In the mid 1880's, William Gladstone, member of the British parliament, announced the death of Princess Alice. And with the announcement he told the story of how it happened. The little daughter of Princess Alice was near death with diphtheria, a dreaded disease of that time, but unheard of today. The doctors told the princess not to get too near her little daughter because that would endanger her own life by breathing in the child's breath. But when the child was struggling to breathe, Princess Alice the mother, forgetting herself entirely, took the little one into her arms to soothe her. Rasping and struggling for her life, the child said, "Momma, kiss me!" Only thinking about her dying child and without a thought for herself, the mother did kiss her daughter. The child died, and months later, Princess Alice also died of diphtheria.

         Real love forgets about self. Real love doesn't count the cost. Real love is less concerned with danger and more concerned with safety of the other. The Bible says, "Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it." (Song of Solomon 8:7).

         God's Good Word for us in the Gospel today is about this kind of love. And how fitting it is that we have this text on Mothers' Day. This passage could easily be about being a good mother or good father, but today it is aimed at the whole Christian family, the family called the Church. Jesus says, "I give you a new commandment: love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. If you have love for one another, then everyone will know that you are my disciples."

         Love is not an option for the followers of Jesus. Jesus says, "I give you a NEW COMMANDMENT...". It is new and it is not a suggestion, nor a recommendation - a new commandment! And not just a command to love like a mother or father, but to love in the same way that God loves us. Jesus said, "As I have loved you, so you must love one another." Notice the little word "must". Just as there was no getting around our mother's command, "You MUST wash your hands before eating", or, "You MUST be home by midnight," so there is no way around this command of Jesus, "You must love one another."

         Why does Jesus command us to love? It's because there is something in every one of us that rebels against the idea of loving others. We can - indeed, we may even demand - love of our self. But a command to love someone else? There we may draw a line. We say, "This is what I will do or this is how far I'll go to love someone else, but no farther7quot;. We draw a line and say, "These I will love, but not those". Humans love in a selective kind of way. We will love so long as it doesn't make us feel uncomfortable. But Jesus said something more difficult: ""As I have loved you, so you must love one another ".

         Jesus speaks in plain language about love. Maybe that's why more mothers love and trust in Jesus than Fathers - He speaks plainly, simply. Here He says it plainly: we should love others the same as He loves us, self-givingly, sacrificial. The cross proves that. He loved us so much that He willingly gave His life for us. He did not think of His own safety, but about our needs. He suffered, risked everything, because of His love for us. He loves us unconditionally, He loves genuinely, honestly, and compassionately. His love is not turned off and on by passions, or emotions. He didn't draw a line and say beyond it is too much to ask. His love knows no limits. And that's how we are to love - willingly and sacrificially. It's His command, plain and simple.

         It goes against our human nature to do this. Sacrificial love goes against human reason and logic. Look out for yourself - that's human nature talking. Take care of yourself, good ol' #1, and then if there's time and resources left over, then help them out, a little. That is, if you like him or her. Me first, then them. Don't give away what's rightfully yours!

         But that's not God's love toward us. Jesus began with our needs, long before He saw to His own needs. It's easier for us to be selfish, to ignore the other guy, making sure we have our own needs met. Most of us think that to love as Jesus has loved is humanly impossible. We can be generous here and there, but loving others unconditionally and sacrificially - and all the time - that is a tall order!

         he ability to love comes from outside us, from our relationship with Jesus Christ. "We love BECAUSE He first loved us", says the Apostle John. We can love because He helps us do it. The more we see the love of Jesus in our lives, the more we will be able to love others with the same way.

         Love does not happen in a vacuum. We need to be involved. A woman went to a divorce lawyer, just steaming over how terrible her husband was. "I don't just want a divorce," she shouted, "I want to get even! I want him to HURT before this is over." The lawyer said, "Then go home and tell him you love him. Tell him how wonderful he is and play the part of the happy wife. Be kind and don't let on you've seen a divorce lawyer. Be the nicest wife a man could hope for. Do this for a month, then drop the divorce bombshell on him. And do it with a smile. He'll be so hurt, he'll never recover." The wife said, "What a great idea! Will he ever be shocked! He'll never know what hit him!" A month later, the woman didn't return, so the divorce lawyer called her and asked, "Have you told him? Are you ready to go ahead with the divorce now?" "Divorce?" she cried. "No way. I really do love that bum. I guess I started believing what I was telling him."

         Dear friends, the ability to love doesn't come from feelings alone, but from repeated words and deeds - and an open heart. Love is passed from one person to another. This is why loving parents are so important. ?A child who does not receive love will not be able to give love. ?Our children learn love - or fail to learn it - from what they see in their parents.

         You must start it and keep it up and not quit. Supposing you want to get into shape so you take up jogging. You buy some great running shoes, put a track suit, and sprint down the street. Not far down the road you begin to cramp, you get a pain in your side and can hardly get your breath. You eventually slowly walk home gasping, "I'll never do that again". That's called anaerobic running - running without oxygen. The body uses up more oxygen than it takes in. Many try to run that way, and many try to love that way. They love with great fervor and self-sacrifice, but only for awhile because they can't keep it up for long. Love, like running, must be aerobic. Our output must be re-charged by our intake. Running requires oxygen, and an enduring love requires love coming back to us. And we get this from God. We love aerobically, not merely by our own strength, but from the strength we get from God. We can love because He has already first loved us.

         To do this means that we need to read the Bible often and pray often and receive Holy Communion often. To let the love of Christ empower us to love, we need to get involved in our church. Here we will find our place in God's family and here we will learn to overcome our impatience, our selfishness, or our unforgiving spirit. And here we will be led by the Spirit to be more Christ like in everything we say and do.

         A man had a huge boulder in his front yard. He grew tired of this big, unattractive rock in the center of his lawn, so he decided to turn it into an object of art. He went to work on it with hammer and chisel, and chipped away at the huge boulder until that ugly stone became a beautiful animal - a running deer. When he finished, it was breath-taking. A passer-by asked, "How did you ever carve such a beautiful deer?" The man answered, "I just chipped away everything that didn't look like a deer!"

         If you have anything in your life right now that doesn't look like love, then get rid of it. With God's forgiveness, chip it away! If you have anything in your life that doesn't look like compassion or mercy or caring, then with God's help, chip it away! If you have hatred or prejudice or vengeance or envy lurking in your heart, then for God's sake, and the for the sake of everyone else around you, get rid of it! Let God chip everything out of your life that doesn't look like His love.

         I can tell you, this will not be easy. Sin will get in the way and Satan will always try to chisel God out of our lives. Mothers may be some of the best examples of love we can think of, but they need not be the only ones who can love. So can fathers. And so can brothers, and so can sisters. Anyone can, who lets the love of God into his or her life.

         God gives and God forgives. He gives us His love, then He forgives us when we don't show it very well. Abraham Lincoln once said, "No man is poor who has a godly mother." And an old proverb says, "An ounce of mother is worth a ton of preacher." A mother's love is never exhausted, but, amazingly, God's love goes even farther.

         "As I have loved you, so you must love one another." That's Jesus talking. Try it! It won't be easy, but it will be wonderful. Amen

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  Epiphany logo designed and provided by Dale Bargmann at daleb@ecentral.com