05172020 – Jn. 14. 15-21
Our Gospel lesson for this morning takes us BACK IN TIME. This year YOU COULD NOT BE PRESENT for the celebration. The sanctuary was EMPTY.
The day was called, “MAUNDY Thursday” or “HOLY Thursday” of HOLY WEEK.
We were ALONE, here, in the sanctuary.
On the FLOOR before the altar were placed TWELVE PAIRS OF SANDALS.
This was the NIGHT of the now-infamous – “FOOT WASHING.”
An EMPYT BOWL and a PITCHER OF WATER were also present, as well as a pile of STREWN TOWELS.
It was also the NIGHT of “a NEW commandment” …a commandment to “LOVE ONE ANOTHER.”
It was a STRANGE sort of evening. MEMORABLE in many ways. It was an evening of SIGNIFICANT CONFUSION and DISORIENTATION for his disciples. UNCERTAINTY was in the air.
THEIR ENTIRE WORLD was “falling apart…and being shaken up!” The gospels tell us, that on the night of his betrayal, Jesus himself was “TROUBLED.”
And, NO ONE could blame him.
What started out as a NORMAL “Passover celebration” turned into something QUITE STARTLING and DIFFERENT.
ONE OF THE TWELVE had SLINKED out of the room into the DARKNESS of night. The CLOUDS OF BETRAYAL and the WRETCHED SMELL of it, followed him out the door.
But that was NOT the “only occurrence” of the evening.
The leader of the APOSTOLIC GROUP was JUST INFORMED by Jesus that VERY SOON, he too would DENY even KNOWING Jesus. NOT ONCE, NOT TWICE, but THREE TIMES…DENY it all you want to, it WILL HAPPEN.
And throughout this VERY SOMBER event, Jesus kept LACING HIS WORDS with dark INTIMATIONS of death and a VERY SUDDEN DEPARTURE.
It was A VERY STRANGE NIGHT, alright.
BUT that evening BEGAN and ENDED with words of LOVE.
LOVE that was NOT UNDERSTOOD, at least, NOT YET.
Jesus had JUST DECLARED that IF his disciples LOVED HIM, they would keep his commandments.
The question may certainly be raised: WHAT COMMANDMENTS?
Unlike the Gospel of say, MATTHEW…
NOWHERE in John, does Jesus command his disciples to “TURN the other cheek” or “RENDER unto Caesar that which is Caesar’s.” Or, to go THE EXTRA MILE, or go TO ALL PEOPLE, BAPTIZING THEM in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Again, FAMOUSLY in John’s gospel – Jesus only gives ONE SINGLE COMMANDMENT. (And it is enough!)
That being, “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another, just AS I HAVE LOVED YOU, so YOU MUST love one another.” “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples if you have a love for one another.”
There is this OVERWHELMING, REPETITIVE, CIRCULAR emphasis on “love.”
That WOULD BE John’s gospel.
“If we FAIL in love, we FAIL in ALL THINGS…”
In and through it all Jesus REITERATES the fact that he WILL NOT leave his disciples orphaned. He will CONTINUE to be with them ALWAYS…as an ABIDING PRESENCE.
His Spirit will COMFORT and GUIDE them, SUPPORT, and SURROUND them…ALL times and in ALL places…in good times and in bad.
All of which brings us very nicely to today.
We ARE NOT orphaned.
We ARE NOT alone.
We ARE NOT abandoned.
Even in OUR ISOLATION.
Even in OUR SOCIAL DISTANCING.
God CONTINUES to be with us – WHERE WE ARE. There is NO PLACE that his LOVE and MERCY, KINDNESS and FORGIVENESS cannot go.
In the CONFINES of our homes, our condo’s, our apartments, GOD IS WITH US. (And, as we venture out!)
Where WE ARE, God himself IS PRESENT. GOD, our GOD, is with you.
The most important message I can share with you this morning…is that you are not alone. IT IS A much-needed REMINDER!
I get it! There is quiet. There is solitude. There is loneliness. There may be moments and times of melancholy and frustration. But this is not forever. This is temporary. And, WE are NOT ALONE.
YOU be the church, WHERE YOU ARE. YOU show COMPASSION, MERCY, and LOVE to others. YOU be the one to REACH OUT to others, in their aloneness, and in their solitude. Pick up the PHONE. Send a NOTE or a TEXT. WAVE and acknowledge one another. SMILE. Be about your life and living.
YOU ARE ESSENTIAL and are very NECESSARY.
If we fail IN “loving,” we fail at ALL things. REPRESENT, the love of God, where YOU ARE. BE the church.
Amen.