty-seven." He turned on the calculator, punched in a few numbers. "Then it sort of spreads out, see. To eighty-one. Then two hundred forty-three. Then you get seven hundred twenty-nine. Then two thousand, one hundred eighty-seven. See how big it gets?" (This quote came from the website for the Pay it Forward foundation, and I assume it comes from the novel.”)
In the story a chain reaction of goodwill is set in motion, as each person who has received some good deed is obligated, not to pay it back but to “pay it forward,” to do good for three new people and to charge them with doing the same. I wish more people would put this into practice, because it’s a great idea – but it’s not really an original idea. Jesus said the same thing about 2000 years before, and when the Christian Church has been at its best it has been responding to Jesus’ love by trying to pay it forward, or as we sometimes say in a song, by passing it on.
Our gospel reading today is the last
chapter of John, which tells of one last appearance of the Risen Christ to the
disciples. As you remember, he comes to
them as they are fishing on the
And with each of Peter’s declarations Jesus has a response: “Feed my lambs….. Tend my sheep…….” and again, “Feed my lambs…….” Jesus wants Peter to love him, and he wants us, his followers, to love him, but Jesus doesn’t need our love. Jesus doesn’t have the empty space that your spouse, our your child, or your neighbor has – that space which yearns for human acceptance and mutual love, that space which has to be filled in one way or another for a human being to be whole. It seems tragically clear that there was nothing to fill that space in the life of Cho Seung-Hui, the gunman whose illness and emptiness led to the Virginia Tech murders. Less tragically, yet sadly, there are people near us whose lives are empty, or almost empty, in terms of love to fill that spot where nothing else will do. Most of us may have passing moments when we feel the lack, but that’s not the case with Jesus. He doesn’t need anything from us, so he says “Pay it forward; pass it on; direct the love you have for me toward those who are in special need. Feed my lambs; tend my sheep; feed my lambs, as an expression of your love…….”
How do you say “I love you” to Jesus? He’s worthy of love – this one who left everything to share human existence even to the extent of dying on a cross. Some people find it meaningful to sing their love songs and praise to Jesus; some people find that there are mystical moments of prayerful silence that seem to say “I love you Christ,” but those are not what Jesus asks for. Those moments may be significant to the singer or the pray-er, but what Jesus wants is the transfer of love to those who really need it. “Do you love me? Go feed people who are hungry….. Do you love me? Speak up with a word of justice for those who have little voice…… Do you love me? Take care of the earth, for the sake of all who are following you……. Pay it forward….. Pass it on….
Expressing
our love for Jesus by passing it on is something we can do on a daily basis,
and in small ways, but occasionally we have the opportunity to serve in a
specific, focused, way; to do things for a short time that we wouldn’t be able
to do constantly. That was the
experience that 12 of us from the church were given this past week, as we went
to
A few people have volunteered to share some thoughts about what was most significant for them in this week.
(Sharing
by Gus at
Conclusion
– something about how mission work is an expanded version of the daily tasks in
which we want to express our love for Christ by passing it on… This disciples
spread out from