Loving God, on this holy night help us to experience the depth of your love for us. Fill us with your Spirit, that your Word might be both spoken and heard; through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

    This past Sunday night, an episode of Dateline NBC aired that happened to feature my cousin Adam.  He was one of a crew of four men who attempted to row across the Atlantic Ocean from West Africa to Miami, Florida.  They were in a small boat that was equipped with all kinds of data recorders, satellite based technology, video cameras, and even had periodic internet access.  Their goal was not only to row across the Atlantic, but to collect all sorts of environmental research data along the way.

    Over the course of this journey, Adam recorded a video message for his two year-old son.  His wife had asked that he do so, just in case something happened and he didn’t make it back.  And so, in a few minutes on video, Adam recorded a message with the things that he would want his son to know in the event of his own death.  As it turns out, Adam didn’t, in fact, die, but the crew was most certainly in danger as the boat capsized before reaching its final destination.

    Thankfully, most of us don’t usually find ourselves in life and death situations where our own death seems imminent.  However, it is an important question to ask ourselves as to what we would say to our loved ones if we knew that it was the last time they would ever hear from us.  What would you tell them if you knew that this was your last night on this earth?  What would you tell them, and how would you spend that time?

    The answers to these questions would most certainly reveal for each one of us the things that we believe to be most important.  In the same way, the way in which Jesus spent his last night on earth and the things that he communicated to his closest friends reveal what is most important to him.

    In the gospel of John, five chapters are devoted to what Jesus had to say to his disciples during his last night on this earth.  And those five chapters both begin and end with love.  “Love one another as I have loved you” (Jn. 15:12).  “Abide in my love” (Jn. 15:9).  Obviously, there are far more details there in five chapters, but this is the essence of what Jesus wanted to communicate to his closest friends.

    However, Jesus, just like any good teacher, does not just lecture.  Instead, he gives an actual demonstration of what it means to love one another, and this is the part of the story that we heard tonight.  Loving one another means being willing to kneel down and wash one another’s feet.  Loving one another means willingly taking the role of a servant.  Loving one another means not only washing others’ feet, but allowing others to wash yours.

    Realistically speaking, I think that most of us can identify with Peter.  Most of us are quite uncomfortable allowing somebody else to wash our feet.  We come up with all sorts of reasons - like they might smell, or we might be ticklish, or maybe our feet aren’t shaped quite right.  In Peter’s case, he had likely experienced servants washing his feet, but Jesus?  That simply wasn’t right.  Peter might have been okay with washing Jesus’ feet, but not the other way around.  And it’s entirely likely that Peter might have had a problem with lowering himself to wash the feet of those other disciples as well!

    And so, Jesus gives a live demonstration of the kind of loving service that is expected from those who wish to consider themselves to be his friends.  And then he talks about loving one another as he has first loved us, and sending the Holy Spirit who will empower and teach us, and keeping the same vital connection with Jesus that he has with his Father in heaven.  In the gospel of John, it is these things that are of the utmost importance, for this is what Jesus communicates during his last night here on this earth.

    However, it is also worth noting the things that Jesus does on this last night.  He not only washes feet, but uses the bread and the wine in order to give the gift of himself to his friends for many years to come.  Then, having given these tangible expressions of his love, Jesus spends his time in prayer.  Above all, he prays for those who are his followers – not only at that time, but in the years to come.  He prays for those who are his friends, and finishes this prayer just as the evening began – with an expression of love.  Jesus asks that God’s love would be within his followers, even as Jesus himself would be in them (Jn. 17:25).

    So how would you spend your last night on this earth, and what would you have to say?  Would it be similar to what Jesus did?  Totally different?  Whatever that might look like for us, it would in any case reveal what is important to us.  However, tonight we are invited to see ourselves as the loved ones who are receiving Jesus’ final message.

    The gospel of John was not just written for those first disciples but for all those who would “come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God” (Jn. 20:31).  And so, when Jesus prays, it is also for us.  When Jesus washes feet, it includes us.  When Jesus promises the gift of the Holy Spirit, it is for us.  And when Jesus gives the gift of himself, not even withholding his own body and blood, it is for us.  May that same love that flowed so freely from Jesus fill our hearts this night, that we, too, might abide in his love.  Amen.

Maundy Thursday                            John 13:1-17, 31b-35
April 17, 2014                            1 Corinthians 11:23-26
Abundant Life Lutheran Church
Pastor Lynne Hutchison

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