John 13: 1-17,31-35

It was just before the Passover Festival. Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. The evening meal was in progress, and the devil had already prompted Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus. Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God;so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.

He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?” Jesus replied, “You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.”

“No,” said Peter, “you shall never wash my feet.”

Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.” “Then, Lord,” Simon Peter replied, “not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!”

Jesus answered, “Those who have had a bath need only to wash their feet; their whole body is clean. And you are clean, though not every one of you.” For he knew who was going to betray him, and that was why he said not everyone was clean.

When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. “Do you understand what I have done for you?” he asked them. “You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him.Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.

When he was gone, Jesus said, ‘Now the Son of Man is glorified and God is glorified in him. If God is glorified in him, God will glorify the Son in himself, and will glorify him at once.

“My children, I will be with you only a little longer. You will look for me, and just as I told the Jews, so I tell you now: Where I am going, you cannot come.

A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

Let us pray,

May the words of my mouth, and the meditations of all of our hearts, be pleasing and acceptable to you, our rock and our redeemer.

What are you most looking forward to doing once you’re vaccinated?

This is the question everyone is asking right now. For some people, getting vaccinated means seeing friends and family for the first time in over a year. For others it means getting a haircut. Or a pedicure. Or getting your eyebrows threaded.

As I read through our Scripture passage for this Maundy Thursday, I began to wonder how Jesus might answer this question. Jesus, what is the first thing you will do once you’re fully vaccinated? That’s easy, I imagine Jesus saying, I will go, and I will wash my disciples feet. And I will spend a little extra time washing the feet of the one who is about to betray me.

Our Scripture passage for this evening contains Jesus’ greatest commandment. Love one another. As I have loved you, you must love one another. By this everyone will know you are my disciples, if you love one another. If we had to describe Jesus’ life and ministry with one word it would be love. Love God and love one another. If we claim to follow Jesus, then love must characterize our lives and ministries as well.

Jesus’ commandment reinterprets the 10 commandments God gave Moses. These commandments teach us the dos and don’ts of how we are to love God and how we are to love our neighbors. We are to love the Lord our God with all our heart, all our soul, all our mind, and all our strength. We are not to commit murder.

The 10 Commandments are great legal codes. They are a great way for us to put boundaries around what is and what is not acceptable human behavior. But they don’t always account for the messiness of the human condition. So Jesus takes the commandments and broadens their application.

Take loving God and loving your neighbor, for example. I think we can all agree that we should treat our neighbors with respect. But let’s say my neighbor’s has a loud party that goes into the wee hours of Sunday morning. Is it loving to call the police to break up the party, or do I just need to tough it out?

In our text for this morning, Jesus is clear. We are to love one another. This commandment is a call to love even when it’s hard. It is a call to love Judas after he betrays us to the Roman Authorities. It is a call to love Peter after he denied us three times. Christian faithfulness means loving one another in the midst of the suffering that comes with loving unlovable people.

Loving unlovable people is the marker of Christian community. Unconditional love is what separates the church from Sunday morning yoga classes. The world will know we are Christians by our love for one another. We are able to love one another because we’ve experienced Jesus’ love for us. It’s not enough that we love Jesus. We must embody our love for Jesus with concrete acts of love in the world.

To give you an example of what this love in action can look like.

In January, Shippack Pharmacy, located outside Philadelphia, PA, was approved to administer Covid vaccines. The pharmacy is run by Mayank Amin, who his patients call Dr. Mak.

Under PA’s vaccine distribution guidelines, Dr. Mak needed to vaccinate the most at risk in his community for covid complications. So the elderly. Those with pre-existing medical conditions. These populations of people are not the easiest to vaccinate. Some don’t have internet access. Some worried how the vaccine would affect their pre-existing medical condition. Children especially, hate getting shots.

To pull this off, Dr. Mak was going to need a village. Dr. Mak’s pharmacy only has two employees and two interns. He recruited and trained dozens of volunteers to answer the phone. And help residents without access to technology book appointments.

As January came to a close, Dr. Mak realized he was going to have to start making house calls to folks who physically couldn’t get to his pharmacy. So, In February, he slipped into a Superman costume. To drive through the frozen suburbs of Montgomery County to deliver vaccines to homebound residents. His costume helps put both seniors suffering from dementia, and children scared of needles at ease.

Vaccinating his community has come at great personal cost to this young pharmacist. His wife is seven months pregnant with their first child. As a health precaution, he’s been living with his parents during the week, and only seeing his wife on weekends.

The days are long. The stress is heavy. But Dr. Mak wants to get as many people as possible in his community vaccinated. Before his son is born in May.

I share this story because I think it is a good example of what love can look like in the world. All it takes is one person figuring out how to do the one act of love in the world they can do well. We Christians need to be setting the example of what this love can look like. But oftentimes we limit our acts of love to acts that only occur in church, or with our church family. But if we limit our acts of love to acts that only occur within the walls of this church, we aren’t really following Jesus’ commandment.

Friends, if we take seriously our desire to follow Jesus, we need to participate in concrete acts of love in the world. Perfect church attendance isn’t enough. Visiting one of our church family members in the nursing home isn’t enough. We have to model the sacrificial love of Christ outside of these walls.

This week our text challenges us to imagine who and how God is calling us to love our neighbors. Not all of us are going to be vaccinating our communities. But all of us are going to be asked to love unlovable people. Not because we want to be recognized. Not even so that the world will know we are Christian. But in response to the love of God that has grabbed hold of us and that will never let go.

Thanks be to God,

In Jesus’ name,

Amen.