A New Democracy

Texts: Acts 11:1-18; Revelation 21:1-6; John 13:31-35

The country was stunned this week by one event, an event the experts said had no precedent since the Second World War. The Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition met together, agreed together and appeared together to propose a common solution to a problem that was dividing the people of this country. And, of course, not everybody was pleased about it. Mr Key, in particular, has been accused of "letting Labour off the hook".

The remarkable thing about all this, of course, is that it is so remarkable. That is not how we expect our politicians to behave – particularly not our Leader of the Opposition. We take it for granted that in our democracy everybody will pursue their own opinions and their own interests, and somehow out of all the squabbling and argy-bargy a way forward will emerge. We say we want consensus politics – we say we are tired of all the slanging matches – we say that when we voted for MMP we wanted a more cooperative approach to politics – but when it happens we are stunned, and not all of us like what we see.

We needn't worry too much. We don't have to be too cynical to know that this example of cooperation and consensus –seeking won't last very long. We have the annual Budget coming up later this month; and we all know the ritual involved in that. In Parliament, the Opposition Parties will criticise the Budget and move a motion of no-confidence in the Government. The motion will be defeated. Outside Parliament all the various interest groups will be sought by the media for their comments, and all will complain that there is not enough in the Budget for their sector.

That's how the game is played under normal conditions. In our democracy everybody is entitled to express his or her opinion, and we take it for granted that we will exercise that right from a purely self-centred point of view. That's human nature, isn't it? Well, yes it is, but the question for us is, is it redeemed human nature? Or to put it another way, should the same principle of self-interest guide us in the church? It seems from the demonstrations in Parliament Grounds on Wednesday that some of our brothers and sisters in Christ believe it should. Shout for all your worth, drown out those advocating a different point of view, and claim that God is on your side and not theirs.

That's what happens when the spirit of democracy invades the church, unmediated by the Spirit of Christ. In a very real sense, Christ's teaching is opposed to our democratic practice if by that we mean that we all push our own barrows. Think for a moment of his teaching on leadership. When the disciples were arguing among themselves about who among them was the greatest, Jesus told them that such an argument was okay for civil society, but it must not be like that within the Christian community. Whoever wants to be the greatest must be the least; whoever wants to be the leader of all must be the servant of all. The Christian community must be a democracy in the important sense that all members are of equal value, but it is to be a new kind of democracy, one in which power struggles give way to love. Self-interest gives way to the interests of others.

And nowhere is this teaching about a new democracy more obvious than in the Gospel of St John. Nowhere but in this gospel do we find Jesus washing his disciples' feet, demonstrating that the leader of all is the servant of all. Nowhere but in this gospel do we find Jesus' prayer for unity among his disciples and followers. And nowhere but in this gospel do we find this so-called New Commandment.

Think for a moment about the other gospels, and you will realise that they are much more concerned about the 'outside world'. All three of them have the so-called Great Commandments, what our liturgy now calls the Summary of the Law. Love God, and love your neighbour as yourself. Two of them come very close to arguing that salvation depends on how we treat our neighbours – almost a gospel of works. St Matthew has the Parable of the Sheep and the Goats, which seems to suggest that whether we are or are not admitted to the presence of the King depends on how we have or have not ministered to those in need. St Luke gives us a similar message through the Parable of the Good Samaritan.

And, of course, St Matthew and St Luke have the shocking suggestion that Jesus commands his followers to love even our enemies! [Try telling that to our brothers and sisters in Parliament Grounds this week!]

But we won't find anything of this in St John's Gospel. Instead, we get this New Commandment, addressed only to his disciples. Love one another as I have loved you. Compared to the teaching in the other gospels, this is very introverted, if that's the word. It's about what goes on in the church, not outside it. It's a rather limited version of love in the sense that it limits the class orf recipients. That's bad enough, but it gets worse.

Jesus spells out why he wants us to love one another. That love is to be the identifying mark of his church. Not the quality of our service or ministry to others, nor the correctness of our belief, and not even the quality of our worship. The mark by which we are to be known and recognised as his disciples is to be our love for our fellow members of the church. Not just those members we find personally congenial, not just those who agree with us, not just those who are no threat to our own position in the church, but all members. The church is to be a new community, a new democracy in which all members are equally valued, and all members submit their own interest to the interests of the others.

It gets worse. Jesus tells us the standard of love required. When we're told to love our neighbours, the standard is that of our self-love. Love your neighbour as yourself. In other words recognise your neighbour's interests as of equal importance to your own. That's tough enough sometimes, but that's not the standard required in connection with this New Commandment. The standard here is that of Christ's own love for his followers. And, of course, he reminds us that involves laying down one's life for others: Greater love has no one than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends. That wasn't said or written for Anzac Day. That was said and written for his church for every day.

One more thing while we are on the subject of love. It is often said – and we say it ourselves- that God's love for us – Christ's love for us – is unconditional. If by that we mean there is nothing we can do or need to do to earn God's love, then we are quite right. We do not have to become a better person before God will deign to love us. As we say in one of our liturgies "God's love is shown to us: while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." That's exactly right. God loves us before we love him.

But then what? What if we then reject God's love? Where does that leave us? What if, having accepted God's forgiveness for our own sins, we refuse forgiveness to others? The Parable of the Unforgiving Servant tells us what the consequences of that may be. What if we fail to minister to those in need? The Parable of the Sheep and the Goats suggests that such failure may have eternal consequences.

And here in St John's Gospel, we find the same cautionary note. In chapter 15, Jesus is quoted thus: As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love….My command is this: Love one another as I have loved you. The implication is, surely, that if we fail to love one another, we will not remain in Christ's love.

The point is that we are called together into the church, the new community of God, as the first stage of the renewal of the whole of creation. Our lesson from the Book of Acts this morning foreshadows the next stage. Peter as a good Jew understood God's command to love God and to love his fellow Jews. Then, through the actions of the Holy Spirit, he understood that the same love he had for his fellow Jews was to be extended to the Gentiles, meaning everyone else. Why? Because only thus would it reflect God's own love for the whole of humanity.

And so the love within the Jewish community starts to spread beyond it. But it spreads through people, through faithful people, committed to God's commandments. It spreads through the faith of the people of God, hearing God's teaching, accepting God's teaching, and acting in accordance with God's teaching. It is not some sort of spiritual force that takes over the world, whether we humans like it or not. It is love incarnate in the followers of Christ.

Through us it is to fill the Church, and to overflow into the world, until the whole earth and the whole heaven is renewed, as we see it in the Revelation of John. Every time we fail to be loving within the Church we hold up that process, when we succeed we speed it up. How we treat one another is that important.

It is easy to be cynical about the minor miracle we witnessed in the political arena this week. Or perhaps we should be thankful for it as a sign of the new community into which all of creation is being called – starting with the Church of God.

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Louise Booth