JUST AS I HAVE LOVED YOU

Transcript

1 JUST AS I HAVE LOVED YOU Maundy Thursday (Year C) March 24, 2016 Lessons Exodus 12:1-4 [5-10] Psalm 116:1-2, (13) 1 st Corinthians 11:23-26 St. John 13:1-17, 31b-35 Pastor David J. Risendal drisendal@stplc.org facebook Dave Risendal Twitter: drisendal Saint Peter Lutheran Church 9300 East Belleview Avenue Greenwood Village, CO / facebook.com/stplc Prayer of the Day Holy God, source of all love, on the night of his betrayal, Jesus gave us a new commandment, to love one another as he loves us. Write this commandment in our hearts, and give us the will to serve others as he was the servant of all, your Son, Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen. an invitation beginning of the three days living the Christ-life Sermon Grace to you and peace, from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Amen. Today is Maundy Thursday, and this means we have come to the end of our Lenten journey. It began five weeks ago, when we gathered here at the altar and heard the words, Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return. It has been a journey of self-examination: a time of exploring our brokenness, and our need for God s forgiveness and grace. It has been a journey of practicing sabbath: a more intentional approach at including God in the day-to-day living of our lives. It has been a journey of preparation and anticipation: a chance to make our hearts ready for this week, and the approaching celebration on Easter Sunday. Today is Maundy Thursday, and this means we have come to the end of our Lenten journey. 1 Romans 1:7, 1 st Corinthians 1:3, 2 nd Corinthians 1:2, Galatians 1:3, Ephesians 1:2, Philippians 1:2, Colossians 1:2, 1 st Thessalonians 1:1, 2 nd Thessalonians 1:2, Philemon 3; New Revised Standard Version Bible ( 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America).

2 Maundy Thursday Year C (March 24, 2016) 2 It is Maundy Thursday, and this also means we have arrived at the beginning of what the church calls The Three Days our final approach to the celebration of Easter. During these day we honor Jesus, as we remember his last supper, his suffering and death and the time of waiting between his death and resurrection. It is a week of drawing near to his promise, as we identify with his disciples and others whose hearts have been transformed by this good news. And as tonight s service will emphasize, it is a week of joining our Lord in the cruciform life; in the life that takes the form of his cross, and becomes a fragrant offering of service to those who surround us. You will notice that tonight s liturgy is organized in a different manner than is our usual custom. The sermon, which usually follows the Gospel, and most often is an attempt to explore the message of the Gospel, comes at the beginning of the service. It is, this night, more of an invitation more of an explanation than a proclamation. The sermon is followed by one of the unique elements of this liturgy: an individual declaration of forgiveness. In a few moments, we ll invite you to come forward and receive a personal word of absolution. The ashes we received five weeks ago, and the admonition to remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return, is what began the journey of Lent, and this is what completes it. It is the answer to our Lenten confession. It is the reminder that the purpose of this season is not self-improvement: it is self-awareness. We have become aware of our need for God s grace; our need for Christ s forgiveness. And in this part of the liturgy, each of us has the opportunity to receive this. Hands will be laid on our heads, and we will hear these words: In obedience to the command of our Lord Jesus Christ, I forgive you all your sin. These words define our relationship with God. These words empower our lives and our faithfulness. All of life all that we experience flows from these words. It is the gift of God s forgiveness that frees us from the need to earn God s love. It is the gift of God s forgiveness that touches our hearts and transforms us from the inside-out. It is the gift of God s forgiveness that inspires us, and causes us to want to live the rest of our lives for God. It all begins with God s forgiveness. And it doesn t end there. Forgiveness is what begins our lives with God, and it is the beginning of our desire to live for God in this world. And so, once we ve received the absolution tonight, we will turn our attention to the reading of God s word, and focus on this evening s Gospel lesson to see what it has to say to us about faithfulness. The lesson is set, as you might anticipate, on Thursday, the last week of our Lord s life. Jesus gathers for a meal with his disciples. He washes their feet, showing them his desire to live among them as a servant. St. John reveals to the reader that Judas will soon turn against him. Then Jesus gives them an extraordinary challenge. The Gospel writers call it a new commandment. In the Latin version of the Bible it is referred to as a mandatum novum. The new commandment is this: followers of Jesus are to love one another as he has loved them. What it the appropriate response to forgiveness? What is the appropriate response to grace? How does one thank God for what has been so freely given? It is as simple as it is mysterious; as engaging as it is impossible. We are to study the life of Christ, and in particular how Christ reaches out to others in love. And then, we are to develop Christ-like relationships with others. As he offers himself in self-giving love, so do we. As he is committed to sacrificial love, so are we. As he seeks to represent God in everything he says and everything he does, so do we.

3 ! Maundy Thursday Year C (March 24, 2016) 3 For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. 2 We read this lesson tonight, and we honor this day each year, because we believe that Jesus challenges us to live not as those who surround us live, but as he did. Tonight s liturgy turns to the reading of this word, calling us to explore what it means to love one another as he loves us. And so we consider these words of Jesus, and the call to live in this world as servants of one another. Then we are fed by his presence in the meal, and sent on our way, to love others as Jesus first loved us. That is the shape this evening s liturgy will take, and so the questions that it presents to us are these: How will this evening s liturgy challenge us and change us? How will this evening s liturgy inspire us to become the people through whom God change the world? How will this evening s liturgy empower us for a faithfulness we could never muster on our own? These are Mandatum Novum questions. These are Maundy Thursday questions. They are questions which call us in a new direction: away from self-absorbed living, to sacrificial living; away from being isolated from one another to having a stake in one another s wellbeing; away form a me-focused world to an us-focused world. Away from fearing God s judgment, to delighting in and practicing God s grace. This new commandment shapes our lives. In this night, when Jesus is about to give his life for the sake of the world, he calls us to do the same. Love one another as I have loved you. Receive my forgiveness; study my word; be fed by my presence in the meal; and then go. Go into this world as a sign of what happens when God s forgiveness takes hold of a heart and turns it in a new direction. By this, Jesus says, everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. 3 In this Lenten season, we have heard our Lord s call to intensify our struggle against sin, death, and the devil all that keeps us from loving God and each other. This is the struggle to which we were committed at Baptism; God s forgiveness and the power of the Spirit to amend our lives continue with us because of God s love for us in Jesus, our Savior. Within the community of the Church, God never wearies of giving peace and new life. In the words of absolution we receive forgiveness as if directly from God. This absolution we should not doubt, but firmly believe that thereby our sins are forgiven before God in heaven, for it comes to us in the name and by the command of our Lord. We who receive God s love in Jesus Christ are called to love one another, to be servants to each other as Jesus became our servant. It is, however, in the Holy Communion that the members of Christ s body participate most intimately in his love. Remembering our Lord s last supper with the disciples, we eat the bread and share the cup of this meal. Together we receive the Lord s gift of himself and participate in that new covenant which makes us one with him. The Eucharist is the promise of the great banquet 2 3 St. John 13: 15, 34, New Revised Standard Version Bible, op. cit. St. John 13:35, New Revised Standard Version Bible, op. cit.

4 Maundy Thursday Year C (March 24, 2016) 4 we will share with all the faithful when our Lord returns, our reconciliation with God and each other. 4 David J. Risendal, Pastor Gospel Lesson; English Text 5 13:1 Now before the festival of the Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart from this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. 2 The devil had already put it into the heart of Judas son of Simon Iscariot to betray him. And during supper 3 Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going to God, 4 got up from the table, took off his outer robe, and tied a towel around himself. 5 Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples feet and to wipe them with the towel that was tied around him. 6 He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, Lord, are you going to wash my feet? 7 Jesus answered, You do not know now what I am doing, but later you will understand. 8 Peter said to him, You will never wash my feet. Jesus answered, Unless I wash you, you have no share with me. 9 Simon Peter said to him, Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head! 10 Jesus said to him, One who has bathed does not need to wash, except for the feet, but is entirely clean. And you are clean, though not all of you. 11 For he knew who was to betray him; for this reason he said, Not all of you are clean. 12 After he had washed their feet, had put on his robe, and had returned to the table, he said to them, Do you know what I have done to you? 13 You call me Teacher and Lord and you are right, for that is what I am. 14 So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another s feet. 15 For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you. 16 Very truly, I tell you, servants are not greater than their master, nor are messengers greater than the one who sent them. 17 If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them. 31 Jesus said, Now the Son of Man has been glorified, and God has been glorified in him. 32 If God has been glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself and will glorify him at once. 33 Little children, I am with you only a little longer. You will look for me; and as I said to the Jews so now I say to you, Where I am going, you cannot come. 34 I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. 6 Gospel Lesson; Greek Text: 13:1 Προ δε τη ς ἑορτη ς του πάσχα εἰδω ς ὁ Ἰησου ς ὅτι ἠ λθεν αὐτου ἡ ὥρα ἵνα µεταβῃ ἐκ του κόσµου τούτου προ ς το ν πατέρα, ἀγαπήσας του ς ἰδίους του ς ἐν τῳ κόσµῳ εἰς τέλος ἠγάπησεν αὐτούς. 2 και δείπνου γινοµένου, του διαβόλου ἤδη βεβληκότος εἰς τη ν καρδίαν ἵνα παραδοι αὐτο ν Ἰούδας Σίµωνος Ἰσκαριώτου, 3 εἰδω ς ὅτι πάντα ἔδωκεν αὐτῳ ὁ πατη ρ εἰς τα ς χει ρας και ὅτι ἀπο θεου ἐξη λθεν και προ ς το ν θεο ν ὑπάγει, 4 ἐγείρεται ἐκ του δείπνου και τίθησιν τα ἱµάτια και λαβω ν λέντιον διέζωσεν ἑαυτόν 5 εἰ τα βάλλει ὕδωρ εἰς το ν νιπτη ρα και ἤρξατο νίπτειν του ς πόδας τω ν µαθητω ν και ἐκµάσσειν τῳ λεντίῳ ὡ ἠ ν διεζωσµένος. 6 ἔρχεται οὐ ν προ ς Σίµωνα Πέτρον λέγει αὐτῳ κύριε, σύ µου νίπτεις του ς πόδας; 7 ἀπεκρίθη Ἰησου ς και εἰ πεν αὐτῳ ὃ ἐγω ποιω συ οὐκ οἰ δας ἄρτι, γνώσῃ δε µετα ταυ τα. 8 λέγει αὐτῳ Πέτρος οὐ µη νίψῃς µου του ς πόδας εἰς το ν αἰω να. ἀπεκρίθη The last three paragraphs of this sermon are from the Maundy Thursday Liturgy in the Lutheran Book of Worship, Ministers Desk Edition (copyright 1978, by the LCA, ALC, ELCiC and LCMS). Pages A list of Bible lessons for the coming weeks is available at St. John 13:1-17, 31b-35, New Revised Standard Version Bible, op. cit.

5 Maundy Thursday Year C (March 24, 2016) 5 Ἰησου ς αὐτῳ ἐα ν µη νίψω σε, οὐκ ἔχεις µέρος µετ ἐµου. 9 λέγει αὐτῳ Σίµων Πέτρος κύριε, µη του ς πόδας µου µόνον ἀλλα και τα ς χει ρας και τη ν κεφαλήν. 10 λέγει αὐτῳ ὁ Ἰησου ς ὁ λελουµένος οὐκ ἔχει χρείαν εἰ µη του ς πόδας νίψασθαι, ἀλλ ἔστιν καθαρο ς ὅλος και ὑµει ς καθαροί ἐστε, ἀλλ οὐχι πάντες. 11 ᾔδει γα ρ το ν παραδιδόντα αὐτόν δια του το εἰ πεν ὅτι οὐχι πάντες καθαροί ἐστε. 12 Ό τε οὐ ν ἔνιψεν του ς πόδας αὐτω ν [και ] ἔλαβεν τα ἱµάτια αὐτου και ἀνέπεσεν πάλιν, εἰ πεν αὐτοι ς γινώσκετε τί πεποίηκα ὑµι ν; 13 ὑµει ς φωνει τε µε ὁ διδάσκαλος, καί ὁ κύριος, και καλω ς λέγετε εἰµι γάρ. 14 εἰ οὐ ν ἐγω ἔνιψα ὑµω ν του ς πόδας ὁ κύριος και ὁ διδάσκαλος, και ὑµει ς ὀφείλετε ἀλλήλων νίπτειν του ς πόδας 15 ὑπόδειγµα γα ρ ἔδωκα ὑµι ν ἵνα καθω ς ἐγω ἐποίησα ὑµι ν και ὑµει ς ποιη τε. 16 ἀµη ν ἀµη ν λέγω ὑµι ν, οὐκ ἔστιν δου λος µείζων του κυρίου αὐτου οὐδε ἀπόστολος µείζων του πέµψαντος αὐτόν. 17 εἰ ταυ τα οἴδατε, µακάριοι ἐστε ἐα ν ποιη τε αὐτά. 31 λέγει Ἰησου ς νυ ν ἐδοξάσθη ὁ υἱο ς του ἀνθρώπου και ὁ θεο ς ἐδοξάσθη ἐν αὐτῳ 32 [εἰ ὁ θεο ς ἐδοξάσθη ἐν αὐτῳ ], και ὁ θεο ς δοξάσει αὐτο ν ἐν αὐτῳ, και εὐθυ ς δοξάσει αὐτόν. 33 τεκνία, ἔτι µικρο ν µεθ ὑµω ν εἰµι ζητήσετε µε, και καθω ς εἰ πον τοι ς Ἰουδαίοις ὅτι ὅπου ἐγω ὑπάγω ὑµει ς οὐ δύνασθε ἐλθει ν, και ὑµι ν λέγω ἄρτι. 34 Ἐντολη ν καινη ν δίδωµι ὑµι ν, ἵνα ἀγαπα τε ἀλλήλους, καθω ς ἠγάπησα ὑµα ς ἵνα και ὑµει ς ἀγαπα τε ἀλλήλους. 35 ἐν τούτῳ γνώσονται πάντες ὅτι ἐµοι µαθηταί ἐστε, ἐα ν ἀγάπην ἔχητε ἐν ἀλλήλοις. 7 First Lesson; English Text: 12.1 The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt: 2 This month shall mark for you the beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year for you. 3 Tell the whole congregation of Israel that on the tenth of this month they are to take a lamb for each family, a lamb for each household. 4 If a household is too small for a whole lamb, it shall join its closest neighbor in obtaining one; the lamb shall be divided in proportion to the number of people who eat of it. [ 5 Your lamb shall be without blemish, a year-old male; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats. 6 You shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month; then the whole assembled congregation of Israel shall slaughter it at twilight. 7 They shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it. 8 They shall eat the lamb that same night; they shall eat it roasted over the fire with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. 9 Do not eat any of it raw or boiled in water, but roasted over the fire, with its head, legs, and inner organs. 10 You shall let none of it remain until the morning; anything that remains until the morning you shall burn.] 11 This is how you shall eat it: your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it hurriedly. It is the passover of the Lord. 12 For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike down every firstborn in the land of Egypt, both human beings and animals; on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the Lord. 13 The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you live: when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague shall destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt. 14 This day shall be a day of remembrance for you. You shall celebrate it as a festival to the Lord; throughout your generations you shall observe it as a perpetual ordinance St. John 13:1-17, 31b-35, The Greek New Testament, Aland, Kurt, Black, Matthew, Martini, Carlo M., Metzger, Bruce M., and Wikgren, Allen, ( 1983, Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft Stuttgart). Exodus 12:1-4 [5-10] 11-14, New Revised Standard Version Bible, op. cit.

6 Maundy Thursday Year C (March 24, 2016) 6 Second Lesson; English Text: For I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took a loaf of bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me. 25 In the same way he took the cup also, after supper, saying, This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me. 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord s death until he comes. 9 Second Lesson; Greek Text: 11:23 Ἐγὼ γὰρ παρέλαβον ἀπὸ τοῦ κυρίου, ὃ καὶ παρέδωκα ὑµῖν, ὅτι ὁ κύριος Ἰησοῦς ἐν τῇ νυκτὶ ᾗ παρεδίδετο ἔλαβεν ἄρτον 24 καὶ εὐχαριστήσας ἔκλασεν καὶ εἶπεν τοῦτο µού ἐστιν τὸ σῶµα τὸ ὑπὲρ ὑµῶν τοῦτο ποιεῖτε εἰς τὴν ἐµὴν ἀνάµνησιν. 25 ὡσαύτως καὶ τὸ ποτήριον µετὰ τὸ δειπνῆσαι λέγων τοῦτο τὸ ποτήριον ἡ καινὴ διαθήκη ἐστὶν ἐν τῷ ἐµῷ αἵµατι τοῦτο ποιεῖτε, ὁσάκις ἐὰν πίνητε, εἰς τὴν ἐµὴν ἀνάµνησιν. 26 ὁσάκις γὰρ ἐὰν ἐσθίητε τὸν ἄρτον τοῦτον καὶ τὸ ποτήριον πίνητε, τὸν θάνατον τοῦ κυρίου καταγγέλλετε ἄχρι οὗ ἔλθῃ st Corinthians 11:23-26, New Revised Standard Version Bible, op. cit. 1 st Corinthians 11:23-26, The Greek New Testament, op. cit.