Maundy Thursday, St. Paul’s, Smithfield, NC
4/9/2020
Jim Melnyk: “For Love”
The Apostle Paul
reminds us: “Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body; for we
all partake of one bread.” On the night
he was betrayed, our Lord Jesus took bread.
And when he had blessed it, he broke it…
Jesus breaks bread,
and we remember his body broken.
Jesus breaks bread,
and we remember a world that is broken.
However we break
bread this night in our home meals we participate in the brokenness of Jesus,
However we break
bread in the midst of physical separation we recognize the brokenness of this
world,
We recognize our own
brokenness – and we recall Jesus and his willingness to share his own life that
we might live…
And we recognize how
deeply we long to share this meal with Jesus in the midst of our physical
separation from each other.
On that final night Jesus
takes bread and gives thanks to God as he breaks it. He gives it to his
disciples… This is my body. He takes the cup of wine, gives thanks to God…this
is my blood shed for you…
Jesus says “Do this
in remembrance of me…
do this and I will be present with you and in you…
do this and all that I have taught you will be present with you and in
you….
Jesus says do this
in remembrance of me and I will be a present reality for you – I will be a
present reality for this broken world. As I have loved you – even to the point
of being shattered on the cross – so you must love one another.
And then after
supper, having loved his disciples so much, he loved them to the end.
Less than a week ago
according to John’s gospel,
Mary, a dear friend
of Jesus, took a jar of costly perfume and anointed Jesus’ feet. I wonder if
that act was bouncing around in the back of Jesus’ mind as he broke bread with
the women and men who were his friends and followers.
I wonder if the
scent of that perfume had stayed with Jesus over the past few days. I wonder if
Mary is actually at the meal with the others – the perfume still noticeably
clinging to her hair.
This night Jesus
strips off his outer garments, and laying his robe aside, he ties a towel about
his waist. Then kneeling before his
friends, Jesus washes each disciple’s feet.
Upon finishing – his
followers stunned by this act of servanthood – upon finishing Jesus says, “Do
you understand what I have just done? Do you understand the ramifications of
this teaching?
If I, your Teacher
and Lord, wash your feet, you also must wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example this night.”
As we wrestle and
argue in this age over what is broken and what is not…
As we wrestle with
who is welcome at the table and who is not…
As we wrestle in
this world with who we should or must serve – with who we can get away with
ignoring…
As we wrestle with
our own brokenness and wonder God could love even me as I am in this moment…
We must remember
just who it was at table with Jesus that night….
It is good for us to
remember how at that table Jesus says, “One of you will betray me this night.”
And in Matthew’s and Mark’s gospels the disciples all wonder if it could be one
of them….
“Who could it
be?” “Is it I, Lord?” Each one understood they could just as easily
betray Jesus as the next. We must ask,
“Could it be one of us…?”
It is good for us to
remember: Jesus broke bread with his betrayer.
It is good for us to
remember: Jesus washed Judas’ feet.
And I have to ask
myself this question? If Jesus could sit at table with his betrayer… if Jesus
could break bread with him…if Jesus could kneel before Judas and wash his feet…
Whom can I refuse to serve in Jesus’ name?
Whom do I have the right to deny?
I have to ask myself, and I know the answer…we know the answer….
I give you a new
commandment, says Jesus – that you love one another. Just as I have loved you,
you also should love one another.
For this reason,
Jesus went to Jerusalem…
For this reason,
Jesus said, “This is my body… this is my blood…”
For this reason,
Jesus said, “Wash one another’s feet…”
For this reason,
Jesus willingly went to the cross… For love.
For love. For love.
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