We started off our Service today by singing the song, “To God be the glory.” There’s a lot of talk about glory in our Gospel reading. Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in Him. If God is glorified in Him, God will also glorify Him in Himself, and glorify Him at once.” There are a lot of glorious things about God. His creative acts at the beginning of time when he hung the stars in the sky, carved out the oceans, and breathed life into man. The Bible tells us that He is so glorious, so perfect, that He had to shield Moses’ eyes from even looking at Him. The glory of God shone in Jesus upon the mount of Transfiguration. But now, our Lord Jesus Christ on the night in which He was betrayed, is about to do a new thing.

And just in case the disciples didn’t get what He was saying He made himself clear, “My children, I will be with you only a little longer. You will look for me, and just as I told the Jews, so I tell you now: Where I am going, you cannot come.” In other words, Jesus was going to the cross. Jesus was going to die. And out of all the things He could have chosen – His presence at creation, His birth with angels singing, the voice of His Father at His Baptism and His transfiguration – He chooses His death on a cross to be glorified.  Death on the cross to display His love.

And then Jesus gives them a new command, the Maundy of the Thursday, “…love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:35).  Love is an attribute of God, and because of this, it is also a distinguishing mark of believers in Christ because it is God’s love that works to us and through us to others.  It is mark of believers because it is God’s love, not of ourselves. 

We love because Christ has first loved us.  We know this, and still we struggle with what this looks like and how it feels. The world has a very mixed up idea on what love is and what love looks like and it confuses us too. For goodness sake, people don’t even know which bathroom to go into anymore. People don’t know how to work through problems in a marriage, how to repent to one another, how to forgive.  Evil is called good and good is called evil.  And frankly, we shouldn’t be surprised by this.  The world operates on a very different definition of love, one that is divorced from God.  If you’re separated from the source and author of love, then how can you ever know what love is, much less know how.

Love is not the same thing as a feeling, nor acceptance nor tolerance.  Love is personified in Jesus.  Love doesn’t always feel good.  It hurts when we’re told we are wrong and sinful and in need of a Savior. It hurts our pride, it hurts our feelings, it hurts our sensibilities of wanting to be the decider of our own lives. The love that Christ gives to His disciples, and that He commands His disciples to share is the love of God.  It is a love that speaks God’s condemning Law and the sweetness of the Gospel.

We all know the golden rule, to love your neighbor as yourself.  But many times we forget that the greatest commandment isn’t our love for our neighbor, but to love the Lord your God with all your heart and strength and mind.  There is no true love, no real love, no lasting love, if it is divorced from the love of God in Christ Jesus. “Love cannot exist unless faith precedes it, and it is by faith that we receive remission of sins and learn to recognize God’s mercy… Thus love is kindled and the will subjects itself to God” (Chemnitz, Loci Theologici II, 1194).

The world will notice this kind of love. What we do, the way we love, or the way that we don’t love bears witness to the source of our love in Christ. Christians bring dishonor to one another and to our Lord when we deal in a loveless manner.  And we give honor and glory to Christ when we put aside our hatred and deal in love. But the world will not always appreciate nor agree. The world knew that Jesus’ love for sinners, that His forgiveness and mercy, and His condemning word toward those who did not believe, was something different. And they nailed Him to the cross because of it. And there His glory and His love was made manifest.

This is what has sometimes been called the “Scandal of particularity.” Christians go into the world with the scandalous message of the glory of the cross, the love of God in Christ Jesus through His suffering and death, the salvation of all creation through the forgiveness of sins. Only Jesus, true God and true man, can lead people to the love of God the Father. Outside of faith in Christ, no one would have God’s grace, forgiveness, and love.

Now, today as we honor the works of love from the hands of many people within our congregation and many people who are not in these Quilts. We sang earlier, “Blest be the tie that binds.”  These quilts are bound together, kept together by the ties. Without them, the whole thing would just get all twisted up inside and eventually fall apart. As these quilts are bound together with the ties done out of love for others, so we are tied to God and one another out of the love of Christ.

These quilts are an act of love meant to provide comfort and warmth.  But more importantly, they point to Jesus.  I’m sure that many of you involved get asked the question on occasion, “Why do you do it?” Why do you spend so much time and energy, so much worry and fret, so much love, on doing this?  And the answers, I’m sure, vary. To provide for those in need. To share some time and talents that you have with others. For the fellowship and friendship with the others who are involved.  And all these and more are true. But ultimately it comes down to this: Because of Jesus.

Our love does not save us. It does not earn us favor with God. It does not make us more lovable.  Christ does all these things.  As much love as we might have, it is never perfect and never enough.  Love is perfected only in Christ, for it is He who works through you to share His love to the world.  The point of our love is not that people would notice us. The point of our love is that people might see Christ, that they might the glory of God in His Son.