He Will Always Love You

The Maundy Thursday message given in the United Methodist churches of the Wheatland Parish on March 28, 2024.  The Bible verses used are John 13:1-30.

            What would you do tonight if you knew you were going to die tomorrow?

            It’s a pretty sobering question, right?  I mean, we all know that we’re going to die sometime.  But we try not to think about it too much.  We know it’s true, but it’s not the main focus of our lives or anything.  And it should not be.  God does not want us to live in fear that we might die tomorrow.  God wants us to live our lives.  God wants us to go out and do things that serve God and that show love to people.  God wants us to do the things that God put us here to do in the first place.

            And yet, we know that there are people who are going to die tomorrow.  In some cases it’s expected, but in some cases it’s not.  And while I certainly hope that it’s not anybody who’s here tonight, or anybody who’s watching the livestream right now, there’s no guarantee that it will not be.  There’s no guarantee that it will not be me.  Our life on earth does not come with guarantees.  It never has.

            So, think about it.  What would you do tonight if you knew you were going to die tomorrow?

            Well, let’s look at what Jesus did.  Because, at the time of our Bible reading for tonight, Jesus did know that he was going to die tomorrow.  He knew everything that was going to happen to him.  So, what did he do?

            Well, first, he gathered his closest friends around him.  You might think he’d have wanted to be with his family--I’m sure at least some of us would want that.  But as we read the gospels, we really get the impression that Jesus was closer to his friends, the disciples, than he was to his family, with the possible exception of Mary.  And knowing what was going to happen to him, he would not have wanted Mary to have to be there and see all that.  He’d have wanted to spare his mother.

            So, Jesus gathers his closest friends.  They’re all together, just them, in the upper room.  We don’t know how big that room was--probably not very big, really.  And Jesus does two things for his disciples.  And both of those things are designed to show Jesus’ disciples how much he loved them.

            First, they have a meal together.  The last meal Jesus would have on earth.  This really was, in a sense, the condemned man having his last meal.  And we sometimes don’t think about this, but in that society, the act of sharing a meal had tremendous significance.  It was a symbol of caring, a symbol of love.  Just sharing a meal, any meal, with the disciples, in and of itself, would’ve shown Jesus’ disciples that he loved them.

But of course, this was not just any meal.  This was the Passover Seder.  It was a very special meal, full of religious significance.  The Passover was and still is a very special time for Jewish people, which of course Jesus and his disciples were.  All the disciples would’ve been aware of that significance, and of course Jesus himself was, too.

And then, we come to verses three through five.  Jesus gets up from the table.  He takes off his outer clothing.  He wraps a towel around his waist.  He pours water into a basin.  As far as we know, Jesus does not say a word.  He just gets up and does these things.

And the disciples are watching this.  Maybe, at first, they did not notice.  They could’ve been visiting with each other, or busy eating, or whatever.  But when Jesus starts taking off his clothes, they notice.  Those who notice first start elbowing the others, making sure they see what’s going on.  Again, as far as we know, nobody’s saying anything.  The disciples are just watching, wondering what Jesus is going to do next.

Jesus takes the basin, and goes around and starts washing the feet of the disciples.  And I’ve mentioned this before, but washing someone’s feet was one of the dirtiest jobs there was back then.  Think about it.  Nobody wore shoes the way we think of them.  Nobody even wore socks.  At best you might have some sandals, or you might be barefoot.  And you were mostly walking on dirt.  Even some of the houses had dirt floors.  And what was not dirt was rocks.  And there were lots of animals around, so you needed to watch where you stepped, if you know what I mean.  So feet were in pretty bad shape.  They’d be dirty, they’d be calloused, sometimes they’d be a little misshapen.  To have to wash someone’s feet was a really lousy job.  It was not a pleasant job at all.

And Jesus did that for his disciples.  Jesus goes around, washing everybody’s feet.  Probably by the time he got to the end, that water was getting pretty dirty.  Maybe he dumped out the water and got some fresh at some point, we don’t know.  And other than Peter, the disciples just sit there silently, watching this, allowing Jesus to do what he’s doing.

We speak of this, quite often, as an act of servanthood.  We say that Jesus was showing them that they were to serve each other.  And of course, he was doing that.  Jesus told the disciples that he was setting an example for them, and that they should do for each other what he was doing for them.  But what Jesus did was more than just an act of servanthood.  It was an act of love.  Jesus was not just telling the disciples that they should serve each other.  He was telling them that they should love each other.

            Jesus shared a meal with the disciples and washed their feet because he loved them.  And on this last night, the night before he was going to die, he wanted to show them how much he loved them.  And he wanted to show them in a way that would ensure that they would never forget how much he loved them.

            But here’s the thing.  And we know this, but we just don’t think about it very often.  

            Who was there with Jesus?  It was the twelve disciples, right?  It was Peter, James, and John.  It was Nathanael and Philip and Andrew.  It was Bartholomew and Matthew and another James.  It was Thaddeus and Simon the Zealot.  And--it was Judas Iscariot.

             Judas.  The man who would betray Jesus.  The man Jesus knew was going to betray him.  The man to whom, later in the evening, Jesus tells to go ahead and do what he’s going to do, letting Judas know that he knows what Judas is going to do.  

            Judas was there.  Judas shared that last meal with Jesus.  Jesus washed Judas’ feet.  Jesus, the night before he died, showed love to the man he knew was going to betray him.  

            You think that was easy for Jesus?  I don’t.  Yes, Jesus was the fully divine Son of God, but Jesus was also fully human.  That means Jesus felt all the same things you and I would feel in this situation.  

            Could you do it?  Could you share a meal with someone who you knew was going to betray you?  Could you wash the feet of someone who you knew was going to betray you?  Could you show love to someone whose betrayal was going to lead to your death in a very painful and humiliating way?  I don’t know that I could.  In fact, I very much doubt it.  Even if I knew that it had to be that way, even if I could be obedient enough to God to let it happen--and I don’t know that I could do that, either, but even if I could--I don’t think I could’ve shown love to Judas the way Jesus did.

            Jesus told us to love our enemies.  It’s one of the hardest things Jesus told us to do.  We don’t want to do it.  I don’t want to do it.  But Jesus did not ask us to do anything that he did not do himself.

            When you think about it, the love Jesus showed to Judas was incredible.  He would not have had to.  Jesus could have stopped Judas from doing what he did, of course.  But even without doing that, even with Jesus having made up his mind to be faithful to God the Father and go through with dying on a cross, Jesus would not have had to show love to Judas in this way.  I mean, Jesus could’ve just pulled Judas aside before they started the meal and said to him what he ultimately did say, “What you are about to do, do quickly.”  I know what you’re going to do, so just go do it.  Don’t go through this charade of eating the Passover meal with me.  Don’t pretend you’re still one of us.  Just go do it now.  Get out of here and get it over with.

            Jesus did not do that.  Jesus allowed Judas to be part of his last night on earth.  And Jesus showed love to Judas, even knowing what Judas was going to do.

            Maybe, tonight, there is someone here tonight, or someone watching the livestream, who feels unlovable.  I don’t know why--it could be for a lot of reasons.  But I suspect a lot of us have felt unlovable at some point in our lives.  We’ve done things that we’re ashamed of.  We’ve done things we regret.  Maybe it was a long time ago, maybe it was recent.  Maybe it’s something going on right now.  Maybe we’ve tried to forget it and ignore it, and maybe we’ve found out that we cannot do that.  But many of us have something, either in our past or our present, that makes us feel unlovable.

            We’re not.  There is nothing any of us can have done that makes us unlovable.  Not to God.  Jesus loved even the man who was going to betray him.  Jesus loved him enough that he would wash that man’s feet.  Jesus loved him enough to do something most people would not do even for their good friends.  If Jesus could love Judas that much, Jesus can love you, too.

            Jesus loves you.  Jesus has loved you all your life.  And Jesus will continue to love you.  No matter what you say.  No matter what you do.  The Apostle Paul told us that nothing, not even death, can separate us from the love of Jesus Christ.  That’s true, and it always will be true.

            Knowing that he was going to die tomorrow, Jesus showed love.  He showed love even to the person who was going to betray him.  And Jesus wants to show that same love for you.  Jesus loves you.  He always has.  And he always will.