Love or Lose
Thursday evening we gathered for Maundy Thursday worship, the first of the Three Days of Holy Week. This is the message I shared with those who gathered at Bethel Lutheran Church, Portville, NY. The scripture text is John 13:1-17, 31b-35. Today is Holy Thursday or as it is also called, Maundy Thursday. Maundy means commandment or mandate. Tonight, we celebrate Jesus commandment to his disciples to love each other as He loved them. Just how did Jesus love? First of all, Jesus loved scandalously. He turned the roles of master and slave upside down as he washed his disciples’ feet. Jesus acts out for us a drama of what his followers are to be and do. The washing of the feet of a guest is an issue of hospitality. It was a way of welcoming one’s guests. Normally, the guests were given a basin and towel to wash their own feet. Sometimes it was work that a household slave would do. But it certainly would not be...