The sum of it all is love...

The Rev. Kathi Johnson

Maundy Thursday – 28 March 2013

Text: John 13:1-17, 31b-35

Our Redeemer Lutheran Church, Grand Prairie, Texas

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“Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.”

Jesus is nearing the end. He knows this. He has lived a life full of loving others to the fullest measure. We have story after story of him living a life of love – healing the sick and lame; listening to the outcast; eating with sinners; offering forgiveness to the fallen. We recount these stories again and again in our church readings – and now, we arrive at Maundy Thursday, and this Gospel lesson.

He lives this night of his betrayal the way he has lived his life. We know that it was at dinner this night that he gives his disciples bread to eat that he says is his body, and wine to drink that he says is his blood – the beginnings of our Sacrament of Holy Communion. We know that he washes the dusty feet of his disciples on this night, too – work usually reserved for servants – and so, on this night, their Teacher – their Lord – has become the lowly servant.

“Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.”

Soon, he will be betrayed. Soon, he will be condemned to death. Soon, he will carry his cross to the hillside and be nailed to it – one more act of love. And so, his words – his commandment - to his disciples as he goes to meet this fate are heavy with meaning: “…love one another.”

The sum of it all is love. As Christians, we have so much – we worship and sing and pray; we study our Bibles; we work – both in our church and elsewhere; we talk about God with others and listen to them talk about God; we struggle in faith; we fellowship; we weep with those who weep and laugh with those who laugh – we have so much!

But I believe that the sum of it all is love – I believe this is how Jesus lived; it is certainly how he died; and it why he was raised to life again – because the sum of it all is love. So, my sisters and brothers, let us live as Jesus lived. Let us do as Jesus said. Let us “love one another.”

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