The Simple and Difficult Gospel
A Sermon for Easter 5. Acts 11.1-18 ; John 13.31-35 If you want the Gospel in miniature, then we are offered it this morning. Jesus says to his disciples ‘Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.’ ‘Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.’ It really is as simple and as hard as that. Simple, because that is all that the Gospel is about. Hard, because loving and being loved is not an easy business. In the next few minutes, I want to explore the simplicity and difficulty of this, and think a little bit about what we should take with us into our lives. We start with being loved, because that is where Jesus starts. ‘Just as I have loved you’ he says. The foundation of Christianity in all of its forms is that we are loved by God. God loves us. That is the message of Christianity from beginning to end. Beware of anyone who tells you that God doesn’t...