Love Has Everything To Do With Jesus' Command

This is the homily I shared with the people of St. Timothy Lutheran Church for Maundy Thursday.  The gospel text was John 13:1-17, 31b-35.

Tina Turner sings:

“What's love got to do, got to do with it
What's love but a second hand emotion
What's love got to do, got to do with it
Who needs a heart when a heart can be broken?”

I understand Tina’s frustration. At times in my life I have felt that way. But the thing is, in tonight’s gospel reading, love has everything to do with Jesus’ new commandment. For the commandment being given is not to wash each other’s feet as much as it is to love one another as Jesus loved us.

What kind of love is Jesus talking about? For one thing, there is a depth of love that is beyond what the disciples had experienced before. Wherever the word “love” appears in John’s gospel, it is best understood as “attachment, commitment and loyalty.” It is a love that is in it for the long haul. John makes clear from the get go that Jesus loved his followers to “the end.” Jesus’ love is an everlasting love. Jesus’ departure is not an ending of his commitment to his followers. “Jesus loves them completely, finally, forever,” (Malina).

Foot washing Jesus demonstrated the kind of self-giving love he was talking about by washing his disciples’ feet. Most of us would say, “Yuk! You’re not touching MY feet!” However, Mediterranean people thought of people having three zones of interaction. The feet reference the zone of purposeful action, the zone of behavior and activity. To wash the feet in such a symbolic way points to washing away the effects of one’s actions, therefore, forgiveness of transgressions.

By Jesus washing his disciples’ feet, this means he forgives his disciples their offenses against him, even those in the future. Can you imagine that?? Knowing Judas would hand him over to the authorities and that Peter would deny knowing him?

Peter’s reaction to Jesus wanting to wash his feet is “You will never wash my feet.” This is a proper objection at the customary understanding of foot washing. Jesus is acting like a slave to Peter—and Peter will have none of that.

Foot washing was slave labor. The question the disciples had to consider was, “If my Master has acted as a slave to me, how must I act toward others?” Jesus uses the social customs of the day to reverse them for the disciples. This was Jesus’ line of argument:

            I am your Teacher and Lord.

            That means you will follow my teachings and example—you will not put yourself 

            above me.

            I have acted as a servant to you. I have washed your feet. I have forgiven you.

            So you will now do as I did: Act as a servant to each other. Wash each other’s     

            feet.     

 Forgive each other.

Without Jesus, how would others know the disciples are Jesus’ followers? Jesus teaches them that they must transfer their love for him to one another. Even more to the point, they should NOT love each other as they have loved Jesus. They should love each other as Jesus loved then. After all, they didn’t do such a great job at loving Jesus. Neither do we.

By loving each other as we love Jesus, we put ourselves above Jesus. It is letting our behavior be the norm instead of letting Jesus’ behavior set the standard; letting Jesus be the example. In fact, it seems that Jesus has actually given two new commandments. Besides loving one another as Jesus loved the disciples, they were to forgive as Jesus had forgiven them. Although not verbalized, it was acted out in this supper with his followers.

What does this mean for us? Christ-like-love is the goal of our lives as Christians. Forgiveness is the salve that heals brokenness and makes love possible once again. We are called to love all people, even our enemies. However, there is to be a special love and relationship we have for our family members. Similarly, there is to be a special love we are to have for our brothers and sisters in the faith. We are family for one another.

The love Jesus speaks of is not the emotional kind we think of. It means “to have love for someone or something, based on sincere appreciation and high regard” and “to demonstrate or show one’s love” (Lowe & Nida). Biblically, it is not primarily an emotional word, one that gives us the warm fuzzies. It is a command about a continuous, rather than occasional way of life. We love because of Jesus’ commanding it and as a result of being loved by Jesus.

We’ve seen the pictures of devastation in the paper and on tv. We all want to express our love and grief for Notre Dame today, and that’s not wrong in the least. But remember that Notre Dame Cathedral was built in honor of the real Notre Dame, Our Lady, and the best way to honor her is to honor her Magnificat by filling the hungry with good things and exalting those who have been brought low.

In our own country and elsewhere, there are many who live with the devastation of war, the results of floods, tornadoes, fires and other natural disasters. In Jamestown, itself, we have an opioid epidemic.

What can we do? Pray for the ministries that care for the affected. Give to those ministries. Work with the local ones such as St. Susan’s, UCAN, the Salvation Army and Love Inc. Encourage the people working with the underprivileged, the hungry, the homeless and those needing deliverance from addictions of all kinds.

We can also support fellow Christians in other parts of the world who are undergoing persecution. Christians in Egypt, the Holy Land, China and elsewhere are suffering because of whom they belong to. Can we ignore that? The very least we can do is be in solidarity with them through prayer, through contacting our elected representatives and by seeing what our own national church or the Lutheran World Federation is doing. Then we can see what else we can do.

“…to love one another as Jesus loves us is to live a life thoroughly shaped by a love that knows no limits, by a love whose expression brings the believer closer into relationship with God, with Jesus and with one another” (O’Day).

“As the cosmos turns on its hinges, the incarnate Word, who was with God in the beginning (1:1-2,14), stoops to love to the bittersweet end those whom the Father has entrusted to him (17:24). It is a shattering moment of blessing. “If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them” (13:17) (Black).

Resources

C. Clifton Black, Feasting On the Word: Year C, Volume 2: Lent through Eastertide

David Ewart, holytextures.com

Louw-Nida, Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament

Bruce Malina and Richard Rohrbaugh, Social Science Commentary on The Gospel of John

Gail R. O’Day, New Interpreter’s Bible: John

Brian Stoffregen, crossmarks.com

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