Maundy Thursday – Katharine Armentrout
The Commandment to Love Like Jesus
This is the most powerful and solemn of all nights. It is the night before the crucifixion of Jesus, that darkest of days. And yet this is the night that Jesus, knowing he will be executed, focused not on himself and his coming death, but focused instead on his disciples whom he loved and, by extension, he focused on us.
It is the night that he gave us the new commandment – the mandatum – the commandment that we are to love one another as He has loved us. We are, as Bishop Curry says, to love like Jesus. An almost impossible command to honor, but one that will define his disciples and should define us as his followers.
And it is also the night that Jesus gave us the gift of the Eucharist, the gift of the living bread, the bread for our journey as his disciples, the bread of his presence that will help to sustain us as we try to live out the new commandment.
It is a night when we talk and study about these events and when we celebrate the Eucharist, as he commanded, “in remembrance of him”. We will try to do this not with just a passive reading of the scriptures and rote action at the altar; we will try not to treat these events as just a memory, but through our prayers and our practice tonight, we will try to bring these events into the present, or, to use the Greek phrase – through anamnesis, to bring these events into our worship as though they are present, so that they can help form and shape us now as followers of our Lord.
We last gathered on Sunday to enact the triumphant entry of Jesus into Jerusalem; that was the day when he was hailed as “Messiah” by many; by many who were waving their palm branches. For the next four days, Jesus had taught crowds in the Temple, and he walked among the throngs in that city. As this happened there was increasing tension among the high priests and religious leaders because they feared the presence of Jesus might lead to riots; perhaps leading to a crackdown by the Romans; they were looking for a way to silence Jesus. And Judas gave them that way- he betrayed Jesus to the leaders and promised to lead them to Jesus so that they could arrest and try him.
So, as Jesus and the disciples gathered for the evening meal this night, as the gospel says: “Jesus knew that his hour had come”. He knew that he had been betrayed…Thus he also knew that he had run out of time, time to teach, to coach, to prepare his disciples for the ministry of love, of healing and run out of time to help them understand the new life offered by God in the coming kingdom. And so, instead of caring for himself, Jesus prepared his last lesson…
He got up from the table, tied a towel around his waist and began to wash the feet of his disciples. There he is – the Messiah, the Son of God, on his hands and knees washing the filthy, dung-clogged, scabbed, feet of his disciples. Was he trying to teach by example how one becomes a true servant to those in God’s kingdom?
When Jesus washed his disciples’ feet, was he performing as a servant for his disciples? Many households at that time had servants do the foot washing. It was necessary given the condition of the road and pathways of that time. So was Jesus enacting the ministry of a servant? Certainly many of us have heard the scripture this way and patterned our ministry on this understanding.
But there is more to this I think. There is a deeper and even more powerful aspect to the foot-washing than just “service”. Service might be the outward and visible signs of Jesus’ actions in the foot washing but I believe that the inward and spiritual nature of that action is about love and relationships, not just about being a faithful servant.
That night I think he was teaching us a ministry of love, of love, of relationship, of community, not just a ministry of service. Because, you see, while foot washing in Jesus’ time could be a job for a servant; it could also be done by the head of the household, the host, as a sign of his profound welcome, of his hospitality, of his love.
That night Jesus, I believe, was acting as the host – inviting Peter, and all his beloved disciples, and us, into God’s home, offering a full relationship with God and himself. He was doing this because of the profound love he has for us and for all God’s people – the rich as well as the poor, the arrogant as well as the penitent; the unlovable as well as the lovable.
His desire, I believe, was for us all to be fully in a relationship, a mutual relationship of love and respect, with him and with God. Jesus is explicit about this. He says: “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.” This commandment is about letting ourselves receive the extravagant, life-giving love and hospitality Jesus offers us and then extending that same extravagant, life-giving love to others.
This intimacy that Jesus asked of Peter and asks of us can be disquieting and often we feel that we need to hold on tight to our defenses. But when we do that, we erect a barrier between us and God; we remain guarded. We end up consigning ourselves to a relationship with our Lord that is more distant and more rule-oriented,
And, in the context of our ministry, it leads to relationships that are marked by an unintended inequality – “I am the giver, you are the receiver.”
But if we are able to fully embrace the love Jesus offers, if our ministry arises out of our full and loving relationship with Jesus, then, when we reach out in love and not just in service, the whole dynamic between us and those whom we help changes. We do not remain just a giver of services to those who are in need – Instead we see ourselves, and those we help, as equally beloved children of God, helping to create the new beloved Kingdom which Jesus ushers in.
This, as we know, is not always easy and there is much hard work to be done to share that kind of love in God’s community, where the needs are so great. But Jesus did not leave the disciples, or us, without sustenance for our work. Because Jesus gave us the gift of the Eucharist that night. He gave us bread for our journey.
Jesus knew that the disciples would need the assurance of His continued love, His guidance, and His presence with them, as they tried to continue the full, open loving kingdom work he had given them to do.
And so he gathered his disciples around him ….in the Upper Room at the table. Taking a loaf of bread He said, “This is my body for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” And taking the cup of wine, He said, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” This meal of his body and blood, of broken bread and wine, brings into the present, into our outstretched hands, Jesus’ life, his death and his continued loving presence in us who share in the meal.
We meet Jesus in the broken bread and wine. Like the paschal lamb that is offered as a sacrifice at the Passover dinner, Jesus gave the disciples, and us, the gift of himself. A gift of enduring presence that comforts and sustains, that nourishes and enlivens us who take the bread and wine. The gift of his presence, helping us “to love like Jesus”.
And so, tonight, renewed by his body and blood, secure in the knowledge of his presence with us, this night we can make our commitment to follow the new commandment – to love others as Jesus has loved us.