[AI translation] Dear Brothers and Sisters! More than 1900 years ago, a letter arrived in Ephesus. To Ephesus, where the Apostle Paul had once founded a church, where Timothy had served, where Apollos had preached. We know these names from the Bible. Through the apostle John came the letter from Jesus himself, which has just been spoken among us. They called the church together and read to them this letter of great importance.And you know, the great thing is that when we read it in this way, we feel that this letter is addressed to us. It is full of topicality, which is also for us. So let me say now: the congregation of Pasaréti! A letter has arrived for you. Jesus himself is sending you this letter. I would like to read it now in today's language, listen to it in today's language - this is how this letter reads: 'I know your business'. And this eternal eye sees us. Not only does He see us as we see each other now, as we sit together in this church at this very moment, but He sees everything. He sees through our clothes, He sees through our smiles or our reverent faces, He sees right into the center of our hearts. The wonderful thing is that there is nothing to hide from this gaze. It knows us, it knows our past and our present. And He alone knows our future. But He also knows our present. And the weaknesses of our lives, and our lies. He knows everything that we are. He knows you, and He knows me. Perfectly. And this begs the question, is there something in us that His x-ray eye is not good at seeing. Because he can see it too, don't hide it, you can't! He is not deceived by appearances. He sees us exactly as we are. If only we could feel that gaze on ourselves now, so real that we would be forced to acknowledge that we are veiled, and that we cannot deceive ourselves before ourselves.
"I know your business", the letter begins. Take it, Brother, quite personally to you, I read it so to myself. Now then, what do you know of our things? Look, he knows the good, no doubt. He knows very well all the good and all the good that can be said about us as believers, Christians individually or collectively as a Pasaretic congregation. There is not a Christian person in the world and there is not a Christian congregation in the world about whom something beautiful and something good cannot be said. Well then, He sees it.
Here He says things like this, "I know thy... weariness and thy endurance, ...and thou hast borne thy burdens, and hast endured, and hast labored for my name's sake, and hast not fainted." (Rev 2:2-3) He sees very beautiful things in the church at Ephesus. It must have been a great church, this church at Ephesus. If you read this far in the letter, you get a great picture of a church that was alive and kicking. And it is a great thing, Brothers and Sisters, when the eye of Jesus sees such things somewhere in a church, or in a human heart: weariness, endurance, and burden-bearing. Tiring for His name's sake, and not being weary of it. So it is a great thing when Jesus sees such things. It is as if He were saying to us - because I said that I wanted to read this letter in today's language, as if God were saying to us: I see how beautifully full your church is, and I know very well how exemplary your giving is, and I am very happy that a whole host of young faces are interspersed among your ranks, and I know that you love to listen to the Word. I also know that the church in Pasaret has a reputation far and wide, and is generally regarded as a living church, a hard-working church. And I know that many believers come here, they come from far away, because they like to listen to the Word. So here, in this congregation, there is something to praise, there is a good zeal, there is a serious life of faith, there is a willingness to sacrifice, to help one another, and there is a diaconia. There is much that is good and beautiful in this congregation. But! And yet there is one big "but"! And, Brothers and Sisters, let this be the most important thing for us! Because what is good and beautiful is visible on the outside, and we all know it. But there is a but that is hidden by the beautiful outside, a lurking danger that is hidden from our view by the other good and beautiful things. What is this but?
Behold, he says, "My saying against you is, that you have forsaken your first love." (Rev 2:4) What is that first love? What does it mean? Perhaps it means the first happy decision that pervades the heart of the man who is converted to God. Remember, Brother, you too, when first the resolve arose in your heart to come to be with Jesus, to be one of His disciples, that you felt so light and so happy, as if your wings had grown, you wanted to embrace the whole world in your joy. You wanted to tell everyone how good it was to know Jesus. You wanted to tell everyone about the happy miracle that happened to you, just by knowing Jesus, just by being with Him. You almost regretted that it was evening and you could not consciously feel the joy of being with Him, and you rejoiced at the new morning, at the new beginning of walking again in this earthly world. Your soul was almost intoxicated. It was as if you too had felt something of the exhilaration of which Jesus spoke when he said, "There is joy in heaven among the angels of heaven over the repentance of a sinner." (cf. Lk 15,7) For it is indeed true, Brothers and Sisters, that everyone who comes to Jesus somehow, by chance, feels first of all as if his life has been lifted up into a fourth dimension. The soul cannot help dreaming of the happy miracle that Jesus is alive and present, and that his love covers us, and his hand protects and guides us, and that he hears our prayers, and that heaven is open above us. And something of fervent gratitude and deep love fills one's soul. Do you know this feeling, or have you ever known this feeling? Isn't that how it was for you at some time? At the time of your first love?
First love: it also means the very beginning of our love. So it is a certain difference of order or precedence. It's about Jesus being the first One you love and everything else and everyone else comes after Him. He is the first One who cares, He is the first One who commands, He is the first One who fills your heart. Because Jesus always wants our hearts. In that heart, the first place can only ever be Jesus'. So it's about, Brother, how you love Jesus. Not in the way that you love Him and, say, your family, but Him first and foremost. And then, of course, through Him, your family too, of course. Yes, other things too. So, not in the sense that Jesus also and the many beauties and joys of this world, but Jesus first and foremost, and then the many beauties and joys of this world. But Jesus above all. And do not think, Brothers and Sisters, that this love of Jesus above all things, this is some religious frenzy, some enthusiastic sentimentality, or some mystical immersion in some mysterious, invisible spirituality, oh no! On the contrary, it is precisely this inner engine that drives and qualifies the Christian man to the greatest activity. You know what man can do out of love, don't you? If I really love someone, I am happy if I can make a sacrifice for him or if I can do something for him. Love is such a wonderful power that it gives you the strength to do superhuman things. Love keeps you from doing things that may be incompatible with the will of the loved one. Love happily seeks to meet, and jealously guards the togetherness, the continuance of the relationship. Love is also ready to renounce, to sacrifice, if necessary. But at the same time, it also makes you a hero, a martyr and a brave man, if necessary.
Brothers and sisters, today is Mother's Day. Think now, at this moment, all of you, of your mothers: what this love has been able to do! One almost cannot imagine what a wonderful resource the love of a weak woman is: your mother. It can never be fully repaid. Happy is the man who can kiss his mother's hand today. Now think, Brothers and Sisters, if a mother's love for her child can make a weak woman heroic, active, what can a man's burning, flaming love for Jesus make a man?
There are great examples where you can see what it means to love Jesus. Let me give you one example in particular, because it is very close. In the last few days we buried one of the country's most distinguished scientists, Ferenc Kiss, a professor of medicine, who is known and loved by many people here. But not only here, but all over the country, and not only in the country, but all over the world. He was truly a lover of Christ. And, Brothers and Sisters, this does not mean that he was some dreamy soul who always lived turning towards some mysterious and mystical beyond, oh no! You may have read in the newspapers that he was active until the moment of his death. He finished his last work the day before his death. Love for Christ was the inner motor in his life that drove him to such social and scientific work that he himself bore witness to it. Such scientific work that he was awarded the Kossuth Prize, the highest scientific award in our country. And in the world, abroad, he also received the highest recognition a scientist can receive. His works have been translated into many languages all over the world, and are still in circulation today, being studied by thousands and thousands of people. And the secret of this active, rich, blessed, useful life was one: his love for Jesus. And above all and above all. And not only did he bear witness to this, but so did all who ever met him. They sensed the secret of this life, that he loved Jesus.
You see, that is why Jesus asks Peter three times in succession, "Do you love me? Because that is the most important thing. And that if you, Peter, have denied me and are such a wretched, characterless, spineless freak - if you love me, then all is well. Then, even as you are, with your wretchedness and spinelessness, you are fit for apostolic work. Go on doing your apostolic service, because it can only be done out of love, not out of aptitude, but out of love, love for Christ. And you see, Brothers, that is why the first and greatest commandment is to love your Lord God with all your heart and with all your strength. So again, first of all, for in this then is everything. The love of God - this love will guide you in the world. This love will give you the strength for all good service, and this love will show you how to love other people wisely and usefully. That is why Augustine said in his day, "Love God and do what you will"! The whole Christian ethic is in this: 'love God and do what you will'. Then you do what Jesus wants anyway. Love God! This is the mysterious inner fire that makes the Christian man very different from all other kinds of people. It is the inner engine that drives his life. It is the fuel of our life, in this engine. The secret of the whole Christian life is to love God. It is a secret that the world is perplexed by. What is it? What is the secret of this man? Well, the only secret a Christian man can have is to love Jesus. And that makes him very different from every other man in this world, and very different from what he would be without that love.
Do you see, Brothers and Sisters, what a tragic problem it is when this very thing fades in someone? When this very love is waning in someone, or growing cold, or perhaps has even grown cold? When you have to say to Jesus to someone that you have abandoned your first love? You see, without love there is so much good and so much beauty to be done. You can organize a church, you can preach, you can preach well. It is possible to serve Him, and it is possible to hurry and hurry, and it is possible to pray well without love for Christ. You can do all kinds of good and beautiful things. But it's all like when the power goes out, the engine stops, the momentum carries it on. Many of you have a centrifuge at home, and I have seen how long the machine keeps on spinning after the power has been turned off. You don't even notice that the power is off, because it keeps on spinning exactly the same way. Well, that's the kind of thing that happens in Ephesus, that the power is turned off. So there is a lot of activity, busyness, zeal, but it is all carried along by the momentum of the past. The first love has left. There can be no greater tragedy in the Christian life. What about you, Brother? Do you love Jesus more today than the day you were converted? Do you love him more or less? Was the encounter with Him a peak, a spiritual peak from which the only way is down, slowly but always down? Or higher, higher and higher? Does love for Christ give you strength against sin, against temptation? Do you really love intimate fellowship with Him, do you even have time for it in this hectic life? There is always time enough for the one you love. Do you love intimate, prayerful fellowship with Him, do you love His word? Do you love your Bible more today, or less? Do you have any of the old fire left in you at all? A cold love is a terrible thing in a marriage, let alone in a relationship with Jesus!
If the depth, the seriousness and the warmth of our relationship with Jesus is in danger of going cold, it is the twilight of our whole Christian life. So great is this trouble that, in spite of all the beauty and goodness to be praised, Jesus says to the church at Ephesus and Pasareth: "Repent, ... or else I will come against you quickly and will remove your lampstand from its place"! (Rev 2,5b) Jesus is not referring here to the kind of candlestick we know today, but to the old kind of oil lampstand, the clay lampstand. Imagine, if such a clay basin is cracked and the oil has leaked out of it and it is no longer fit for what it is for, what is it for? Of course, it can still be put away as a nice souvenir or antique, but it is of little practical value, except to museums collecting antiques. Such a museum object is what every believer and every Christian congregation in this world, in which the love of Christ is no longer aflame, is becoming. It still lives on the love and sacrifice of the previous generation. Some are living from their own past memories and have no fresh memories. This may be precious antiquities for museums, because they collect antiquities, but Jesus does not collect antiquities, He rejects them. The out-of-place candlestick, the cold-hearted Christian, is swept away by this modern world. Just as we throw away a burnt-out light bulb because it is useless. Well, Brothers and Sisters, that is exactly how it is: if we have no love for Christ, we are like a burnt-out light bulb. It is useless! Only there is one very big difference: that you can't make that burnt-out light bulb burn anymore, but you can make your heart burn! And that's why the great commandment is: "Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the former works" (Rev 2:5a).
The three great imperatives of the Christian life: remember, repent, do! And do it again every day. Remember! Yes, always remember again what you have been put through, what sacrifice Jesus made for you. Always remember again the holy blood at the cost of which you too can say, "Dear Father, to God. I know of nothing in this world that warms the cold heart more than this remembrance, than to think over and over again of what happened there on Calvary. Only let not the believer ever allow himself to become bored or indifferent to what happened there on Calvary! Give thanks for it every day. Let this be the motto: I don't want to forget what Jesus did for me! So remember! Every day remember it again!
And then repent! It sounds more sympathetic if I say it like this, because the Greek text also means word for word: repent! Of course, even the most burning love for Christ will fade if you miss those days and those Sundays when you put your soul in the presence of the living Jesus and examine whether something has come between you and Jesus. Repentance is not a matter of devotion or emotion or mood. Repentance is a spiritual disinfecting procedure against perceived, specific sins. Repentance means bathing my soul and my thoughts and my heart over and over again in the bath of Jesus' love. So repent every day again!
And act! Without it, it's worth nothing. Do the will of God as you know it, just don't stay idle! Go out to the other person, move your hand to help, your foot to visit, your lips to speak a kind word, your heart to serve love. Take action! Do something for Jesus every day! In Jesus' name! Do everything like this!
So: remember, repent and act! Even the hottest stove burns out if it is not kept burning. This is the way to nourish our love for Jesus: remember, repent and act! Every day again!
"He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches." (Revelation 2:7a) If you have heard any of this with your spiritual ears right now, it was Jesus Himself speaking it to you personally!
Amen
Date: 8 May 1966.
Lesson
1Jn 4,7-13