I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
I had the privilege of being at a conference recently where our Diocesan Bishop, Andy Doyle, was one of the keynote speakers. To say our Bishop was on fire that night, doesn’t even begin to express how wonderful this time was with him, to hear him speak about ministry and mission in the Diocese of Texas. He made a statement about mission that really spoke to me. He said that as the church, we are often involved in outreach to others… Outreach, he said, was a good thing and sometimes a necessary thing. But, he continued on to say that the church was not always involved in the kind of ministry that is transformational; ministry that wasn’t always interested in the giving and receiving of stuff; Bishop Doyle went on to say that as the church we are called to service, rather than merely outreach. Service was the ministry that was going to transform all whether we were the ministers of the service or the receivers. What made that different from merely outreach was that it was service in and among equals; everyone involved in the service was an equal partner and an equal child of God. Service as different from outreach requires us to take risks. It requires us to be vulnerable and share more than just a physical thing; it requires that we share of ourselves out of a love that finds its center in the person of Jesus.
Tonight we hear the familiar and perhaps uncomfortable story of Jesus and his disciples at the last supper. Jesus takes off his robes and begins to wash his disciple’s feet. Peter is at once upset but when Jesus tells him why it must be done, Peter wants even more than his share. It is such a beautiful story of Jesus showing his disciples what service means. It is a putting aside all of the things that we use to separate ourselves from one another, and instead, giving of ourselves in personal, loving ways that make relationships more important than things. And, just in case we don’t quite get it, in our reading from Paul tonight, we have the story of Jesus giving his disciples and us, holy communion, the giving of his body and blood for all of us throughout all time. Ministry doesn’t get more transformational than that. Holy Communion is where you and I meet Jesus in a physical and vulnerable way; it is where he feeds us and strengthens us for the work he has given us to do. It is where he pours out himself as a life giving gift for his church throughout the world. What we do here tonight, both in the washing of each other’s feet and in the taking in of bread and wine, the body and blood of Jesus, helps us and others know that we are Jesus’ disciples who have been given the commandment to love one another. That is how we will be known as disciples; by the love and service we participate in; by loving one another as he first loved us. It is in these simple actions that we will continue to build our lives as disciples who are called to be servants to God’s people.
Jesus said, “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”