EDITOR'S NOTE: In October 2017 I began a new venture as a synodically authorized minister at Faith Lutheran Church in Wolverton, Minn. The ride over the past 2.5 years has been an amazing journey of learning, growing and the deepening of my theological mind. This sermon originally took place on Maundy Thursday, April 18, 2019.
I’d like to read you something. ... I’ll tell you what it is in a minute.
Quote. … “There’s no escaping it: Look around us and the signs of people searching for answers to the void they feel in their lives is everywhere.
Venerable institutions that previous generations used as their moral compasses, have either fallen apart or, frankly, have been willingly disassembled by these very people.
You name the institution: Be it family, government, neighborhoods, civic service … or even religion, and they seem to be failing to provide the very structure that supported what previous generations considered a 'good life.'
But by any measure, those institutions are failing people: Family has an entirely different connotation today than it did even just a generation or two ago. … Families are smaller; there’s less intergenerational mingling; and families are living farther apart, meaning less opportunity for those who are related to lean on each other.
Divorce rates remain just under 50 percent, and there’s fewer families who have multiple generations living in close proximity to each other. … Most of us, for certain, are no longer the Waltons.
Take government, another stalwart public institution for generations. … But research the trust level that people have in government, and you will see levels of trust at historic lows. … Legislating and politicking have become one in the same, and an institution that once was expected to provide common good to society, actually now serves to pull it apart.
Continuing, most neighborhoods nowadays have become nothing more than a collection of houses where mostly unacquainted people co-habitat in general proximity to each other, but often don’t even know each other’s names.
In many neighborhoods, gone are the days of neighborhood watches and cookouts and holiday celebrations, and the efforts to care for each other and to have fellowship with each other.
Instead, we’ve turned inward to our homes, replacing social networks with social media … and social interaction with fantasy lives.
And then there is 'religion.' … According to the most recent Pew study on religion in America, the 'Religious Nones' category … as in n-o-n-e … those who profess no religion … that segment of people has reached nearly 23 percent, almost larger than any single Christian denomination.
But now, if you add in those who consider themselves atheists and agnostics to the 'Nones,' that combined segment of people WOULD be larger than any Christian denomination.
Granted, while there are still a great number of people in America who believe in faith, even many who consider themselves Christians of one denomination or another, the fact is that few still believe in religion itself. And I don’t think we need to delve into those reasons here; we’re all well acquainted with them.
But church -- with a very purposeful lower case 'c' -- now there is one institution left that I believe has the power to counteract the deteriorating effects of all of the other crumbling public institutions.” … Unquote.
What I just read to you is a section of my 10-page endorsement essay that I had to submit to the synod and to Luther Seminary many months back, an essay that triggered the beginning of the process that has led to my internship here at Faith.
Recently, when I was reviewing that essay, for the interview portion of the process, those words wormed their way into my head, and I haven’t been able to shake them since. And I couldn’t figure out why.
But then as I was preparing tonight’s sermon on the Gospel from John … and it all made perfect sense.
Because what tonight’s gospel reminds me is ... that if you take my last paragraph and replace the word “church” with the word “Jesus,” those words I read to you would be even truer. … So, let’s try it:
Quote … “But Jesus -- with a very purposeful capital J -- now there is one institution left that I believe has the power to counteract the deteriorating effects of all of the other crumbling public institutions.”
So just what exactly am I talking about? … Let’s try to unpack it bit.
In tonight’s gospel, there is a lot going on:
We could focus on the Last Supper which was so integral to the lessons we studied in our recent First Communion classes ... or we could focus Jesus’s washing of the disciples’ feet, thus setting a perfect example of servant leadership for us … or we could even focus on Jesus’s final commandment to love another.
But even with all of that interesting fodder for a sermon sitting right there before us, there is one very important piece missing from this text that we have to go back and find before we can tie all of that together.
If you are familiar enough with this story, you will know that the lectionary writers left out some verses. … Look at your bulletin and you’ll see printed verses 1-17 and 31b-35. … But there is a whole lot missing in between there, isn’t there? … About 14 verses to be exact. … But, oh, what a vitally important 14 verses.
You see, if you look back, what we find that is missing from these verses is the part of the story were Judas, one of Jesus’s trusted 12 disciples and the one whom we all know eventually will betray him, leaves the Last Supper and goes out into the night. … We aren’t told where he is going … or why. … But having heard this story as many times as we have, we know where Judas was headed.
And despite the importance of all those 20-some verses that ARE included in the gospel tonight, it’s these missing verses that I think it’s important for us to dwell on. … Because it’s in these verses where Jesus truly demonstrates to us how to go about loving one another.
I mean we get the breaking of the bread and taking of communion with each other. It’s easy for us to grasp this sacrifice. … Lexi and Allison, and all of us, most likely, studied the importance of the Last Supper during our First Communion classes. So, we understand the symbolism of Jesus’s love for us in the taking of communion. And we love that warm and fuzzy part of this story.
And I don’t think anyone will misunderstand Jesus’s example of the washing of the disciples’ feet. … Right? … We all get that to be leaders means first to be servants, even to those whom the world tells us are beneath us.
But the stand-still moment of this scene is not the fact that Jesus gives us communion -- his very body and blood -- nor that he bends to wash the feet of the disciples -- and therefore us … the divine revelation here … is that he also does both for Judas. He gives up his body and blood for … and washes the feet of Judas, all the while knowing that he is the one who will betray him, and ultimately lead him to his death. … And therein lies the complete message of love that Jesus is trying to portray to us. … Woah.
Sure, it’s easy to sacrifice ourselves for our loved ones, or even our friends. … But the question is, can you do the same for the Judases in your life?
I often listen to audiobooks, and one of the most recent that I finished was a book by Pastor Andy Stanley. ... It is called “Irresistible.”
Let me read you one description of that book: “Two thousand years ago, Christians risked persecution and death for the sake of their faith. What would happen if 21st-century believers followed their lead? Taking you back to a time when Christianity couldn't be ignored, marginalized, or eradicated, Stanley shows how the early church turned the world upside down---and how we can recover that same faith.”
And guess what Stanley’s observation was -- just as my observation was at the end of my endorsement essay? … The answer, of course, is Jesus. … And in these short 35 verses in the Gospel of John tonight, Jesus very elegantly -- and very simply, I might add -- demonstrates how he turns our world upside down.
Because we see in this stunning story -- from our Savior’s sacrifice in the Last Supper for us … to his demonstration of what servant leadership is in the washing of his disciples’ feet … to his commandment to love another -- that he offers all of these things to everyone … whether we think they deserve it or not. ... Even to Judas.
And that is the power of tonight’s Gospel. … This story -- Jesus’s story -- is what has the power to turn our lives upside down.
And it’s that power that helped take Christianity, at first nothing more than a relatively unknown movement of 1st century Jewish believers, and grow it into a worldwide phenomena in a matter of a few short centuries.
Grow it into arguably the most influential force the world has ever known, outside of God’s initial creation, of course. … And that power is Jesus, demonstrated in all of his glory in these few 35 verses of the gospel tonight.
Now imagine if each of us here tonight could capture the magic … the divinity of this moment that this story, of what we are sharing together tonight?
The privilege of being a part of and witnessing young Lexi and Allison taking their First Communion.
The divinity of celebrating our Lord’s Last Supper with each other.
The peace that is transmitted to each other every time we partake in our heartfelt “Sharing of the peace” with each other.
The pure love of the other we feel when we walk through those Sanctuary doors before service.
Imagine if we could all capture that and take it with us tonight when we leave this safe place, this Sanctuary as it were. … Imagine what others would see in us if we could take Jesus’s sacrifice -- his giving up of himself in the Last Supper -- with us into the world, and then we followed his example.
Imagine what others would see in us if we took Jesus’s example of servant leadership into the world, and we willingly and graciously knelt down to wash and dry the feet of those around us. … All of those around us.
Imagine what others would see in us of we truly, truly practiced Jesus’s unquenchable, unalterable, unquestionable love for each other … if we truly and faithfully acted out his final command to love another.
And now … imagine if we believed and practiced those things for … everyone, not just the ones who we think deserved it?
That is the power of Jesus. … That is the message that upended the First Century world. … That is the message that outlasted the Roman Empire -- likely the greatest empire this world has ever known -- by thousands of years. … That is the message that has grown Christianity into a worldwide phenomena and made Jesus the most important figure in history.
And that, my fellow believers, is the story … the message … that will bring those “nones” … those n-o-n-es … back to church.
This story that we will live together over the course of this Holy Week is what has the power to heal … and to comfort … and fix injustice … and to stand this earth on its head once more, as the story did some 2,000 years ago in the 1st century Middle East.
Can you feel it with me tonight? … It’s OK ... you don’t have to raise your hands or nod your heads or anything like that. … I don’t want to take anyone outside of their comfort zone. … We are Lutheran, afterall.
But … I’ll ask you again. … Can you feel the divinity of the story of the Last Supper tonight? … Can you feel the power of Jesus’s sacrifice in the giving of his body and blood? … Can you feel the warmth of knowing that Jesus will bend down to wash your feet? … Yes, even yours!!!
But, maybe most importantly, can you feel the out-of-body knowledge that Jesus freely gives of this love to everyone … even the Judases of this world?
Now, my last questions to you are:
What are you going to do with it?
How are you going to take the story of the Last Supper … the story of Jesus’s sacrifice … the story of Jesus’s servant leadership … the story of Jesus’s unlosable love?
How are you going to take that story back out into the world tonight, and in the coming days … the coming weeks and months?
How is this story tonight going to ignite in you the fervor of those 1st century Jews that spread this story from one end of the earth to other? … Because, as Pastor Stanley wrote in his book, it’s this story that makes our faith ... that makes Jesus … absolutely ... irresistible. … And that is the Good News for this Maundy Thursday my fellow believers. … Amen.
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