The Resurrected Life, Part 3: Life in the Larger Community

Rev. Erik Swanson
May 18, 2025

You can watch the sermon here.

In John 13:34–35 Jesus said “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.” The passage is often read during Maundy Thursday services and serves as a powerful foundation for Christian living. This commandment is central to us — not a suggestion, but a mandate. And yet, even 2,000 years after Jesus spoke these words, the world, and particularly the church, struggles to live them out.

How Do We Live Out This Love?

The core challenge is embodiment—how do we live out this love in real, tangible ways? While the Christian faith is supposed to be recognized by its love, too often, the opposite is true. The church has sometimes modeled love well, but more often it has failed, especially outside of worship spaces. The gap between the message of love and the lived reality is painfully evident. For example, at a recent event with Vote Common Good, I observed how some Christians weaponize faith and nationalism to justify hatred, particularly toward immigrants. This contradiction — claiming Jesus while rejecting his command to love — reveals how far many have strayed from the heart of the gospel.

Refocusing the Calling to Love

The idea of “resurrection in the larger community” is introduced as a way to refocus on this call to love. The resurrected life is not only about Jesus rising from the dead, but about how we rise to live differently, guided by love, justice, compassion, and peace. One speaker at the Vote Common Good event said Jesus would likely be walking among the oppressed today, suggesting that resurrection can be found in solidarity with the marginalized.

Expressions of Resurrection and Divine Love

Real-life examples reinforce the message: protests in San Jose for justice and equity, advocating for legislation to protect transgender individuals, fighting for healthcare, LGBTQ+ rights, and racial justice — all are modern embodiments of the commandment to love. These acts are not political statements alone — they are expressions of resurrection and divine love in public life. As Cornel West put it, “Justice is what love looks like in public.” That’s what Jesus was calling for.

There are missteps along the way, including moments when even well-meaning activism fails to see or include everyone fully. But the willingness to apologize, learn, and do better is also part of resurrection — of moving toward new life, together.

A Call to Embody New Life in the World

Ultimately, the command to love is deeply challenging. It calls us to be uncomfortable, to step beyond our comfort zones, and to act when it would be easier to remain silent. It asks us to see people through the lens of love and to actively work against systems of injustice, exclusion, and division. Resurrection, then, is not just a story of Easter morning, but a call to embody new life in the world. It takes all of us, working together, to bear the love of Christ into the community. This is how people will know we are his disciples: if we love—boldly, visibly, and consistently.