Sermon; Maundy Thursday; John 13:1-17, 31b-35

This is a particularly difficult night. Tonight is the final shared meal between Jesus and his disciples. Tonight Jesus takes time to wash the feet of his disciples, all twelve of them. Tonight Judas leaves to betray Jesus. Tonight Jesus gives the remaining eleven disciples a new commandment – novus mandatum in Latin, which became Maundy Thursday – to love one another as he has loved them. And tonight Jesus is arrested and deserted.

Under normal circumstances we also share a meal as a congregation. We wash feet. We celebrate the last Communion of Holy Week. And we watch as the altar is stripped while Ps. 22 is read, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

But I always feel that it is not God who has forsaken us, but we who have forsaken God. This idea that we, too, have deserted Jesus comes through loud and clear as we strip the altar, removing all symbols that bind us to him.

This night of desertion seems to have similarities in today's world of COVID19. When Jesus was arrested his disciples ran away and hid. They found spaces where they could be safe from the virus of the mob. We also are hiding in spaces where we hope we are safe from the COVID19 virus. And like being exposed to the mob could lead to death, exposure to the virus could also lead to death. Those were scary times for the disciples, and these are scary times for us.

But even in these particularly scary times, even when Jesus knew he would be deserted, even when all seemed (or seems) lost, there is something that holds us together and sustains us. The second sentence, and the second-to-last sentence, of tonight's gospel passage are based in love, and they are what hold this passage together. It is also what holds us together.

“Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.” I want to go through this sentence and break it down.

“Having loved his own” – this foreshadows part of the Farewell Discourse, which actually begins at the end of tonight's gospel. In Chapter 17 Jesus talks about the disciples belonging to God the Father and being given to him. John lets us know here that the disciples belong to Jesus, they are his own.

“Who were in the world” – This reminds me of how we count Sundays during Lent. Not including Palm Sunday (because that is its own special day) there are five Sundays in Lent, and that is how we refer to them – the First, Second, Third, Fourth, and Fifth Sunday IN Lent. Because while Lent is a penitential season of fasting, Sundays are always considered Feast Days of the Lord. They are marked as different and special; IN Lent, not of Lent. The disciples are the same way – marked as different and special; IN the world, not of the world.

“He loved them to the end” – The end of what? Did Jesus love his disciples to the end of his ministry? Yes. Did he love them to the end of his life on earth? Yes. Did he love them to the end of his post-resurrection appearances? Yes. But I also think this goes way beyond our temporal understanding. I think “the end” means until the end when all things are finally reconciled to God.

John gives us the understanding that we belong to Christ, that we are in the world, not of the world, and that we are loved to the end.

At the conclusion of tonight's gospel passage, following Judas' departure, and what formally begins the Farewell Discourse, Jesus says, “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.”

Jesus begins this section by saying he has loved the disciples to the end. He then gets down and washes the feet of all 12, Judas included, to demonstrate what love looks like – giving of yourself for another. Love is bound up in the ability to serve another without crying out for recognition and without any ulterior motives. We do things for others because we see they need to be done.

Love each other as I have loved you.

So here we are on a difficult night in a difficult time. Anxieties are running high. We might be feeling isolated, deserted, and alone. There are a lot of similarities between this night and the night Jesus was arrested. And to symbolize everything from our desertion of Christ to our own feelings of isolation today, we strip the altar leaving it as alone and isolated as we feel right now.

But on either side of those feelings of desertion, isolation, loneliness, or whatever else we may be feeling, those feelings and those situations are book-ended by love. Think back to a baptism, any baptism, and recall these words: “You are sealed by the power of the Holy Spirit and marked as Christ's own for ever.” We who are in the world have been marked as Christ's own and are loved by him to the end.

And that new commandment? Look around. Despite the quarantines, despite the dangers, despite everything going on, there are many, many instances of loving others as Christ loved us. Selfless and sacrificial acts are happening all the time. It happens within our parish, and in our town, and in the world. In the midst of the chaos, the separation, the isolation, and, yes, even the death, love will win. Love does surround us. Resurrection does come. It's just hard to see right now.

We may have to go through hell to get to heaven, but let us always remember that we are loved, and let us never forget to love others.

Amen.