St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Wesley Chapel, FL
Preacher: The Rev. Adrienne R. Hymes
April 6, 2023● Maundy Thursday
Gospel: John 13:1-17, 31-35
In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
In the April 9th issue of the Episcopal/Anglican publication, The Living Church, there is a section that appears in every issue called “People and Places” which announces new clergy position appointments, ordinations, retirements, and deaths. While reading the obituaries, I was drawn to the life, captured in a short paragraph, of Episcopal Priest and U.S. Army veteran of World War II, The Rev. Canon Dr. Cyril Casper Burke, Sr. Burke was ordained deacon and priest in 1964 and died on January 11th at the age of 96. When he was drafted into the Army, Burke’s college studies were interrupted. Forced to serve in a segregated unit, Burke said that he and other Black soldiers were treated worse than prisoners of war, but it was that such treatment that inspired him to make Jesus’ teaching about loving your neighbor a greater reality.[1]
“I give you a new commandment that you love one another,” said Jesus. “Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.” Jesus’ mandate is like the exclamation point to noticeable activity that had gone on before in our gospel lesson in John because we do not hear Jesus’ mandate until the very end of the text.
But prior to this, much activity had taken place. As for timing, Jesus knew that the hour had come for his departure from this world and his return to his Father. We know that the activity of this passage takes place before the festival of the Passover, which we heard about in our Exodus reading tonight. We know, also, that the devil had been active in the heart of Judas to spur him to betray Jesus. And, we know that Jesus was actively engaging in having supper with his disciples, even with the one whom Jesus knew would betray him.
In the midst of this supper, and activity, there is something else very active and very present—the Peace of God. Knowing that the relative peace enjoyed amongst the disciples, would soon be violently disturbed as a result of Judas’ betrayal, Jesus interrupted the activity of the supper with his friends in order to teach and model the behavior and action of love.
Jesus’ reality was that he would soon be arrested and killed, and those 12 disciples, gathered with him, in that moment and in that place, would be forever changed. Instead of equipping the disciples with ways to challenge the disturbance of peace that was sure to come, Jesus taught them, and modeled for them, how to move through the impending violent disturbances together.
How did Jesus do this? First, Jesus did not exclude Judas. He didn’t say, “Judas, I know what you’re up to, and there is no room here for you.” Jesus included Judas in the fellowship and teaching with him and his brothers. The exclusion, or the intentional segregation, of others is a sure way to disturb individual and collective peace.
Second, Jesus performed the work of a slave in the washing of his disciples’ feet. Peter, rightfully confused, questioned how it was possible that his Lord would wash the feet of his own servant.
What Peter did not realize was that Jesus was modeling a distinctive behavior reflecting the kind of servant leadership that he was imparting to his disciples. The disciples called Jesus, Teacher, and this foot washing was an experiential teaching moment. It was in the intimate encounter with Jesus that the Peace of God touched the feet of each disciple.
Finally, in the giving of his new commandment, that the disciples love one another as he loved them, Jesus gave his disciples the key to unlimited access to the Peace of God which surpasses all human understanding—a love that would guard their hearts and their minds through him.[2] Unbeknownst to the disciples, Jesus was giving them what they needed to reclaim their peace when he would no longer be with them and when their peace would surely be disturbed. While Jesus did not explicitly say, “come to me and I will restore your peace” to his disciples, he did model how to access God’s divine peace by imitating his example and by being an instrument of peace by living their lives in loving service to others.
Love one another as I have loved you. The “all-access” key to the Peace of God was, and is, love.
Having the Peace of God, even if they were not aware that it was actively moving in their midst, and on their behalf, in the person of Jesus, anchored the disciples to Jesus and to one another.
As God’s faithful we are to notice that the Peace of God, with which Jesus armed his disciples, is the same spiritual peace that we are given through our baptism into Christ’s death and resurrection.
And it is that same unobstructed Peace of God that Jesus calls us to access in the Sacraments of his body and blood as we share in the holy food and drink at the holy table.
Even more, Jesus modeled for us how to maintain that peace after we leave the table. We are to adopt a discipline of living the mandate so that what Jesus modeled for his disciples throughout his public ministry, and at the last supper, moves you from your imitation of Jesus’ love to living in the purpose for which God created you—to be beacons of Christ’s light. It is the light that leads those who walk in darkness, in this peace-disturbing world, to the Prince of Peace.
In the increasingly violent society in which we live, the peace of human beings—physical, mental and spiritual—is vulnerable to visible and invisible assaults. Such consistent and normalized violence will, at some point disturb one’s inner peace. For those who do not know Christ, life becomes a futile exercise in seeking some sense of peace in the people, places and things of this world—the very things that are often anxiety producing. For those who do know Christ, Jesus says to us, “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another.” Friends, the love of Christ liberates all held captive by the sin of this world.
On this Maundy Thursday, let us re-commit to actively and unceasingly infusing love and speaking life as we model the love of Christ living amongst us and in us. May we always remember the gift of breaking bread with one another at the Holy Table as we access God’s unobstructed Peace.
And, like the late Fr. Burke, let us use the violence done to us, and to others, as inspiration to make Jesus’ teaching about loving one another a greater reality.[3] The Peace of the Lord be always with you. Amen.
[1] “People & Places,” The Living Church, The Living Church Foundation, April 9, 2023.
[2] Philippians 4:7
[3] “People & Places,” The Living Church, The Living Church Foundation, April 9, 2023.
