Linked In!
(Exodus 12:1-14; I Cors. 11:23-26; John 13:1-17, 31b-35) Maundy Thursday, April 5, 2012
Dearly beloved of God;
For some time now there has been a kind of quasi-network on the internet, called LINKED – IN. For professionals of any stripe it is a way of being connected with other professionals. . . As I read the 3 lessons for tonight I couldn't help but think about how we all are "linked in".
In the Exodus 12 account of the Passover – there are two overriding and competing realities. Firstly – those early Hebrews are caught, trapped, ensnared by slavery. All slavery is marked by a distinct lack of freedom, by the overarching stench of "that's the way it is" without any seeming alternatives. Power, in its many violent forms always moving towards death seems to be in control dividing up the "haves" and the "have- not's".
Surely we can identify! It's not only the world of those ancient Hebrews in which such power seeks to control and limit. That is also true of our world. That's why we have the G8 and the G20. That's why for some there are different investors groups, pension plans and low interest credit lines. That's why there are multi-billion dollar corporations who pay little or no taxes while the common person in the western world antes up and people in the "developing" world live in garbage heaps. That's just the way it is – or at least the powers that be in this world, tell us that OVER AND OVER AND OVER AGAIN. But such "powers" are not all there is.
You see God keeps showing up. God tells those ancient Hebrews that they are linked in with God. Because they are "linked in with God" they are to be linked in with each other. In fact as they wallow in slavery God tells them right there and then that THEIR TIME is about to change. They are to have a special meal together – where no one will be left out. In this meal, the Passover everyone will be welcomed and fed. There will be a roasted lamb, unleavened bread and bitter herbs. In this particular meal even as the blood of that lamb is sprinkled over their doorposts those formerly ensnared, enslaved people will be led from the clutches of such power to new life and the possibility of freedom as a community of God.
In the second lesson from Paul's first letter to the Corinthians we are introduced to an incredible congregation. They are richly blessed. They have MANY spiritual gifts. I mean today they would be the envy of many congregations. However not all is wonderful. Our short text comes in the middle of Paul upbraiding them. You see they have forgotten the purpose of the Lord's Supper. They have forgotten that IN CHRIST – ALL ARE UNITED, first to Him and then to each other! All that which has separated us from God and from each other is lifted away by Christ's death and resurrection. But instead of remembering that and keeping that central in each of their celebrations of the Lord's Supper, they had trumpeted their individualism, seeking to make the Lord's Supper only a very personal thing. They had forgotten each other – especially those who may be lonely or poor. They have been influenced by and are now enforcing the cultural divisions of their time and place in their celebration of the "Lord's Supper". –Paul tells them in no uncertain terms that he does not commend them for this. NO, not at all! Instead, he exhorts them to remember Christ. They are to celebrate this meal together, sharing all that they have so no one is hungry, so that no one has too much to eat or drink but instead that all have enough. They are to live in Christ, unified. This is discerning Christ's body.
Once again, are we not linked in – in both aspects? Sometimes we forget or refuse to invite our brothers and sisters to be included in the Lord's Supper, both literally and figuratively. Sometimes we do not share with others all that God has done and is doing for us in Jesus Christ. . . . But, are we also not linked in by the very grace of God, to be included even as we are in this Lord's Supper by the incredible, utterly incomprehensible, wonderful grace of God in Christ, who gives his very body and blood FOR US, ALL OF US? (Pause)
These realities usher us towards John's Gospel. Here we are encountered by Jesus during His last supper with his beloved disciples. Here, the emphasis MUST BE much more on BELOVED than disciples. Jesus' hour has come. And they (all of them in Matthew, Mark and Luke) or all of them but one (in John) abandon him as he is actually dying. Still, Jesus loves them!
You doubt me? Watch Jesus share the meal with them and then get up from the table taking a towel. He washes all of their feet. According to some Jewish tradition, not even slaves were expected to wash other peoples' feet. Usually a basin of water was produced, and each guest washed their own feet. But on this night, during the Last Supper, Jesus gets up and proceeds to wash all of their dirty stinking feet. Each of them. Yes, all of them including Peter who either didn't think he needed his feet washed or more likely, didn't want Jesus to wash his feet. Somehow, surprise, surprise Peter didn't realize that Jesus washing Peter's feet is about both our universal and particular need for Jesus' love and forgiveness. Like the early Hebrews, and those earliest disciples we need to be delivered from all kinds of slavery ourselves. Only then can we experience new life, now and forever.
Do you remember that I said - Jesus washes all of their feet? That includes Judas Iscariot who is about to betray him. In John's gospel, Jesus knows about Judas' betrayal before it happens. Nevertheless Jesus in his love for him, washes Judas' feet also. I sure hope we are linked in here.
Then Jesus asks them, "Do you know what I have done to you?" How could they? How can we? We, who realize that after this meal Jesus moves irretrievably forward to die, are still trying to comprehend what he is doing for us. His actions, his willingness to die for us, exceed our comprehension. Nevertheless, his self-emptying sacrifice, his utter vulnerability in the face of all the powers of death, slavery, control, manipulation fleshed out and administered by we human beings, stands. To be sure, where he was going then, those early beloved disciples could not follow. Yet his words to them and us, so impossible to obey on our own, also continue to stand: "I give you a new commandment that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another." (Pause)
Linked in? By God's grace we are being joined to Christ. By God's grace in Christ we are being joined to others – regardless of what they have done or are doing to us. Linked in to Christ, we are called as beloved disciples to experience and share the freedom that Christ brings. This necessarily means moving beyond ourselves, to see and include others in our meals, our celebrations, our hopes and dreams. For we are all beloved by God. Through our baptism we are joined to Christ's death and resurrection His very mission to love the world and bring it to new life, freedom from the power's of death. In Christ we are linked in, forever! Amen.