“And they’ll know…”

Maundy Thursday; April 5, 2007

John 13:1-17, 31b-35

Let me tell you about a habit our friend has. Whenever her husband starts on a rant about someone, she begins to sing softly, “And they’ll know we are Christians by our love, by our love…” That usually brings the rant to a halt. Unfortunately, we know about this, and so Kathleen does the same to me whenever I get started on a rant.

In the Gospel reading for Maundy Thursday, Jesus says, “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.” (v. 34) Incidentally, that is the reason today is called “Maundy” Thursday. The word “Maundy” is a corruption of the Latin word “mandatum,” which means “commandment.” It is a reminder that it is the day that Jesus gave us the commandment to love one another just as he has loved us. At one point in my ministry I tried to get people to call it “Holy Thursday,” as it is called in other places, but that was not something people were going to change. They were used to calling it “Maundy Thursday,” even though most of them didn’t know why.

Anyway, that is the significant saying for today: Love one another just as I have loved you. Jesus adds that by loving one another people will know that we are his disciples (v. 35). How do we let the world know that we belong to Jesus? By loving one another.

I have two provocative questions for this evening. The first one: who in the Church do you find it hard to love? For now, I’m not even asking about the world at large, because the commandment we’re concerned with for now is to disciples of Jesus to love one another. One way people get around that is by simply saying, “If you don’t agree with me or if you don’t belong to my group, then you aren’t really a disciple of Jesus.” That’s a cop-out. Let’s assume that anyone who has made a public profession of faith and taken vows of membership in any Church of Jesus Christ is a disciple of Jesus. Who among them do you find it hard to love?

I do not find it hard to love people who disagree with me; they sharpen my mind and frequently teach me something new. I do not find it hard to love people who ask me challenging questions about the Faith, or about my personal behavior and practice, because those can become honest, engaging relationships. I find it hard to love people who do not keep their promises. Obviously, I’m talking about it from my point of view, not theirs, for they may have any number of reasons or excuses. But I find it hard to love people who promise to raise their children as Christians, but never bring them to worship or Sunday School; people who promise to participate in the Church’s worship and service, but are rarely around; people who take vows of office in the Church, and then do not keep them.

Perhaps I’m confessing it to you in order to “get it off my chest,” or so you can assure me of God’s forgiveness the way I assure you on Sunday mornings, or perhaps so you can help me learn to love them. Because the commandment of Jesus is without exception: Love one another as he has loved us.

Well, that is my issue; what is yours? Who do you find it hard to love? I’m not even beginning to talk about the other tough issue in the commandment: loving as Christ has loved us. Imagine not only having to love others who are difficult to love, but having to love them in the way Christ has loved us! Perhaps that will be next year’s sermon.

Here comes the other provocative question. Jesus says that loving one another is the best witness that we are his disciples. Do Christians fail to love another because we do not want people to know that we are Christ’s disciples?

I hope that our failure to love one another as Christ has loved us is due to the reality that it is hard to do. I hope that is the reason. But I have a nagging suspicion that there exists a genuine reluctance to let people know that we are disciples of Jesus, for fear of being stereotyped.

Well, we are not going to solve it all this evening. We have enjoyed a good meal together and we will now enjoy the Holy Supper of the Lord together. We have retold the story of God’s salvation in the Exodus and we shall retell the story of God’s salvation in the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus. May this celebration and this Holy Supper give us strength and grace to love one another as Christ has loved us and so bear witness that we are his disciples.

Robert A. Keefer

Westminster Presbyterian Church
Clarinda, Iowa