Gospel: John 13:31-35
The evening had already been a time of shocking events and stunning words.
During the dinner – not before or after, but right in the middle – Jesus had done something unexpected by kneeling before his friends and washing their feet. It was a simple act of humble service that seemed to make Peter in particular very uncomfortable. Once that was done and they’d all returned to the meal, he tried to explain the significance of what had just happened, only to suddenly pivot and plainly say, “One of you will betray me.”[1] Now we’ve come to the passage for today and he says that their time together is short and he’s about to go somewhere where none of them can follow.
Jesus, their teacher and friend, had in short order demonstrated not leadership but the humility of servanthood. He told them everything was about to end because of the actions of one among them. He told them he was about to go and leave them behind. Then he added one more wrinkle to what was shaping up to be a long goodbye, known now as the Farewell Discourse. They were wrestling with everything they’d seen and heard, and he threw a curve ball at them. You know how I’ve loved you? You’ve now got to go and love one another in the same way.
I can only imagine the mood in the room at that point after a rapid series of gut punches of embarrassment, shock, sorrow, and confusion. New thoughts had to have flooded their minds. What? You’ve put us in an uncomfortable position as you washed our feet. You terrified us by saying one of us is a traitor to you. You filled us with grief as you said you would leave us behind. And you want us to … love?
In those moments Jesus stripped away all that was prized in the culture of his time – and 2,000 years later, ours. Power. Wealth. Influence. Position. Value. Leadership. The most clicks, likes, and followers. The loudest voice. The dominant narrative. Think about those for a moment and then ask yourselves, “Did I hear what was missing in that list?” Two words blotted out by so much else, words that Jesus pulled from the shadows into the light.
Service and love.
At that point Jesus wasn’t talking about extending them to the wider world. He was looking around the circle of friends gathered in that place, reminding them the love God had for him and which he in turn had for them must be a love they shared for each other. You’ll also note Jesus didn’t offer this as a suggestion, helpful hint, or nudge. It was – it is – much more direct: “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another.” I’m not asking you; I’m telling you.
What we’re witnessing here with this new commandment, a requirement of service to and love of one another, is a shift from being followers to being a community. Having a commitment to serve and love one another being confined to a specific community, in this case the 11 still with Jesus in that place, could appear elitist or exclusive. In his book The Moral Teachings of Jesus, David Gushee writes, “[T]he church that Jesus is forming here, as we find it in John especially, is indeed highly bonded and insular… Such religious communities, however they emerge, can be described pejoratively as closed, intolerant, and hostile to the world.”[2]
But that’s not all. As Gushee continues, “[O]n the other hand, they can also be described positively as clear in identity, unified in vision, and bonded in community.”[3] Clear, unified, and bonded. Think back to what else Jesus said to this disciples that day. “By this everyone will know you are my disciples.”[4] People will see what they’re doing and know what they’re seeing. Out of the knowledge of that clarity, unity, and bond, curiosity will grow. “How can I become part of that community? How can I feel that same sense of love and service, and how can I be part of sharing those with others?”
One by one, the community will grow. Service will grow. Love will grow. And the understanding will grow as well that we’ve not been called to individual acts of love but rather to an entire life based around love. As love and service increase, the other idols of culture will decrease. There’s one important thing to remember about the perceived priorities of today’s world – the power, wealth, influence, and the like that so many desire or feel is needed to build their own self-worth. All of them are fleeting. None are permanent. Every one of those things someone has today can be gone tomorrow.
But love, however – well, that’s a different story. Don’t get me wrong: love can and will be tested. Love can and will be strained. Love can and will fray around the edges. Jesus is a prime example however of someone who experienced so much that others did to disappoint him, how much others fell short and dismayed him, how the words and actions of others hurt him. Yet despite it all, he still loved them.
So when people outside our community – people who feel they might not be welcomed as part of it – look at us, what do they see? As someone who came into this community for the first time more than 40 years ago, I know the answer. I pray that everyone who’s joined us in recent years knows the answer. But there are many, many others out there feeling cut off from community. There are many, many others out there feeling cut off from that feeling of being prioritized for service – having the dust washed away from their lives just as the dust was washed from the feet of the disciples. There are many, many others out there feeling cut off – most importantly – from love.
So in response to the awareness of those needs, continue reflecting on what we can do differently or in a new way. Continue thinking of how the commandment to love one another can be extended to all those living hurting lives in a hurting world. Above all, think of how all we do and say in our words and our actions testifies to the love we receive from Jesus, and the love we seek to share with one another.
Amen.
[1] John 13:21 (NRSV).
[2] David P. Gushee. The Moral Teachings of Jesus, p. 171.
[3] Ibid.
[4] John 13:35 (NRSV).