Now
before the festival of the Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come to
depart from this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the
end.
He loved them to the end. Love is mentioned only six times
in the first 12 chapters of John’s Gospel, but love is mentioned 31 times in the next five chapters,
beginning right here in verse one. Jesus loved them to the end. Here we begin
to see the full extent of Jesus’ love. Extravagant acts of love that can at
times bewilder us. Jesus washes the disciples’ feet. Peter was shocked:
“Lord,
are you going to wash my feet?”
That’s a good question and I don’t blame Peter for asking it.
It is shocking. Think about it. The Angels must have been stunned. The glorious
Son of God, through whom all things were made, grabbed a basin of water and
washed the feet of his followers.
“Lord, are you going to wash my feet?”
This is called Maunday Thursday. Maundy
comes from the Latin word “mandatum”, meaning "commandment," Maundy
refers to Jesus’ command at the Last supper to love with abandon and humility. Jesus’
command has multiple layers of meaning. This menial task, foot washing, shows
the extent God will go to care for us, assure us that we are loved. This is no
easy love. It knows no limits, no boundaries. It is intimate and incarnate. It
finds us where ever we are and reaches out to us, bathes us, reassures us that
we are worthy of God’s love, not for anything we have done, but because we were
made to be loved. That’s what God does… God is found in the action of love.
Jesus’ command calls all of us who
have experienced this love to reach out in turn to others. Jesus calls out to
us in a broken and hurting world:
“Are
you going to wash my feet?”
Love is best understood in action. The
Bible has been called the “Book of Love”, but most people have trouble
understanding it. We live in an age of cynicism. The word “love” is easy to
say. This is represented in a song by Peter Gabriel. The song begins with
suspicion and doubt:
The book of love is long and boring
No one can lift [the damn thing] it
It's full of charts and facts and figures and
instructions for dancing
But I
I love it when you read to me
And you
You can read me anything
The cynic is not moved by written words,
but persuaded by someone willing to read them out loud, live them out loud, who
lessens their loneliness with conversation, who turns pages for them at the
Fifth Avenue Healthcare Center and sings to them of God’s love, who helps make
the holidays bearable by providing children with gift, who plays dominoes with prisoners,
and helps them ponder the Gospel message.
The book of love has music in it
In fact that's where music comes from
Some of it is just transcendental
Some of it is just really dumb
But I
I love it when you sing to me
And you
You can sing me anything
Polls tell us that many call themselves “spiritual, but not
religious” and are not interested in Christian dogma. Only the action of our
service inspired by God’s love can cut through walls thick with disbelief, cynicism
and pain.
In the Gospel reading the active love of God overflows the
pages, into our lives, and through us, into the world. Let’s look at verses 34
and 35:
I give you a new commandment, that you love
one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By
this everyone will know that you are my disciples.
The mark of discipleship then is service. It is one of two
commands Jesus gives us tonight. The second command is alluded to in John’s
Gospel. Before we discuss the second command, there’s something I want to point
out. Peter asks Jesus another good question in verse 36:
“Lord,
where are you going?”
The answer is found in the second part of verse 3. Jesus had
come from God and was going to God. We
believe that he came from heaven “for us and for our salvation” and that he returned
to heaven.
Traditionally, heaven has been
understood to be somewhere up in the clouds… floating somewhere above us. Here’s
another way to look at it. Heaven is located in God. To be in God’s presence is
to experience heaven. When we see God in all God’s glory, when we are filled
with God, when every cell is penetrated with God’s loving presence, then we
will be “in” heaven. We will know eternal joy. According to one theologian, “The
hope of heaven and eternal life is meant for all the living, so that in the
future world the creation that groans under transience will also be delivered,
because there will be no more death.” Salvation extends in ever-widening
circles to the entire cosmos so that all will be filled with the fullness of
God.
Jesus said:
In
my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I
have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a
place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I
am, there you may be also.
Look again at what Jesus promises:
I
will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may
be also.
Heaven, however, is not just a future promise. Jesus
proclaimed the in-breaking God and God’s kingdom. We can begin to know Jesus
now and experience some of heaven. In fact, we are commanded to do this. In
Paul’s letter to the Corinthians we are reminded that our relationship with God
is fed and strengthened through Communion. Tonight at this table we are invited
to a heavenly banquet. In these holy mysteries God is present in Jesus Christ
and gives us a pledge of eternal life. The bread that is blessed and broken is
the bread of heaven. The wine is the cup of our salvation. And we pray, “Be
present, be present, O Jesus, our great High Priest, as you were present with
your disciples, and be known to us in the breaking of the bread.”
Two commands are made: on of service
and one of communion with God and the family of Christ. Both of them lead us
deeper into the mystery of God’s presence. In the action of loving someone in
need God is mightily present. At this table we taste and see that the Lord is
good and near to us. In God’s presence we find our heavenly hope and hope for the entire cosmos. Heaven is a love song composed of God.
I love it
when you read to me
And you
You can
read me anything
The book
of love has music in it
In fact
that's where music comes from.
