"Love One Another" based on 1 John 4:7-11

The Fifth Sunday of Easter (B) - May 10, 2009

Pastor Troy Slater - Our Redeemer Lutheran Church, Herington, Kansas

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, "love one another," the apostle John says. "Love one another." Of course that's much easier said than done, isn't it? Although as this is Mother's Day, we begin by certainly acknowledging and giving thanks to God for that love we have been given by our mother's over the years and that love that we have shared with them.

But of course the truth is that love is not always so easy. I mean, not even mom's are perfect. Even families can wear each other out. Love that seems so strong when couples get married so easily wanes. And there are a whole lot of people out there who aren't so easy to love. Maybe even some of us - probably even all of us at least at times can make love awfully hard. Then as we look at the world, the wars, the violence, the threats and the conflicts, yes love sure seems awfully hard. In fact hatred can even rule the day if we let it.

Of course hatred can easily fester inside of a person to the point that life becomes miserable. Perhaps you've known someone like that - perhaps you've even been there yourself. You're wronged, you don't let them forget it. You're spoken to unkindly, you hold it over their head for the next twenty years. Happens, happens a lot, unfortunately. In fact it happened to a man I would like to tell you about this morning; a man who was a British POW from World War II by the name of Eric Lomax - perhaps you've heard of him before for he has a book out entitled, "Railway Man." But Eric's story shows us how hatred destroys, but love builds.

For back in 1942, at the age of 23, Eric's unit was captured when Singapore fell to the Japanese. He was put in a Japanese concentration camp where he was forced to work on a railway. Desperate for news from the outside world, he and his fellow POW's scrounged up parts from here and there and built a crude radio set over which they could hear news of Allied victories which of course was a tremendous boost to their morale.

But in August of 1943 the radio was discovered. Lomax was one of five suspects who was beaten severely along with brutal interrogations. At one point he was beaten with an ax handle, thrown to the ground and stomped on by soldiers. The boots of the guards broke bones in both his arms and when they stomped his face into the dirt, several of his teeth were broken. He was thrown into a bamboo cage 5" long by 2" wide. Being over 6" tall Lomax couldn't even stretch out. Large red ants swarmed over him, and because both arms were broken, he couldn't even sweep them away.

Each day after that he was dragged into an interrogation room where he was accused of anti-Japanese activities. Of course Lomax began to deeply hate both the Japanese officer and the interpreter who was relaying the orders to him in English. For 18 hours a day he was forced to balance himself, trying to protect his broken arms while listening to the same questions and grilling, over and over again.

One morning a railway map was spread out in front of him. He was accused of having the map to organize an escape and was asked who else was involved. Lomax remained silent. Then guards grabbed him and thrust his head into a barrel of water, nearly drowning him. They would allow him to breathe just long enough to barely stay alive as the Japanese interpreter would yell into his ear, "Lomax, you will tell!". Refusing to talk his head was then thrust back into the water again and again and again. For Lomax the torture continued until he was eventually taken to another camp where he stayed until he was released at the end of the war in 1945. Afterwards he settled down back in England, married and tried to get on with his life, for he was free - at least sort of.

For Eric had developed an intense hatred for his captors. Again, no great surprise considering all he had been through. But every night he would wake his wife screaming in fear from the persistent nightmares. Every night in his sleep he kept hearing that mechanical-sounding voice of that hated Japanese interpreter, "Lomax, you will tell!"

Then one day one of the other two POW's who survived the ordeal gave him a copy of an article from the Japan Times, an English-language newspaper published in Tokyo. In it was a story about his tormentor, that little Japanese translator who continued to shout "Lomax, you will tell!" in his nightmares. His name was Nagase Takashi. The article even included his photo and talked about how this frail 71-year-old had devoted his life to making up for the Japanese Army's mistreatment of prisoners. It said he suffered terrible flashbacks of torturing a British POW who was accused of possessing a map. Of course Lomax couldn't believe it. That man remembered him?

And so Lomax wanted to see him, and see if he really was sorry. Some suggested that Lomax forgive his tormentor, but he couldn't, his hatred just continued to fester. Then someone gave him another article in which Takashi described his wartime activities, including his torture of Lomax. He indicated that he said he was sorry and felt he had been forgiven.

Well Lomax was furious. His wife wrote Takashi and told him how much her husband was continuing to suffer from the nightmares over the ordeal. She said, "How can you feel forgiven if this particular prisoner of war has not yet forgiven you?"

Well, a little more than a week later an envelope arrived from Japan and in it Takashi wrote, "Your letter has beaten me down, and reminded me of my dirty old days." He went on to wish them well and hoped they could meet. … Suddenly as Lomax read the letter from his tormentor, his anger began to seep away. And in its place began to rise a spark of compassion. He began to think that maybe he would go to meet this man.

And in fact they did, they did meet. In fact they met at the location of the concentration camp where the torture had taken place. As they met they talked about many things and even discovered that they had much in common. And then finally Eric Lomax spoke those words that he had been unable to even think just a few months before. He told Takashi, "I forgive you, completely." …

After that time Lomax, for the first time in decades, was blessed with good, quiet sleep. His nightmares rarely bothered him anymore for you see his hate was replaced with forgiveness and reconciliation and love.

We often think of forgiveness as something that someone must earn from us? They must at least be sorry before we can even think about forgiving them. Hate overrules any love. But look what happened to Eric Lomax. Even after he was freed from being a POW, he was still captive, wasn't he? His hate and bitterness had managed to keep him imprisoned. His hate and bitterness effectively gave his captors power over him. His unwillingness to let the love of God have its way in his life allowed those Japanese soldiers to continue to torture and to make him miserable. That’s' what hatred does. It gives that person whom you hate power over you - even when you feel justified. It controls your life as it causes you to lash out and find ways to get even. It eats in you like a cancer, seeking to destroy you. I've seen it, probably most of you have seen it, even in the church.

But we have been loved by God, haven't we? You have been loved by God. And if you have any doubts about that then I encourage you to look to the cross - look to the cross of our Lord Jesus where God gave His very best - where He gave His only-begotten Son "as an atoning sacrifice for our sins." as St. John says in our reading. If you have any doubts about God's love for you then look to the cross, where as St. Paul says, "Christ died for the ungodly"; where even "when we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to Him through the death of His Son." Yes it's not because we said we were so sorry that God sent Jesus, it's not that we had proved ourselves so worthy of His love and forgiveness that Christ died for you and for me. He just did it. "God so loved the world." And so how can we refuse to let that love of God flow through us and to others - and yes even including to those who have wronged us and those who will wrong us?

Now is it easy to do that? To love the unlovable? To forgive the unforgivable? Hardly, as I'm sure you know. But as we live our lives in Christ - baptized into His name - the love of God lives in us. We can then love and forgive even in the midst of the most hateful, even in the most unloving circumstances of all. Jesus not only loves us as His fallen yet forgiven people, but He also gives us the power to love and forgive others - all others.

And so yes, "dear friends, let us love one another, for loves comes from God." Love has been given to us by God through the cross of our Lord Jesus. Let us forgive. Let us live. Let us love - in Jesus name. Amen.