“It’s that Simple. It’s that Complicated”
John 13:1-5, 12-15, 34-35
Have you ever taken a moment to think about how totally profound this encounter is between Jesus and His disciples on the night that Jesus was betrayed?
I’m not referring to the fact that Jesus washed His disciples’ dirty feet…even though that itself is profound.
What blows my mind more than anything here is the fact that Judas got the same loving treatment as the rest of the disciples.
Jesus knew everything Judas was about to do and He still welcomed him among them.
Jesus knelt down and washed Judas’ feet and then shared a meal with him.
We say that the greatest example of love is when Jesus hung on the Cross, and that is true.
But this story shows us even more clearly the depth of love that is displayed on the Cross.
Judas was handed over to the authorities to be executed because Judas betrayed Him.
But even before that, Jesus shows Judas a mind-blowing level of generous, loving forgiveness.
We aren’t generally a people who know what’s going to happen in the future.
We don’t know beforehand exactly how things are going to play out in our lives.
We don’t wake up in the morning and say to ourselves, “I’m going to stay home because I know if I go get in my car and go somewhere I’m going to get in a wreck.”
We go about our lives.
Things happen and we react accordingly.
But being fully divine, Jesus knew all things.
So, the fact that Judas hadn’t betrayed Him yet is irrelevant.
Jesus’ knowledge of Judas’ impending betrayal would be like us having already experienced it.
Now, imagine that you have been betrayed in the worst of ways.
Would you want to sit down to a meal with that person?
Would you want to get down on your knees and wash their dirty feet?
What about your enemy?
When have any of us ever invited our enemy over to our house for dinner?
Who among us would volunteer to serve, in any way, someone who has betrayed us?
Because of our human nature, we steer way away from things like this.
If someone betrays us we cut them off.
If someone is our enemy, we avoid them at all costs.
But here Jesus is, kneeling down to wash the feet of His betrayer and saying to His disciples, “I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.”
And then He says, “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.”
And take note that love is not an option for us as followers of Jesus.
Jesus says, “A new command I give you.”
It’s not a suggestion.
It’s not a recommendation.
It’s a commandment!
Now, the command to love one another may sound straightforward and simple, but putting it into practice is one of the most complicated things we will ever try and do.
It takes a lifetime and then some.
It is the goal of the Christian life.
It is what everything hinges on.
As a matter of fact, Christian Perfection is to have a habitual love for God and other people—ALL other people—not just people who look and act and think and behave and believe like we do—but ALL people!!!
Loving those with whom we agree or are partial to is the easy part.
Loving the rest of the folks we come in contact with is a much harder proposition.
It’s said that the John who wrote this Gospel of John, in his old age, would remind those around him to love one another.
When questioned why he told them this so very often, his reply would be, “Because it is what our Lord commanded.
If it’s all you do, then it is enough.”
Yes, loving one another may just be the hardest thing we will ever set out to do.
But it is the key to EVERYTHING!!!
It is what Christianity is all about.
It is the missing piece in the puzzle of life.
There is a story about a man who had a huge boulder in his front yard.
He got tired of this bug, unattractive stone in the middle of his lawn, so he decided to turn it into a piece of art.
He went to work on it with hammer and chisel, and chipped away at the huge boulder until the ugly stone became a beautiful running deer.
When he was finished, it was gorgeous, breath-taking.
A neighbor asked: “How did you carve such a marvelous likeness of a deer?”
The man answered, “I just chipped away everything that didn’t look like a deer.”
If you and I have anything in our lives right now that doesn’t look like love, then, with the help of God, let’s chip it away!
If we have anything in our lives that doesn’t look like compassion or mercy or empathy, then, with the help of God, let’s chip it away.
If we have hatred or prejudice or vengeance or envy in our hearts, for the sake of God, and the sake of the other person, and for our own sake, let’s get rid of it.
Let’s allow God to chip everything out of our lives that doesn’t look like Jesus.
C.S. Lewis said that there is no adding on to Christ’s Command for us to love one another…
One of the characteristics of a form of Christianity that is actually doing the devil’s work is what C.S. Lewis called “Christianity And.”
It is when Real Christianity is substituted with something else--with what he calls “a Christian coloring.”
He writes about this in “The Screwtape Letters.”
As long as people’s attention is focused on the supplement—the addition, the coloring, the politics…the red meat issue…whatever it is, they lose sight of Christianity.
How many of us have allowed ourselves to become so involved in secondary issues that we neglect the most basic principles of what it means to be a disciple of Christ?
Love is the most basic tenet of the Christian faith.
When asked what the Greatest Commandment of all is Jesus said, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your mind and with all your strength.
And the second one is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.”
All the Law and the Prophets—everything hangs on this!!!
But in our Gospel Lesson for this morning, Jesus goes even farther than this.
“A new command I give you: Love one another.
As I have loved you, so you must love one another.”
Jesus’ love looks like a cross.
Jesus’ love looks like a humble servant washing the feet of the one who is about to betray him to death.
There is something remarkable about Jesus’ Command that we love one another.
In giving this command, Jesus did something the world had never seen before—He created a group that is identified by one thing: Love!
There are many groups in the world, and they may identify themselves in any number of ways: by skin color, by uniform, by shared interest, by alma mater, by not eating meat, by the love for a sports team or a hobby—the ways people categorize themselves are endless.
But the Church of Jesus Christ is unique.
For the first time in history, Jesus created a group whose identifying factor is love.
Skin color doesn’t matter.
Native language doesn’t matter.
There are no rules about diet or uniforms or wearing funny hats.
Followers of Jesus Christ are identified by their love.
As we are told in Galatians 3:28: “There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”
What categories of folks could we add to that list in the 21st Century.
It’s endless, is it not?
It was said of the early Christians that their impact on society was due to their profound love for one another.
Jesus said that this is how the world will recognize us as being His followers—because of our love for one another.
And we make a mistake if we think that love is simply an emotion.
The truth is, love is an action.
It doesn’t do any good to “feel” lovingly toward anyone if we don’t follow through with loving actions.
Forest Gump’s mother kept telling him “Stupid is as stupid does.”
In the same way, the Bible teaches us that “Love is as Love does.”
The world will have no way of knowing about the love of God if they cannot see God’s love expressed in the lives of God’s people.
Bill Wilson is a pastor who lives in hell—Hell’s Kitchen, that is.
It is the meanest, most dangerous part of New York City.
Bill and others have chosen to live and work there in the name of Love.
They share, understand and seek to fulfill Jesus’ mandate.
The church operates the biggest bus ministry in the country in order to reach children with the Gospel.
After becoming a Christian, one woman name Rosa wanted to get involved in Christian service.
She didn’t speak English.
Through an interpreter, she pleaded with Bill, “I want to do something for God, please.”
Bill thought about it and said, “Okay, I’ll put you on a bus.
Ride a different bus every week and just love the kids.”
That’s exactly what Rosa did.
In all, she rode 50 different church buses.
She would find the saddest looking kid on the bus, sit down, put him or her on her knee, and whisper the only words in English she knew: “I love you and Jesus loves you.”
After several months, she became particularly attached to one little boy.
Because of him, she decided to ride just that one bus so she could be with him on the way to Sunday school every week, but he never said a word.
All the way there, Rosa whispered over and over again, “I love you and Jesus loves you.”
The little boy never responded until one day, the bus stopped to let the little boy off—to Rosa’s amazement—he hugged her and stammered, “I-I love you too.”
That evening, the little boy’s body was found.
His mother had beaten him to death.
I know this is hard to hear.
The reason I tell it is that no matter how horrible and hell-like the boy’s life had been, he knew for sure that he was loved by at least two people—Jesus and Rosa.
Regardless of who we are or where we live—Jesus’ mandate is clear.
He calls us to be partners with Him in making love tangible in our corner of the world.
The popular Christian song says, “They will know we are Christians by our love.”
It’s more than a feeling.
It’s an action.
It’s a verb rather than a noun.
It’s Jesus’ parting instruction.
It’s His unmistakable mandate.
He wants it to be our mission.
It can become our passion if we let it.
The love that Jesus commands us to have for one another is an unconditional, sacrificial love that reflects His love for us.
The love that Jesus commands us to have for one another is a love so real, so true, so strong that the world cannot deny its existence, and cannot deny it’s Source.
Let’s all ask ourselves the question: “Am I growing in love?”
Looking back over the past several months, am I easier to live with now?
Am I able to handle people more graciously, more courteously?
Am I more compassionate, more patient?
These are some of the most important measurements of the Christian life.
As Paul instructs us in 1 Corinthians 13, there is no use holding up any other quality we possess if we lack the love of Christ; nothing else can be substituted for it.
Everything else is worthless if we don’t have love.
Our world is divided.
And it’s not just that we are 7 billion plus people with 7 billion different ideas and viewpoints.
We’ve come to the point where, whether in thought or in action, we are hostile to our enemies, to our betrayers, and even to people who simply think differently than us.
We are quick to express or have feelings of dislike or hatred.
We have defined the “one another” in Jesus’ command so tightly that it means only “love the people who reinforce my own sense of who I am.”
When it comes to our enemies, to those who have harmed us, and even to those who are different from us, most of us don’t follow this example of love that Jesus has given us.
Love, though, is precisely what can overcome our divisions.
Love is the only answer.
Love makes it possible for us to see the image of God in others, even when they have harmed us or others.
When I think of how Christ loves me there’s no escaping the Cross.
Christ loves me so much that He went to the Cross in my place.
The Bible teaches that “God demonstrates God’s own love for us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”
He didn’t demand that we clean ourselves up first.
He didn’t demand that we love Him first.
He went to the Cross in spite of all our flaws and imperfections—He loves us—everyone THAT MUCH!!!
And He commands us to love one another in the same way!
It sounds simple, but it’s terribly complicated.
It takes everything we have.
It takes our entire lives; our entire selves.
It takes dying to the old nature and being born of God.
We can’t do it on our own.
It must be Christ Living in us.
It must be us asking Christ to guide our thoughts, our decisions, our hearts…
…and to believe He forgives us when we mess up…
…because we all do and we all will.
Again, love is an action word.
And if we aren’t sure how that works, this church is a great place to put love into practice.
Start volunteering at the food pantry, the community kitchen ministry, reach out to the preschool parents and teachers, come to Wednesdays in the Park and be intentional about loving not only our friends and fellow church members but those in the community who happen by.
Seek people who need help.
Put love first over self.
This is Jesus’ Command to those who wish to follow Him.
It is how we are known to be His disciples.
It is Life and Life to the fullest.
It’s what it’s all about.
Shall we go for it?
