Jesus Loves You

Transcribed Sermon by Fr Elijah Iskander - "Jesus Loves You - Monday Eve"
The key message of Christianity, the key message of this week is that Jesus loves you.

Jesus loves you.

Now, out of all the different three word phrases that we could have chosen, why this one? And the answer comes from Bishop Basil. 
In a recent visit to Sydney, he was telling us about his time spent in the monasteries of Egypt, talking to the elders and the monks there and getting their advice and their wisdom. And a specific story he told was about an extremely elderly monk who has spent much of his life with God and much of that time in the monastery. And Sayedna told us that he sat with him for about half an hour. And during this half an hour, Sayedna said, "I didn't count but I think this old monk said to me, 'Jesus loves you' at least 100 times."

Jesus loves you.
Jesus loves you.
Jesus loves you.

Now, during this week, of course, we see that. It's so obvious on good Friday on the cross, dying for us, His arms outstretched, embracing us, saving us.

His love is obvious on Good Friday.

On Holy Thursday, His love is obvious at the institution narrative and washing the feet of His disciples.

But what about Sunday night? Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday? Is it obvious that Jesus loves you? Yes.

And one thing that we can all focus on this year is this idea that Jesus loves me. It's something that we all know, but we need to know it and to experience that love and to see the depth of His love and the width of His love, and to search for how He loves us in every single reading.

Going through the readings of Monday Eve of the Holy Pascha, the first hour gospel was from the gospel of St. John:
Jesus loves you because he said, "where I am, there My servant will be also. If anyone serves Me, him My Father will honour." John 12:26
Jesus loves you because he promised you that where He is, you will be. Jesus loves you because he promised you that if you serve Him, that He will honour you.

In the third hour, we read from the gospel of St. Luke:
"Who do the crowds say that I am? ... John the Baptist, but some say Elijah; and others say that one of the old prophets has risen again" Luke 9:18-22

Then he said, "But who do you say that I am?"
Jesus demonstrates his love for us by yearning for a personal relationship with each one of us. He wants to know us. He knows us, but He wants us to know Him. Don't mind what the other people say but who do you say that He is?

He is interested in you.
He knows your name.
He wants you to know Him.

Jesus demonstrates his love by desiring for us to know Him personally and have that personal relationship with Him.

Jesus loves you in the gospel of the 6th hour when we read that Jesus was walking with His disciples and they were afraid.

They're starting to hear about some of the bad stuff that could happen when the Lord goes to Jerusalem. And so what does the Lord do? He warns them and he says,
"Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and to the scribes; and they will condemn Him to death and deliver Him to the Gentiles; and they will mock Him, and scourge Him, and spit on Him, and kill Him. And the third day He will rise again.” Mark 10:33-34
Jesus demonstrates His love for us by responding when we are afraid. His disciples were afraid so the Lord warned them, "anticipate that hard days will come, but don't be dismayed when things get hard. Don't be dismayed even when I die because on the third day I will rise again."
When you love somebody and you see them scared, you do everything that you can to reassure them, to support them, to warn them, to give them hope.
Jesus loves you because he cares when you are afraid.

In the 9th hour, we see that Jesus and His disciples were going for a walk on the road. 
Now, don't let that detail pass you by, that Jesus was just going for a walk on the road with his disciples. Jesus demonstrates His love by allowing us to encounter him every moment, every day, everywhere, even just doing normal day to day things like going for a walk.

Because back in the day, in the Old Testament, if you wanted to encounter God, it wasn't anyone. It was the prophet who would then spread the message to the people, and it wasn't anywhere, it was the temple. But Jesus demonstrates his love for you by allowing us to meet with Him, to talk with Him. Jesus loves you because He is close to you and allows us to interact with Him, to be in His presence regardless of where we are or what we're doing

In the 11th hour Jesus loves you because we see the disciples say, why couldn't we cast out the demon?
So Jesus said to them, “Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you. However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.” Matthew 17:20-21

But where did that conversation happen? Was it in front of all the people? But we read in the gospel that rather than exposing His disciples, rather than embarrassing them, He went and took them aside privately. 

Jesus demonstrates his love for us by concealing our mistakes. Jesus loves us and he covers our weaknesses. He doesn't humiliate us, He doesn't embarrass us. He accepts us, and He allows us to have another chance when we come to Him in confession.

So I encourage you for the rest of the week, every psalm, every prophecy, every gospel search for how Jesus is loving You through those readings.

Jesus loves you.
Jesus loves you.
Jesus loves you. 

Glory be to God forever.
The key message of Christianity, the key message of this week is that Jesus loves you.

Jesus loves you.

Now, out of all the different three word phrases that we could have chosen, why this one? And the answer comes from Bishop Basil. 
In a recent visit to Sydney, he was telling us about his time spent in the monasteries of Egypt, talking to the elders and the monks there and getting their advice and their wisdom. And a specific story he told was about an extremely elderly monk who has spent much of his life with God and much of that time in the monastery. And Sayedna told us that he sat with him for about half an hour. And during this half an hour, Sayedna said, "I didn't count but I think this old monk said to me, 'Jesus loves you' at least 100 times."

Jesus loves you.
Jesus loves you.
Jesus loves you.

Now, during this week, of course, we see that. It's so obvious on good Friday on the cross, dying for us, His arms outstretched, embracing us, saving us.

His love is obvious on Good Friday.

On Holy Thursday, His love is obvious at the institution narrative and washing the feet of His disciples.

But what about Sunday night? Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday? Is it obvious that Jesus loves you? Yes.

And one thing that we can all focus on this year is this idea that Jesus loves me. It's something that we all know, but we need to know it and to experience that love and to see the depth of His love and the width of His love, and to search for how He loves us in every single reading.

Going through the readings of Monday Eve of the Holy Pascha, the first hour gospel was from the gospel of St. John:
Jesus loves you because he said, "where I am, there My servant will be also. If anyone serves Me, him My Father will honour." John 12:26
Jesus loves you because he promised you that where He is, you will be. Jesus loves you because he promised you that if you serve Him, that He will honour you.

In the third hour, we read from the gospel of St. Luke:
"Who do the crowds say that I am? ... John the Baptist, but some say Elijah; and others say that one of the old prophets has risen again" Luke 9:18-22

Then he said, "But who do you say that I am?"
Jesus demonstrates his love for us by yearning for a personal relationship with each one of us. He wants to know us. He knows us, but He wants us to know Him. Don't mind what the other people say but who do you say that He is?

He is interested in you.
He knows your name.
He wants you to know Him.

Jesus demonstrates his love by desiring for us to know Him personally and have that personal relationship with Him.

Jesus loves you in the gospel of the 6th hour when we read that Jesus was walking with His disciples and they were afraid.

They're starting to hear about some of the bad stuff that could happen when the Lord goes to Jerusalem. And so what does the Lord do? He warns them and he says,
"Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and to the scribes; and they will condemn Him to death and deliver Him to the Gentiles; and they will mock Him, and scourge Him, and spit on Him, and kill Him. And the third day He will rise again.” Mark 10:33-34
Jesus demonstrates His love for us by responding when we are afraid. His disciples were afraid so the Lord warned them, "anticipate that hard days will come, but don't be dismayed when things get hard. Don't be dismayed even when I die because on the third day I will rise again."
When you love somebody and you see them scared, you do everything that you can to reassure them, to support them, to warn them, to give them hope.
Jesus loves you because he cares when you are afraid.

In the 9th hour, we see that Jesus and His disciples were going for a walk on the road. 
Now, don't let that detail pass you by, that Jesus was just going for a walk on the road with his disciples. Jesus demonstrates His love by allowing us to encounter him every moment, every day, everywhere, even just doing normal day to day things like going for a walk.

Because back in the day, in the Old Testament, if you wanted to encounter God, it wasn't anyone. It was the prophet who would then spread the message to the people, and it wasn't anywhere, it was the temple. But Jesus demonstrates his love for you by allowing us to meet with Him, to talk with Him. Jesus loves you because He is close to you and allows us to interact with Him, to be in His presence regardless of where we are or what we're doing

In the 11th hour Jesus loves you because we see the disciples say, why couldn't we cast out the demon?
So Jesus said to them, “Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you. However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.” Matthew 17:20-21

But where did that conversation happen? Was it in front of all the people? But we read in the gospel that rather than exposing His disciples, rather than embarrassing them, He went and took them aside privately. 

Jesus demonstrates his love for us by concealing our mistakes. Jesus loves us and he covers our weaknesses. He doesn't humiliate us, He doesn't embarrass us. He accepts us, and He allows us to have another chance when we come to Him in confession.

So I encourage you for the rest of the week, every psalm, every prophecy, every gospel search for how Jesus is loving You through those readings.

Jesus loves you.
Jesus loves you.
Jesus loves you. 

Glory be to God forever.