Sheep, Abundant Life, and Jesus

We celebrated Youth Sunday this week. This means that our youth participated in and lead major portions of our worship service, including delivering the proclamation of the Gospel. Here is the script of their message. FYI: "Mobley" is a sheep who makes frequent appearances in our church.

John 10:1-10

Narrator: Today we celebrate one of my favorite Sundays of the year. It’s the Fourth Sunday of Easter and every year, we call this day Good Shepherd Sunday.

Angela – But, why?

Narrator: The scriptures we read reflect the theme of Jesus as Good Shepherd.

Daniel – Shepherds were very important people in Jesus’ day.

Jesus – Shepherds are important people in any age. Even today.

Angela – But, why?

Mobley ­– You cannot over-estimate the importance of sheep – or shepherds. But especially sheep.

Anna ­– Why would you even say that?

Mobley – What?

Anna – You know, sheep are so important! Shepherds are so important. It’s people who are important. They are more important than some dumb sheep.

Mobley – Dumb WHAT!?! Who is calling who DUMB!?!

Narrator: Whom

Mobley – What?

Narrator: Whom. It’s whom. You said, “Who is calling who dumb?” To be grammatically correct, you should have said, “Who is calling whom Dumb?”

Everyone groans

Narrator: Okay, I think we are losing focus here, people.

Mobley- Ahem!

Narrator: Sorry, Mobley. People, and sheep, listen up. As I was saying, the scriptures on Good Shepherd Sunday describe the way that Jesus is our shepherd. Using that metaphor, Jesus as shepherd and those he loves and cares for as sheep, was an easy way for Jesus to get across an important lesson to the people of his time. Because they, the people of his time, were familiar with shepherds and the role of shepherds with sheep.

Anna – Well, I never saw a shepherd.

Angela ­– That’s because you are living in, like, 2017. Jesus lived in like, uh, um. What year did Jesus live?

Daniel – Jesus lived in the first century.

Angela – So what YEAR was that!

Daniel – Let’s just say it was a long, long time ago. About 2000 years ago, in fact.

Narrator: Well, in Jesus’ time, there was no doubt about it. Everyone knew that at least to sheep, shepherds were important people.

Jesus – Throughout the Scriptures, the people of God were referred to as sheep, and those who cared for them – whether kings or prophets, were often referred to as shepherds. And I was sent to be a shepherd to the flock of people - God’s people.

Anna - So, not sheep?

Jesus -  Not exactly.

Narrator: In today’s text, Jesus uses an image familiar to the people of his day, to make a point about spiritual leadership. Good shepherds bring people to life through Jesus, but those who avoid Jesus are dangerous to the flock.

Angela - In what way are they dangerous?

Narrator: They distract people from believing in, and trusting in God. In some cases, they even destroy people’s belief and trust, because they pretend that what they do and say is from God, but then they act in ways that are opposite what God desires.

Jesus: So instead of loving people, being forgiving, and merciful, and helpful to people, they get in the way of people’s faith, say and do hurtful things, are unloving, unkind and dishonest – in other words, they are everything that is the opposite of what I taught is the way that God operates, and what God wants people to do.

Narrator: Jesus came to save people from sin, and to give them eternal life. Believing in Jesus is essential. But there are some people who misrepresent what God wants, and misrepresent how God says we should treat one another.

Jesus: So, what I said is, “Very truly I tell you, anyone who does not enter the sheepfold by the gate but climbs in by another way is a thief and a bandit.”

Daniel: Where is the gate?

Narrator: Not where, who.

Anna: Who what?

Narrator: Not what, who. “Who” is the gate?

Mobley: What is this, an Abbott and Costello routine?

Angela: Let me get this straight. The gate is not a thing, but a person?

Narrator: The gate is Jesus.

Daniel: But I thought Jesus is the shepherd.

Narrator: He is. Jesus is both gate and shepherd.

Mobley: I’m confused. Who are the sheep, then?

Daniel: You are, Silly.

Narrator: Yes, Mobley, you are a sheep. And when Jesus told this story, he was being metaphorical. That means he was comparing people to sheep, or saying that the relationship of Jesus to his people, is like the relationship of a shepherd to his sheep.

Anna: Now I’m confused.

Jesus: Don’t feel badly, little sheep. My disciples were confused as well. 

So, I gave them this explanation: “Very truly, I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and bandits; but the sheep did not to listen to them. I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture.” Now this is the part I really want you to remember: “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.”

So, believe in me. Follow me. It is through this gate of belief and trust and knowing me, that you will be given full, abundant, true and eternal life.

Jesus exits.

Narrator: You see, Jesus wants abundant life for all people. That is why he came. That is why he continues to shepherd his people. The life he offers is only available through him. But the reality is that there will be people who will try to distract you with fancy words or concepts or other means like denying the very existence of God, or saying that there is another way to the life that Jesus offers besides just following Jesus, listening to his Word, and obeying him.

Mobley – You got all that from this gospel?

Anna: Why did Jesus talk about gates and shepherds?

Narrator: Well, just before this reading, there is the story of the man who had been blind from birth. Jesus healed him, and for the first time in his life, he could see.  

Angela: Jesus healed a blind man, and that made him think of gates and shepherds?

Narrator: Well, what happened after Jesus gave sight to the blind man made Jesus want to warn people about those who were like thieves and bandits, who don’t enter the sheepfold by the gate.

You see, when the blind man could see again, everyone was shocked.

Daniel: Who wouldn’t be?

Narrator: Right. Well, the Pharisees were supposed to be the shepherds of the people of Israel. They were supposed to care for them, and teach them, protect them from spiritual harm, and nourish them. But when the formerly blind man came in to the synagogue, the Pharisees interrogated first his parents, and then him. He told them it was Jesus who had healed him. They wouldn’t believe it. Finally, when the man insisted that it was through Jesus that he was healed, they threw him out. They expelled him from their community. Any good Jew was to have nothing to do with him. They refused to believe that Jesus’ healing work came from God.

Mobley: So, bad shepherds, right?

Narrator: Really bad shepherds.

Daniel: So, what is the point today? We aren’t exactly sheep, you know.

Mobley: Hey!

Daniel: Certain company excluded – meaning, included in our flock.

Mobley: Gee, thanks!

Narrator: Well, what do you think? Are there those today who might be like the bandits and thieves that Jesus spoke about?

Anna: How about people who say other people aren’t good enough to be in their church?

Angela: Or people who say that God doesn’t love everybody or that some people aren’t acceptable to God?

Daniel: Hey! Who says that? I’ll give ‘em what-for!

Narrator: Remember what Jesus said about abundant life? He said that he came to save all people. He came to forgive sins and make all people acceptable in the eyes of God. He came to make sure that everyone could have abundant life. He came to be the gate, to be the one who shepherds all people into that kind of life. And anyone who says that he or she believes in Jesus will do the same by sharing Jesus’ way of love and mercy, kindness and forgiveness.

Daniel: What does a-BUN-dant life mean? I have a hard time even saying that word. A-BUN-dant. A-bun-DANT.

Anna: Doesn’t it mean having a lot of life? I heard it means having a rich life. I want to be rich! Does it mean that if we say we believe in Jesus, that God will make us rich?

Narrator: Not exactly. Abundant life means a full life – a life full of good things. But they are not the kind of things that you put in your piggy bank, or other riches that we pile up, although there are some people who do say that those kinds of riches are signs of God’s blessing.

But Jesus came to give us life that is full to overflowing with God’s love – so full, that we can’t help sharing it with other people, and telling them where it comes from. When the bible, or our pastor talk about eternal life, they aren’t just talking about life after death. They are talking about life that begins here and now, and is made full by knowing the one true God and Jesus Christ, whom God sent into the world.

Abundant life is knowing the voice of the good shepherd who truly cares for us. Abundant life includes life in community, and finding security and nourishment not from material riches, but from being part of the flock of Jesus Christ. It is life that is full of meaning and value which lasts in some way even after we die.

Mobley: You know, it’s really true what Jesus said about sheep.

Narrator: What’s that, Mobley?

Mobley: That sheep know the voice of their shepherd. That they follow the voice of their shepherd. Without a shepherd we struggle to find good food and we sometimes get lost, and then we can’t find our way home. Sheep won’t follow a stranger’s voice, but if our shepherd speaks, we know his voice and we follow him, because we will find our true home in him.

Narrator: Well said, Mobley. There are many voices speaking to us in our world today. But God sent just one voice, the voice of our shepherd Jesus Christ. It is the voice of our one true shepherd, Jesus, that will bring us home, give us abundant life, love us, care for us, protect and nourish us, all for the sake of love.

Narrator: So, people, let’s give God thanks for sending Jesus, who is for us both gate and shepherd, who knows us and whose voice of love and care we recognize.

All Together: AMEN!!!!!!

New Life in Light of Lost Hope and Dashed Dreams

Luke 24: 13-35 Road to Emmaus

Imagine yourself as one of the disciples of Christ on that first Easter Sunday. So much has transpired in the past few days. On this evening, the day of the resurrection, what do you think you might be feeling? What might you be thinking?

Remember, in just this one day alone, as you are still digesting the turn of events that led from triumph to tragedy in 5 days’ time in Jerusalem, added to your burden are the revelations of this morning.

You are probably still consumed by the thoughts and images of what you witnessed with the trial of Jesus and his crucifixion three days ago, and then, just this morning, here came two women from your group who gave witness to an empty tomb;  then other disciples went to see for themselves, and they confirmed it. The tomb was empty, though they saw no sign of either Jesus or an angel. You don’t know what to think. The women’s tale included an angelic visitation and message - a promise that we would see Jesus again, but your thoughts and feelings are in chaos.

Not able to sit idly by, unsure about the safety of stepping out on to the streets of Jerusalem, you and another disciple set out for a nearby town.  Soon, you find yourself and your companion on the road to Emmaus; it is about 7 miles away.

To put things in perspective for us today, if we left Grace at the end of worship this morning and went walking toward St. Michaels, seven miles would take us just over the Oak Creek Bridge; or, going out toward Denton, 7 miles would bring us almost to Kitty’s Corner Road. Traveling out Route 50, we would get to just about the Backtown Road intersection, near Trappe; and if we went in the direction of the Dover Bridge Road toward Preston, we would nearly reach Route 578. You get the idea; it’s a bit of a hike, but not terribly long - a journey that will take a few hours at most, lots of time in which to talk, to turn over and over again all that you are experiencing, thinking, questioning.

As you walk along the way, of course, your conversation quite naturally turns into a dissection and deliberation of all the things that have happened, with the story of the empty tomb and the angels’ message of paramount interest and importance. You likely debate – even argue - with one another over whether or not to believe the women; what it means that the brothers also returned with a report of the empty tomb; what might have happened to Jesus’ body.

All of the feelings and reactions that you mentioned at the beginning of this sermon would have been in play, and then some. With the time it will take to walk these seven miles, you have the opportunity for good, open and honest conversation with your companion. You get to unpack a lot of your thoughts and feelings – to express your grief and sadness, to talk about your doubts and fears, and confusion, and even to argue over the meaning of today’s revelations.

What might that conversation have been like? I mean, if it was you, and your best friend, or one of your companions in faith here at this church who are walking along the road, what kinds of words might we expect could be overheard from your conversation?

I imagine it was a lot like that for Cleopas and his friend, engrossed in conversation when suddenly they are aware that a third person has joined them along the way. Of course, we know this person to be Jesus, a stranger to them in the moment, but one who knows them well.

And when he asks them what they are talking about, they give him an impassioned review of the things that have transpired. They reflect on the hopes and dreams for redemption that they had as they had come to know this Jesus, hopes that have now been dashed and muddled and most recently – perhaps, if they foolishly dare to entertain new hope – revived, if they are to believe the astounding reports of the women. They are so confused, so weary, so much in turmoil.

It may be hard for us to comprehend the impact of these things – after all, even if we are moved by the powerful images and stories of Jesus’ passion, death and resurrection, we absorb this story through 2000 years of processing, scholarship, and even through the bias of the ways the stories have been told to us and the way they have been interpreted through media, time and teaching. The passion, death and resurrection narrative are shaped by so many things, and in many ways, watered down by 2000 years that have transpired between that Easter Sunday and this Eastertide.

In our Gospel this morning, Cleopas and his friend, in their response to Jesus’ question spoke the words, “We had hoped…” We had hoped this is the person we were dealing with; we had hoped for redemption; for this outcome. We had hoped. Those three words may be the saddest words in our story. “We had hoped” is an expression of disappointment, of disillusionment, of despair – “we had hoped” is a bare, undisguised expression of grief. “We had hoped.”

There are many things for which we hope and in which we are disappointed. Things that matter. Things about church, your life, your family, our community, the state of our country or our world or, whatever. I would like to give you the opportunity to name your own grief, pain, and disappointment –  as expressing these things are key to our being able to let go of them, to move past them. Expressing them doesn’t make them go away, but it can release us from the power they may have over us. 

What things are you grieving, lamenting, fearing or suffering today? How would you complete the statement, “But we had hoped”?

On the road to Emmaus, the disciples described to Jesus how their hopes had seemingly been dashed. In an expression of affection, Jesus says to them, “Oh, how foolish you are, how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets had declared.”

Jesus isn’t denying their pain, but showing them that God has not abandoned them, in their underlying fear and disappointment.  Instead, Jesus to reveals to them all of the ways in which God has moved and worked and accompanied God’s people. Jesus addresses the ways in which God has promised a savior, and the ways in which, through God’s mercy and love, God’s promises have been fulfilled. Jesus walks with them. He listens to their grief and despair. In those moments, Jesus embodies God’s love and eternal presence with them.

And so it is with us. In confession, in prayer and in the thoughts of our hearts we share with God the grief we bear. We tell Jesus about our disappointments and fears, about our dashed hopes and our present hopes. As we expressed with one another the things that weigh us down and bring us to the kind of despair the disciples experienced, Jesus assures us that we are not alone, that the promise of God to bring healing and balm for our griefs and sorrow remain with us in the person of Jesus Christ. When our “but we had hoped” ends in lament, Jesus hold us, and assures us that, through his resurrection we can be assured that God is working good in our lives and will not let us go.

As evening fell on Emmaus, Jesus shared a meal with these disciples, on the very evening of his resurrection. Jesus took bread, blessed it, broke it and gave it to them and in that instant their eyes were opened. They knew the power of his love. They went from dashed hopes to burning hearts. They understood who he was and they knew that his presence with them was real.

As Jesus made himself known in the breaking of the bread on Maundy Thursday and again in Emmaus, Jesus still makes himself known to us today. As we remembered our Baptism this morning, as we pray together and sing together and most powerfully, as we break bread together, Jesus reveals himself to us and assures us that there is no disappointment on earth, no dashed dream, no pain, sorrow, grief or confusion he cannot penetrate through the power of his revealing love.

Imagine yourself as the disciple of Christ that you are today, and may you come to share with others how you have encountered Christ on the way, on the road, in your heart, and through the breaking of the bread. May you know the joy and surprise, once again, of God’s presence and love and promise, realized in Jesus Christ.

Amen.

Tah Dah! The Great Easter Surprise

Matthew 28:1-10

Christ is risen, Alleluia!

He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

A well-known and often ignored piece of advice to pastors regarding children’s sermons is, “don’t ask questions.” You never know what you’ll get – you know the adage, “Children say the darnedest things?” Of course, there is also the saying that Jesus himself quoted, “Out of the mouths of infants and babes….”

Well, there is a pastor who asked this question in an Easter Sunday children’s sermon a few years ago: ‘What were Jesus’ first words to his disciples after he was raised from the dead?’ To be honest, he didn’t expect an answer. It was sort of a rhetorical question; but before he could give the answer from Gospel of this morning –a little girl waved her hand eagerly, excited to answer the question, so the pastor called on her. “I know what Jesus said,” she answered; “Tah dah!”

Well, today we do indeed celebrate the great “Tah dah!” of the church, for—

Christ has risen! Alleluia! He has risen indeed! Alleluia!

You know, what it is lacking in dignity, “Tah dah!” more than makes up in accuracy, as a reasonable response when presented with the wonderfully surprising, unprecedented, and miraculous resurrection of Jesus.

Tah dah!

This Easter Sunday, we celebrate with great joy the wonderful surprise of that day when Jesus was raised from death to life.

While the real first word the Risen Lord Jesus spoke was in fact a very ordinary greeting – in this extraordinary moment, “Tah dah!” would have seemed about right.

Imagine that you are one of the women who approached the tomb of Jesus that morning. The sabbath is over, so for those in and around Jerusalem that day, it was a regular workday.

The shopkeepers and merchants, the innkeepers and even the government officials and temple caretakeres were cleaning up and recovering from the Passover festival of the week before, even as the great multitude of visitors who had come to Jerusalem for the Passover departed to return to their homes.

It was back to business for many in Jerusalem that day.

It was not, however, business as usual for Mary Magdalene and the other Mary, mourning the death of Jesus. For them and for the other disciples, still reeling from the events of the week before, experiencing a communal sense of loss and failure, grief and shame, there was nothing ordinary about this day.

For these women, a visit to the tomb seemed in order.

It’s the same place where they had sat and watched as the dead body of Jesus was wrapped in linen and lain to rest just a couple of evenings ago. Aside from perhaps anointing the body, the women may simply have wanted to spend time where he rested—they  felt closer to him there.

You may have experienced the same kind of need, following loss.

Cemeteries are full of granite markers placed for our loved ones who have died, a place where we can go and remember them. Some of us have, in our home or in another special spot a place where we can go to remember and feel close to those we have lost.

But as the women approach the tomb, perhaps hoping to experience something of the essence of Jesus but expecting to experience nothing more than grief that day, two extraordinary things happen. On that first Easter morning, just as on the afternoon Jesus died, there is an earthquake. An earthquake!

What must they have thought? Did they remember the way the earth shook as Jesus died on the cross?

Then they saw an angel of the Lord descending from heaven, rolling back the stone from the entrance to the tomb, and they heard him speaking to them, saying, “Do not be afraid.”

These women, who perhaps had lost all hope, who are deep in mourning, who are the only two disciples brave enough to leave the upper room where the rest of the disciples were hiding out on this day, suddenly see an angel whose appearance is like blazing, blinding, white-hot lightening, from whom they are suddenly given words of hope, comfort, and reassurance. “Do not be afraid.”

Jesus is not here, the angel says, he has been raised from the dead just as he had promised he would be. Look in the tomb. See for yourselves.

So, the women take a look, and then, perhaps another, because indeed, “tah dah!” Jesus is not there. His body is gone. The tomb is empty.

The stone was rolled away not to let Jesus out but to let the women in; to let the women in so that they could see and witness for themselves the empty tomb.

Tah dah!

Jesus is risen! Alleluia! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

Jesus has been raised from the dead, the angel tells them.

Jesus has risen from the dead just as he said he would be, just as God had planned, just as the Scriptures foretold it, because the truth is that neither death, nor hell, nor the tomb itself, can hold Jesus, the Son of God, the Messiah, who came to set his people free in the most astonishing, perfect way possible.

This is good news for us. For the fear and joy, the pain of illness, and broken relationships, the reality of our vulnerability and the frailty of life, the victorious resurrection of Jesus is nothing short of a life-giving, world-changing miracle.

The angel sends these women to be messengers themselves, carrying a holy “Tah dah!” for the disciples of Christ. “Quickly!” He says, “Quickly go!” Go tell the disciples this wonderful news. Tell the disciples that Jesus has been raised from the dead! Tell them that Jesus is still on earth and even now he’s on the way to Galilee where he will meet them!

So the women, with a mix of fear and joy, rush down the road to share this good news with the disciples.

They don’t understand what has happened and danger still surrounds them. But there is compelling good news to share, and the women can’t wait to share it.

Jesus has risen! Alleluia! He has risen indeed! Alleluia!

And then, Jesus meets the Marys. On the road. On the way.

“Tah dah!”

The women immediately know him and they throw themselves to the ground and they take hold of his feet and they worship him.

In the whole of our gospel today, I think this is my favorite verse. It is a “tah dah” moment, this moment of recognition, where Jesus appears to the women and well, what can they do but fall to the earth? What would we do?

And yet in that moment, Jesus’ response isn’t all that profound “Greetings!” he says.

The women are overcome with joy and wonder and awe and fear, and Jesus is so nonchalant, “Hi!” he greets them.

In their amazement, they have to touch him. They grab onto his feet. He has died, and yet here he is standing in front of them, and he is real! They can feel him!

Tah dah!

I know if I were one of those women, I wouldn’t ever want to let go. There, on the road, still holding onto him, they worship him. They acknowledge him as their Lord.

Jesus repeats the message of the angel – go tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me.

Jesus has risen! Alleluia! He has risen indeed! Alleluia!

The good news for us is in the details of the story. Jesus lives so that we will never die. Jesus lives so that we can live fully now and later. Jesus lives so that, though our lives contain both sadness and joy, guilt and shame, fear and wonder, we can be assured that Jesus is with us in and through it all.

This resurrection is ongoing, it is a daily reality, because Jesus is still defeating the powers of evil and death, still bringing us new life, and will bring us ultimately to life everlasting; knowing this makes all the difference in the world.  

We still meet God on the road, in miraculous and every day instances of goodness and joy, as comfort in our struggles, as healing and hope and forgiveness and steadfast love. God leads us constantly to new life through the power of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Every time that we are up against a wall with no way out; or are suffering the betrayal of those we trusted; or confused about the ways of the world and the suffering we bear witness to, God shows us that these challenges, assaults and struggles are temporary. They will not defeat us. In every way that counts, Jesus is with us and in the power of the resurrection is holding us and making us strong.

            The mystery and power of the resurrection of Christ is the great Tah dah! of God’s compassion poured out for the world. In the mystical power of his love, we can be assured that whatever the future brings, God will strengthen us and empower us. Whatever fear, pain, or challenge we face, God promises that we will not face it alone.

Rather, God promises that there is nothing stronger than God’s love, and God proves it through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. For, since Christ has risen from the grave, nothing can keep us from God’s love and power to save.

            As Jesus met the women and as Jesus he will meet the disciples in Galilee, the risen Christ will meet us on all our journeys. The tomb is empty. Jesus reigns victorious over the grave. And so, it is with Easter joy and Easter confidence that we proclaim the great mystery of faith:       

Christ is Risen! Alleluia!  He is Risen indeed! Alleluia!

            

A Shocking Thing to Do

John 13:1-17, 31b-35           

            Here we are, gathered together as Jesus and the disciples were that night. It is the night in which Jesus was handed over to die. He knows what’s coming. He knows he will be leaving his disciples, going to his passion and death.

            There is so much that he must have wanted to say to them. There must have been so much he still wanted to pass on. We know about the feeling that there is never enough time in our lives, that there is always more that we want to do, more that we want to say, more wisdom, or experience, or instruction that we want to leave behind..

            If you knew that you were about to go on a journey, or about to die, leaving “your people” – whoever constitutes that group for you – what is it that you would want to say? What is the final message that you would want to give? And what would you do, if you could, to make your final commands, directives, instructions – whatever you might want to call them, memorable?

            I can imagine Jesus thinking about this. After all, his disciples have at times proved themselves to be pretty dense – misunderstanding his actions, missing the point of his teachings, a little too self-centered at times, a little too distracted. Just like us.

            But then comes this night, and Jesus knows that he is going to leave them. In a few hours he will be arrested; in less than 24 hours, he will be crucified. And his disciples will be left to carry on, to carry forth the message of God’s incredible mercy and love, to proclaim the greatness of God, embodied in Jesus and experienced through him. What would you say or do?

            Despite all their fear and confusion and blundering, these disciples will have an enormous mission before them. While there will be some who embrace their mission and the message of forgiveness, new life and salvation through Jesus, there will be many others who will feel threatened by it, who will want to destroy this fledgling community and the message they carry just as they will have killed Jesus himself. The subversive, counter-cultural message of strength and power demonstrated through love will receive mixed reactions after Jesus’ death and resurrection just as during his lifetime.

            Jesus knows that the stress on this community will be enormous.  They must learn to live and work together, loving and supporting and serving each other, so that they will be united in the work they do as they love and support and serve those whom Jesus places in their path.

            And so, Jesus chooses a way to convey the message in such a way that it will be memorable, that it might survive and thrive among them when he is gone.

            As the supper ended, Jesus got down on his knees in the middle of his disciples. Jesus knelt at their feet and, one by one, he washed them.  Jesus washed the feet of his disciples! It was a shocking thing to do. Shocking, and memorable.

            As middle-class American Lutherans, we get pretty squeamish about people washing our feet, or touching our feet, or even, in some cases, just looking too closely at them. Just imagine if we lived in first century Palestine where most of the time simple sandals are the only footwear worn, as we walked everywhere along the dirt roads and fields. Miles of walking done each day along dirt streets and pathways, creating dirty, calloused, gnarled feet. You can imagine why, then, when you entered someone’s home, your feet would be washed by a servant if the household had any, or you would wash your own feet.

            But tonight their leader, their teacher and, as at least some of these disciples were beginning to understand Jesus, the Messiah, the Anointed One, their Lord knelt in a position of servitude and washed the feet of every disciple there that night. Jesus demonstrated humble service. And as he did so, he gave them a new commandment. That they love one another just as he had done.

            For the kind of love that Jesus came to share is love in action. It is love that is expressed in so many ways, often ways that challenge us and call us out of our comfort zones. It is extreme love. It is the Jesus brand of love, the way Jesus loves us and now calls for us to love one another.

            It is love without regard for class, or gender or age. It is a fierce love that is blind to difference. It is love that embraces the marginalized, serves the poor, feeds the hungry, comforts the stranger, cleanses the body and the soul, provides life-giving water, and welcomes the outcast.

            Jesus’ kind of love is love that knows no boundaries and is delivered in memorable acts that are heroic, as well as everyday acts of kindness, acceptance, forgiveness, love and mercy.            

            The message is still counter cultural. It exactly the message we need to hear. We, who are gathered together in this sanctuary tonight as the disciples were gathered around Jesus; we who will receive the Body and Blood of Christ in a meal that was instituted that night and fed to those disciples first; we who will gather again tomorrow to contemplate the life-giving cross of Christ, on which was hung the Savior of the world; we need this message.

            Love one another: by this you are known. Love one another: by this everyone will know that you are my disciples. Love one another, and do not despair. For the Lord is with you.

            You do not understand now, but later, you will understand.

            Tonight, so that everyone can participate, we will deviate slightly from the traditional foot washing of which we read and in which we have engaged in the past. Tonight, we will each come forward to have our hands washed, and cleansed for service – for loving action in Jesus’ name. And then, two of the leaders of our congregation will anoint each hand, marking it with the cross of Christ in whose name and by whose love we serve.

            As Jesus has given us a new commandment, may his Spirit guide, empower, and bless the hands, feet and tongues that show forth his love.

Amen.