Easter 5C
May 15, 2022
John 13:31-35
Although we are in the season of Easter, our gospel reading goes back to the night the disciples are gathered in the upper room with Jesus, which we also read on Maundy Thursday. He hasn’t been arrested yet, but he seems to know that something is going to happen soon. The crowd has surrounded Jesus and the disciples as they processed into the city, and now the group is gathered in the upper room for what we know was Jesus’ last supper.
And that’s where things get interesting. Jesus starts saying some confusing things about being betrayed and going through something that others can’t be part of. He shares bread and wine with them. And then he gets down from the table, wraps a towel around his waist, and washes everybody’s feet.
I can only imagine that the disciples were exchanging some very loaded glances with each other. Clearly something is going on. But the drama is not over. When Jesus gets back to the table and starts talking again, he is very “troubled in spirit,” the text tells us, and says that someone at the table will betray him. That’s when Judas gets up and leaves. The text tells us that the disciples didn’t really know what was happening and assumed Judas was going to buy supplies for another event. But like those movies where the audience knows a bit more than the characters, we know what’s going on, which adds some intensity to the scene. Judas is leaving to meet with officials, which will set off a tragic series of events that leads to Jesus on the cross and most of the disciples going into hiding. So there they are—the disciples gathered around Jesus who is using disturbing language about death and betrayal. One of them leaves. If this group was like many groups I’ve been part of, any time there’s something going on and people feel like they don’t have all the information, the group begins finding ways to fill in the gaps for themselves, and usually that means drawing conclusions or making assumptions about others.
What Jesus says shifts the way the group remembers that awkward tension. He doesn’t talk about Judas and the pending betrayal. He doesn’t blame or shame anyone else. Instead, he points to the bigger work of God, and he commands them to love one another.
The guy who will betray him just left the room, and Jesus wants the disciples to stay attentive to the bigger thing that God is doing, and to stay committed to loving one another.
Fast forward through a frenzy of chaos and disruption that sends the disciples into fear and isolation, followed by a series of confusing reports about Jesus being seen again. The disciples begin finding ways to gather again, but so much has changed in a relatively short amount of time. They’re trying to wrap their heads around who they are now and what in the world they DO now. I’m sure they’re still replaying the events of the last few weeks trying to understand what happened. And I can imagine that more than once their conversation goes back to that last supper—the last time they were together in the same room as Jesus…and the last time Judas was with them and they were together as a WHOLE group.
Maybe it’s in the midst of THAT remembering—the memory of loss and betrayal, confusion, hurt and grief—that the disciples also remember Jesus’ words: God is being glorified. Love one another, as I have loved you.
Does that context change how you hear these verses that can become so familiar they lose their meaning? Does the command to love one another land differently when you hear it in the context of Judas leaving the room to betray Jesus?
We are doing a lot of our own remembering these days—as individuals, as communities, and as a society. Some of this remembering brings up grief, loss, confusion, frustration and hurt. Some of us may want to just erase the disruption of the last few years and rewind the clock, while others are cautiously looking towards what might be emerging about the future. There are lots of ways we could point fingers or assign blame to those not in the room. What are the messages about ourselves or others that come to mind as we sit in our own tension and uncertainty?
A few weeks ago we heard the story of Jesus appearing to Peter and the other disciples on the lake, where Jesus asks Peter, “do you love me?” People who study these things and are much smarter than me notice that Peter uses a different word for “love” than Jesus when he replies, “yes, Lord, you know that I love you.” It’s like Jesus asks, do you unconditionally-love me, and Peter says, “Sure, Jesus—you and I are friends. We’re cool.” But Jesus pushes for something deeper, and finally Peter uses the same word as Jesus—yes, Lord, I unconditionally and authentically love you. I AGAPE you.
In English we don’t have different words for love, so I use the same word for how I feel about chocolate or coffee as I do when describing my affection for my friends and family—although some days I have a stronger positive feeling towards my coffee than I do towards my people (let’s be honest). But Jesus calls the disciples to a particular type of love. Not just friendly tolerance, but self-giving unconditional commitment. Jesus calls the disciples to a PARTICULAR type of love—Agape.
When you hear these words from Jesus, “love one another”, what do you hear? What version of love is Jesus inviting you to demonstrate? Does it change if you think about the Judas and Peter characters in your life? Does it change if you think about those who are different from you or who disagree with you, who don’t have as much in common with you and whose identity or worldview you don’t understand? Does it change if you think beyond the inner circle of friends and family?
If Jesus had stopped after issuing the command, we would all be out of luck. I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Thanks, Jesus—I have a hard enough time keeping the current commandments, now you’re going to give me a NEW one? Especially if we put the essence of Agape in that sentence, we fall short. In our human brokenness, we do not “agape” one another flawlessly. With words, actions and attitudes—known and unknown—we fall short. We do not agape one another flawlessly.
I think Jesus knew that, which is why he didn’t start or stop with the commandment. In the broader way the gospel of John tells the story of Jesus, God’s action will not be limited or inhibited by human imperfection. That’s REALLY good to remember in those moments where human imperfection feels particularly tangible. And then this command to love one another is followed immediately by “Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.” Just as I have loved you. I HAVE LOVED YOU.
This invitation to express agape to others is grounded in an invitation to EXPERIENCE agape for ourselves. As we know ourselves to be Agape-ed, we can more easily agapeothers. At the beginning of Chapter 13, John writes, “having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.” Even as all the events of betrayal, suffering and pain play out, he loved them to the end. Just as I have loved you. As Jesus shared time and food with those who had become dear to him, he was demonstrating love. As he broke bread and passed the wine, and as he tried to equip them with wisdom and insight to make sense of their experiences, he was demonstrating love. As he shared the very essence of his body with even those who would betray him, he was demonstrating love. He loved them to the end. Just as I have loved you. Jesus wanted the disciples to EXPERIENCE love so that they would EXPRESS love to others.
As you think over the last week, how have you experienced love? Maybe it has been in an unexpected phone call or text message. Maybe you’ve been blessed with people who TELL you they love you—and you believe them. Maybe someone did something they didn’t even realize was an expression of love. How does experiencing love affect you? Doesn’t it make it easier to then express love to others?
Jesus doesn’t stop with just the disciples expressing love for those at the table. He wants the world to know. The way they love one another is a witness to the broader world. Can you imagine what it would mean if the thing others could say about us is that we unconditionally and selflessly and authentically loved one another? Can you imagine how that would transform our communities, as those who have been told by so many other voices that they cannot be loved hear and experience from us that they are already loved?
In their time with Jesus, the disciples had experienced what it meant to BE LOVED. So after the disruption of the crucixion of Jesus, they came back together and continued to SHOW love. It wasn’t easy, and they didn’t always get it right. But that conversation Jesus had with them in the upper room, when the tension was high and the questions were many, reminded them that God was up to something bigger than them, and reminded them that they were first and foremost loved. As you experience yourself to be loved, it becomes easier to express and expand love for others.
Thanks be to God the love Jesus expressed to the disciples is also for you and for me. The selfless, authentic, unconditional love that God has for THE WORLD includes you and me. You are loved. To the end. No exceptions. It is this indescribable love that God has for the world, expressed through Jesus, that draws us into community. As we share time with one another…as we gather physically or stay connected virtually…as we receive the promises given to us in baptism and the Lord’s Supper…as we tend to the significant and insignificant needs of our neighbors…we might just be transformed by that love. And then, we get to share that love with the world.