What Now?

Text: John 14:15-21

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

            “Now what?” Whenever someone reaches the end of some great accomplishment, the question arises, what do you do now? Whether it’s NFL players who have just won the Super Bowl or a high school or college graduate, it’s always the same: “What are you going to do now?” As this season of Easter winds down in its last days, we might find ourselves asking “Now what?” We might start thinking about upcoming seasonal decorations, or the activities we want to do, or even start wondering about what hymns we’ll sing. But one thing is certain: we need to figure out what to do next.

            Jesus gives us some direction as we stand at this spiritual stop sign. Just because our celebration of the season of Jesus’ resurrection is reaching its official end, it does not mean that our focus on it is going to fade. In fact, Jesus tells us this: “Because I live, you also will live. In that day, you will know that I am in the Father, and you in me, and I in you.” Now what? Continue to live in Jesus and His resurrection life. We continue further into the eternal life we already have, the everlasting life that’s already begun. Really ponder that for a moment: because of Jesus’ resurrection, you are already living a never-ending life. Yes, your current walk through this world will come to an end, but you will continue living in God’s presence. And then when Jesus returns to make all things new, you’ll be resurrected and live in this body, raised and perfected, forever. But there are no gaps. The life you live now, you live in Christ, and that life is eternal.

            That, as wonderful as it is, can be an intimidating thought too. What do we do with such a great gift? How can we know how to live an everlasting life? On our own, it could be overwhelming, even paralyzing to try to figure it out. But Jesus has not left us on our own to decipher this. He will not leave us as orphans. “I will ask the Father,” Jesus says, “and He will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of Truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it nether sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.” You are not left to your own devices navigating immortality. You have another Helper showing you around this boutniful, beautiful new life you have in Jesus.

            How is it that the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth, helps you? By bringing you back to Jesus and all that He has said and done. “The Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, He will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.” He’s going to keep Jesus’ self-giving sacrificial love right in front of you. He’s going to show you what love is, what love’s source is: God Himself. The Spirit opens your eyes to see that love lived in the real flesh and blood life of Jesus, life that’s given and shed for you, so that it is your life as well. The Spirit is going to help you see what the world cannot see: the depths of the love of God in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, all done for you.

            This love is the core of our life—our life in Jesus and our life with each other, for the two are actually one in the same. When our life with God is in good order—that’s our faith, the trust we have in our Lord and what He’s done for us—then it will guide our life to be lived in the love that God wants us to have for our fellow believers. That’s why we pray after the Lord’s Supper—right after we’ve received forgiveness, life, and salvation from God—that we would be strengthened through that Sacrament “in faith toward you and in fervent love toward one another.” Because we are forgiven, we can forgive. Because we have eternal life and infinite mercy, we can share that life and mercy with others. We can live for the good of those around us, as Christ has lived for our good.

            That’s what the Commandments are all about. It’s why Jesus includes those in these words of encouragement to us. “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” And again, “Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.” The entire heart of the Commandments is love. Scripture itself says, “The whole law is fulfilled in one word: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’” And so, when we receive all the richness of God’s love in Christ, it overflows from us to those around us. Or, St. John writes for us in his first letter, “We love because He first loved us.” So Jesus says, after He has given us so much, poured out His life in love for us, that if we are moved to love Him in return, then we do so by keeping His commandment, that new commandment He gave on the night He was betrayed, the night He gave us the Lord’s Supper to strengthen us in faith toward Him and fervent love toward another, the new commandment: “Love one another, just as I have loved you.” Our hearts are moved to want to do this, to love as He loves, to give as He gives, to live as He lives.

            This means that we don’t keep the Commandments for reward, just as our Lord did not do it for reward. We don’t do it to get our Father in heaven’s attention or try to make Him love us, for we know that He already loves us. In fact, He can’t love us any more than He already does—it’s infinite, loving us with an everlasting love. We certainly don’t think that it will grant us grace, because grace is by its very nature a gift, so it can’t be earned; only freely given. No—we keep Jesus’ commandments because of all that Jesus has won for us in His death and resurrection. We do it because of what Easter means. He has an unending supply of grace, mercy, peace, forgiveness, and joy; how could those things not fill us so completely that they overflow to those around us?

            So what now? How do we live our lives now that we know all that Jesus has accomplished for us? We keep returning to Jesus’ resurrection. We keep coming back to that well, because it’s there that we receive His endless life and immeasurable riches of His grace and mercy. It’s there that we taste and see that the Lord is good and are moved to share the taste of that joy with others. It’s at Jesus’ empty tomb that we share His peace with the people He places around us. In the name of Jesus, who lives forever. Amen.