Love One Another as I Have Loved You

Ever think about those first words in the Words of Institution of the Eucharist?  "In the night in which he was betrayed. . ."  Each week those words set the tone of what is to come:  bread, wine, sacrifice, body, blood, forgiveness, death, resurrection, Jesus being fully present to us who are prone to betray, forget, run away, deny, fail to care, fail to act, fail to love.  And yet Jesus offers to each of us his precious body and blood which draws into deeper in the divine life, sustains us on our journey, strengthens our faith and sends us out to be different for the sake of a hurting world.  It is literally the bread of life and the cup of salvation!  

John 13: 1-20

In John's telling of the Last Supper it is not yet Passover.  Jesus will die on Passover in John's Gospel and be the true Passover Lamb- the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.  In John's Gospel Jesus will invite his closest friends to have their feet washed: including Judas who will betray him, including Peter who will deny him, including all the rest who will run and hide in fear.  We are included as well with all the things in which we fail.  Thanks be to God!

When I think of this night the words of that old hymn ring in my ear:
Ah, holy Jesus, how hast Thou offended,
That man to judge Thee hath in hate pretended?
By foes derided, by Thine own rejected,
O most afflicted.

Who was the guilty? Who brought this upon Thee?
Alas, my treason, Jesus, hath undone Thee.
’Twas I, Lord, Jesus, I it was denied Thee!
I crucified Thee.

Lo, the Good Shepherd for the sheep is offered;
The slave hath sinned, and the Son hath suffered;
For man’s atonement, while he nothing heedeth,
God intercedeth.

For me, kind Jesus, was Thy incarnation,
Thy mortal sorrow, and Thy life’s oblation;
Thy death of anguish and Thy bitter passion,
For my salvation.

Therefore, kind Jesus, since I cannot pay Thee,
I do adore Thee, and will ever pray Thee,
Think on Thy pity and Thy love unswerving,
Not my deserving.

But still Jesus invites us to come, sit and have our feet washed.  He gives his disciples (of which are numbered) a new commandment which is about radical humility and service:  Love one another as I have loved you!  And Jesus loved his own and he loved them to the end.  Though faithfulness can be difficult sometimes, we all struggle with it from day to day, Jesus calls us back to himself and pronounces his great love for us-- then he sends us out to love the world.  One person at a time.  One foot at a time we wash.  One kind word at a time we give.  And we remember. . . we remember what our Christ has done for us, how he died in our place that we might live.  And we give thanks and praise to him falling on our knees in worship and adoration.  

As you enter these three holiest of days leading up to the Resurrection of our Lord, I pray that you will be touched by the Spirit and led into a deeper life in Christ Jesus who loves you with an indescribable, unmeasurable, unfathomable love!  

Image Credit:  Sadeo Watanabe