Love One Another

Maundy Thursday

Readings: John 13:1-17; 31-35

Grace and peace to you in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Today is Maundy Thursday and Maundy comes from the Latin word: command. It is tradition to remember Jesus’ humble action in washing the disciples feet on Maundy Thursday. As well as, to remember the new commandment Jesus gives, to love one another as we have been loved by God, in and through Jesus Christ.

Washing someone else’s feet seems terribly wrong and disturbing for most of us. It’s so.. personal! People’s feet can be dirty and gross, not to mention ticklish! And yet in another humble and stunning act of love, God stoops down and washes the disciples’ feet. Their sandy, dirty, weary feet are tenderly taken up into the hands of their Creator and washed clean. God, incarnate in Jesus Christ, never stops shocking us with LOVE. God’s love comes so close, gets so personal that it becomes uncomfortable. As I imagine myself in that room with the disciples, I feel myself tense up as Jesus approaches, ‘No, no, Jesus, don’t wash my feet! Those are only for me to see; I’ll wash them myself!’ To which Jesus of course persists in his desire to share with us (v.8). What is it that we share with Christ in this act? Well, that’s pretty vague, to be honest, but I imagine the answer.. is life. “Unless I wash you, you have no share with me..” What is it that we share? Perhaps it’s the very life and death of Christ, our Lord, that we share. It’s the cycle of birth, death, and resurrection, which we share with our God who gave up everything so that we might LIVE. God made sure that the cycle never stops with death, but always, always continues with resurrection.

God in Christ not only showed God’s love for the disciples by washing their feet, but Jesus knelt before them as their servant. Jesus did not say, human, I am too good to serve you.. nor did Jesus say, human YOU are MY master, but rather Jesus said look, “Servants are not greater than their masters, nor are messengers greater than the ones who sent them (v.16). Let go of these silly notions of false hierarchy and do as I do. Kneel before your brothers and sisters, as I kneel before you now. See my example. Serve as I serve. Love as I love. I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another (v.34).”

We love, because God first loved us. That is at the heart of the Maundy Thursday message. This is also the evening we would normally have first communion, as we remember tonight Jesus’ last supper with his disciples. Jesus spent one last evening with his disciples, his closest friends and family, and what did he do? What did GOD do? Jesus served his loved ones, washed their dirty feet, and he gathered them around the table and he shared a meal with them. These are great acts of love that define our faith. But I must point out one small, often overlooked detail.. Jesus knew Judas was going to betray him.. yet he still washed his feet.. he still passed him the bread and the wine. Not even Judas was excluded from the love of the God he would betray. God’s love is extended without condition.. and I pray this too is an example we can learn to follow. This too goes against our nature. When someone hurts us or when we don’t understand someone we want to build up walls that divide us. We want to keep people out by all means necessary. But Jesus walks right through all the barriers, kneels before his enemy and invites him to dinner. Christ’s love and grace even extends to Judas.. even extends to his executioners as he pleads for God the Father to forgive them for they know not what they do.. even extends to the prisoner being killed alongside of him as he proclaims, ‘today you will be with me in paradise.’

I am constantly baffled by the love of God… and also constantly baffled by my resistance to it. One of the hardest lessons I’ve had to learn in this life is how to love myself. I am constantly aware of my unworthiness of God’s love, and I know many of you are too, I hear it from you all the time. Too many of us are painfully aware of our identity as sinners. May we especially hold tight to the lesson from this evening. When we are beating ourselves up or the world is beating up on us, may we remember how Jesus Christ, God in the flesh, comes to us.. kneels at our feet, and invites us to dinner. And when we are beating up on another, sizing up someone else’ worth, calculating their sin against our own, may we remember how God kneels before them too, washes their feet, and invites them to the same dinner table as you and me.

We are all in this together; you, me, the imprisoned, the detained, the refugees, the immigrants, the government leaders, the grocery store workers, the homeless, the fast food cook, the death row inmates, the juvenile delinquents, the Rabbi and the Priest, the Imam and the Brahman, the doctors, schoolteachers, truck drivers.. whatever label you have, whatever ‘hat’ you wear, we are all in this together. There is not one human being God does not kneel before and invite to the feast. This is what we mean when we proclaim the table is ready and all are welcome. Because Jesus Christ died for the entire world.

One thing I’ve seen throughout this pandemic is the way in which it has reminded us of this reality that we are all in this together. Injustices are being exposed like never before and the social ‘underdogs’ are being appreciated in ways that were previously overlooked. We are struggling and there is much to grieve, but this is the light I see in the darkness, this is the spark of hope I am clinging to in the chaos. I pray for the day this is over, but I don’t pray that life goes back to the way it was before. I pray life is different from now on. That we will treat each other with a new found respect. That we will honor the dignity and worth of all people and all creation like never before. That we would finally begin to choose life over death and people over profit.

May we continue to share love and resources when this is over. May we continue reaching out and asking, what do you need and how can I help? May we never stop kneeling at the feet of our neighbors and inviting them to dinner.. May we embrace this message this Maundy Thursday and forevermore, the new commandment of God: to love one another as God has loved us.

Amen.

You can find the full worship service here: https://www.facebook.com/SeedsofFaithLutheran/videos/261544171678414/