by Pastor Laura Gentry
John 13:1-17, 31b-35
We gather this Maundy Thursday as part of our Holy Week journey. It is our symbolic walk with Jesus to the cross. And we pause this night to hear again the story of the last supper Jesus shared with his disciples. It is the Passover meal they are celebrating. They would have retold the great story of how God delivered their ancestors from slavery in Egypt.
It would have been an ordinary Passover, except Jesus does something shocking: he strips off his robe and kneels down to wash each one’s feet. It is probably impossible for us to understand just how outrageous this was for his disciples to witness. Not only were feet literally unclean—what with all the dirt and donkey droppings they’d have to endure in the course of a day—feet were also symbolically unclean according to their religious traditions. Feet in those days definitely needed to be washed, but religious people didn’t wash their own. They had slaves do it for them, and not just any slave, but the lowest slave in the household. It was an embarrassing chore that nobody but nobody would have volunteered to do. So when Jesus decides to take on the task of foot washing, it causes an uproar.
Why would he do such a thing? Why? Because it is an object lesson, an example for them and for us. You see, Jesus is well aware that this is his last night with the disciples and their is one final lesson he aims to teach. He says to them: “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, if you have love for one another.”
Not only is his foot-washing stunt an example of humility and love for us, but it foreshadows his ultimate act of love: his self-sacrificial death on the cross. Jesus is very clear because he knows his time is limited. He commands his disciples to love in the same way that he has loved. That is what it’s all about. Everyone should be able to tell that we are Christians by the way we show love for all people.
Love. In action. That’s the whole lesson Jesus offers us in his final hours. Are we focused enough upon this all-important task?
There is a Family Circus cartoon created by Bill Keane that speaks to this. The children have crept into their parents room to watch them silently sleeping. One of the kids points at the parents and says to his sisters, “They look so sweet and peaceful when they’re asleep. You wonder how they could ever yell at us during the day.”
This is laughable, yes, but does it make us wonder what kids say of us—what those most vulnerable in our society say about the way we treat them. Jonathan Swift, the 17th century satirical writer, said: “We have just enough religion to make us hate, but not enough to make us love one another.” The Amerian poet Edna St. Vincent Millay was quoted to have said, “I love humanity, but I hate people.” And the commedianne, Lily Tomlin says, “If love is the answer, could you rephrase the question?”
Jesus’ commandment to love is clear. It is we who are not clear in our focus to follow this teaching. This annual service of Maundy Thursday is always an important reminder that love—showing itself in humble service—is our highest calling. So tonight, I bring you quotes of inspiration and stories of love.
In First Corinthians, we hear that:
Love is patient, love is kind.
It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.
It is not rude, it is not self-seeking.
It is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.
Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth.
It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
Love never fails.
(I Corinthians 13:4-8)
Here are some other quotes to make us think about love:
ELIZABETH BARRET BROWNING:
Whoso loves, believes the impossible.
GEORGE SAND:
There is only one happiness in life, to love and be loved.
SØREN KIERKEGAARD:
Love does not alter the beloved, it alters itself.
MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.:
Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into friend.
WILLIAM WORDSWORTH:
The little unremembered acts of kindness and love are the best parts of a person's life.
ELBERT HUBBARD:
The love we give away is the only love we keep.
OSCAR HAMMERSTEIN, II: (from the musical, Cinderella)
Do you love me because I'm beautiful,
or am I am beautiful because you love me?
I once heard a story about a woman who went to a marriage counselor all by herself to complain of her failing marriage. “I can’t do this any longer. My husband has no regard for my feelings. He is the most insensitive, uncaring person in the whole world—he doesn’t do anything for me anymore. What should I do?”
The therapist quickly replied, “Well it seems obvious that you must leave him. You cannot seem to get your needs met at all and he doesn’t seem to care. In fact, I don’t think he’ll even care that you leave him. I have an idea. Why don’t you get him back for all the emotional trouble he’s given you. Make him sad that you’re leaving him. That’s right. For the next month, I want you to be the perfect wife. Love him, praise him, make his favorite dinner, do his favorite activities with him. Whatever you have to do, make him feel that you are totally in love with him. Just pretend. Then, after a month, leave him with no warning and he’ll be devastated.”
“That sounds remarkable! That’s the best solution I’ve ever heard. I’ll make him sorry he never loved me.” And so she went home and did just that. Every possible thing she could think of to demonstrate love for her husband, the wife did.
The weeks wore on and at the end of the month, the woman came to see her therapist again. “So, how are you doing now that you’ve left that horrible husband of yours?” he asked with a smile.
“Leave him??? Leave him? Why would I want to leave him? Ever since I started showing love for him, he’s become the most loving husband in the world. Not only am I not leaving him, but we’re going on a second honeymoon next week to celebrate the new passion in our marriage.”
What this wise therapist was banking on was the fact that when we show love for others—through action—they feel loved and secure, and generally treat us differently in return. All this woman did was pretend that she loved her husband, which made him love her, which made her fall in love with him again. That’s the power of the action. Jesus showed love in action by washing feet and he asks us to do the same kind of action-oriented loving.
And yet following Jesus’ command to love one another in this way is perhaps the most difficult undertaking of our lives. And it is easy for us to get hurt in the process.. It is a dangerous business—we cannot do it without God’s help. In the wonderful children’s book, The Velveteen Rabbit, by Margery Williams, there is a profound conversation between a toy rabbit and a skin horse:
“What is REAL?” asks the Rabbit one day. The horse replies, “It’s a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real.” “Does it hurt?” The Rabbit asks. “Sometimes,” responds the horse with honesty. “It doesn’t happen all at once,” says the Skin Horse. “You become. It takes a long time. That’s why it doesn’t often happen to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don’t matter at all, because once you are Real you can’t be ugly, except to people who don’t understand.”
Like the Velveteen Rabbit, we too can get pretty ragged in the business of love, but when we are in God’s will for our lives, it doesn’t matter. It is worth it!
And finally, I share with you a story from A Cup of Chicken Soup for the Soul:
A kindergarten teacher read her class a story called, “Big.” Then she asked her students, “What makes you feel big?”
“Bugs make me feel big,” yelled one young student. “Ants!” hollered another. “Mosquitoes,” called out one more.
The teacher, trying to bring some order back to the class, started calling on children with their hands up. Pointing to one little girl, the teacher said, “Yes, dear, what makes you feel big?” “My mommy,” was her reply.
“How does your mommy make you feel big?” quizzed the teacher. “That’s easy,” said the child. “When she hugs me and says I love you, Jessica.”
The late preacher William Sloane Coffin, Junior adds to this message with his enduring quote: “Love measures our stature: the more we love, the bigger we are.”
Jesus is the supreme example of this: by humbling himself he became big. By loving us, he makes us feel big. And the more we love, the bigger we are. May we follow his example by sharing God’s love every day. Amen.
© 2009 Laura Gentry
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