On this night, Jesus and his friends gathered for a meal. It was a meal like the other meals Jesus and his friends had shared, and yet it was not quite the same. During the meal, Jesus got up from the table. Taking off his outer robe, he put on a towel, and with it the role of a servant. Kneeling and pouring water into a basin, Jesus washed the dusty feet of the ones who had journeyed many miles with him – around Galilee and into Samaria and, finally, to Jerusalem. Putting on his robe again and sitting back at the table, he continued to teach them.
The meal together was familiar, but the host, washing their feet? That was strange. The setting was familiar – Jesus teaching, his disciples taking it all in – but the content was strange, as he spoke of betrayal and denial, of going someplace they could not follow. In this strange place where these two different realities are held together – alike and not alike, familiarity and strangeness – Jesus brings his students, his followers, his friends back to the most important thing: love.
“I give you a new commandment,” Jesus tells them, “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, if you have love for one another.”
Love one another, Jesus says. Love one another, because I have loved you. Love one another, because we belong to each other. Love one another, by serving. Love one another, through sacrifice. Love one another, because I have chosen you. Love one another, because it is in loving one another that you will really know me.
The love that Jesus shows and commands is a love that kneels down to serve. It is a love that comes even to Judas, who Jesus knows will betray him; even to Peter, who Jesus knows will deny him; even to us, who Jesus knows will continue to sin against God and neighbor by what we do and fail to do. It is a love that clings tightly to us in our fear and frailties. It is a love that brings about forgiveness and mercy, salvation and new life. It is a love that is stronger than suffering, stronger even than death. That is to say, it is the love of God.
We find ourselves in a Holy Week that is both familiar and strange – together in spirit but not in body; familiar stories but different surroundings in which to hear them; words of the liturgy apart from the actions with which they are usually accompanied. In this strange place where these disparate realities are held together, Jesus brings us back to the most important thing: love.
The love of God finds us wherever and however we are gathered. The love of God is not defeated by disease or fear or anguish, not diminished by empty church buildings or full hospitals. The love of God strengthens and empowers us to love one another – that self-giving, humble love that seeks nothing in return, that binds us to one another.
As we enter in to the Great Three Days, in which we celebrate Jesus’ death and resurrection, we are reminded of the most important thing: love. The love of God fills us, sustains us, suffers with us, and is always, always victorious. From the table to the garden; the judgement hall to the cross; the burial to the empty tomb – the story we gather to hear this week is the story of God’s deep and abiding love.
 |
| Paynter, David, 1900-1975. Jesus washing the disciples' feet, detail of mural, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. http://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=54318 [retrieved April 9, 2020]. Original source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Trinity_College_Chapel_Mural_(2).jpg. |
The meal together was familiar, but the host, washing their feet? That was strange. The setting was familiar – Jesus teaching, his disciples taking it all in – but the content was strange, as he spoke of betrayal and denial, of going someplace they could not follow. In this strange place where these two different realities are held together – alike and not alike, familiarity and strangeness – Jesus brings his students, his followers, his friends back to the most important thing: love.
“I give you a new commandment,” Jesus tells them, “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, if you have love for one another.”
Love one another, Jesus says. Love one another, because I have loved you. Love one another, because we belong to each other. Love one another, by serving. Love one another, through sacrifice. Love one another, because I have chosen you. Love one another, because it is in loving one another that you will really know me.
The love that Jesus shows and commands is a love that kneels down to serve. It is a love that comes even to Judas, who Jesus knows will betray him; even to Peter, who Jesus knows will deny him; even to us, who Jesus knows will continue to sin against God and neighbor by what we do and fail to do. It is a love that clings tightly to us in our fear and frailties. It is a love that brings about forgiveness and mercy, salvation and new life. It is a love that is stronger than suffering, stronger even than death. That is to say, it is the love of God.
We find ourselves in a Holy Week that is both familiar and strange – together in spirit but not in body; familiar stories but different surroundings in which to hear them; words of the liturgy apart from the actions with which they are usually accompanied. In this strange place where these disparate realities are held together, Jesus brings us back to the most important thing: love.
The love of God finds us wherever and however we are gathered. The love of God is not defeated by disease or fear or anguish, not diminished by empty church buildings or full hospitals. The love of God strengthens and empowers us to love one another – that self-giving, humble love that seeks nothing in return, that binds us to one another.
As we enter in to the Great Three Days, in which we celebrate Jesus’ death and resurrection, we are reminded of the most important thing: love. The love of God fills us, sustains us, suffers with us, and is always, always victorious. From the table to the garden; the judgement hall to the cross; the burial to the empty tomb – the story we gather to hear this week is the story of God’s deep and abiding love.
Comments
Post a Comment