Mark's thoughts: Easter and Earth Day

 

This year, Easter (April 20) and Earth Day (April 22) fall in the same week.  Earth Day was founded in 1970, and is an occasion that emphasizes environmental protection of the planet.  This juxtaposition leads us to consider what the celebration of Earth Day gets right and what it gets wrong about God’s creation. 

 

Scripture teaches us that God made this creation and considered it to be very good (Genesis 1:31).  We learn that after God created man as male and female, he blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth” (Genesis 1:28).

 

We receive more details about the creation of man in Genesis chapter two.  There we read that God planted a garden in Eden (Genesis 2:8). After God created Adam, “The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it” (Genesis 2:15).  Genesis chapters 1-2 teach us that God made creation for man’s use.  It also teaches us that God has given man stewardship over creation.

 

In Genesis chapter three we learn about the Fall as sin enters into the world through the disobedience of Adam and Eve.  This sin brings harm upon creation itself as God says, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field” (Genesis 3:17-18).  It is this sin that brings death to the animals of creation.

 

The celebration of Earth Day does emphasize the goodness of God’s creation, and it leads us to consider how man is carrying out his stewardship of that creation.  We will want to act in ways that “keep the garden” and seek to maintain its goodness.

 

However, the celebration of Earth Day is often driven by several ideas that are contrary to the revelation of God’s Word.  The first is the manner in which Earth Day considers creation apart from God the Creator.  Instead, it divinizes creation as God is collapsed into creation.  There is a long history of treating creation as a Mother goddess.  The United Nations has declared that April 22 is “International Mother Earth Day” and we are told on Earth Day to “Love your Mother.” 

 

In contrast, Scripture teaches us that there is a sharp distinction between God and creation.  God and creation are separate from one another because God is the Creator, and creation has been made by him.  God says in Isaiah, “To whom then will you compare me, that I should be like him? says the Holy One. Lift up your eyes on high and see: who created these? He who brings out their host by number, calling them all by name, by the greatness of his might, and because he is strong in power not one is missing” (Isaiah 40:25-26). Scripture avoids female language for God that would lead us to identify God and creation with one another. 

 

The second is the way in which Earth Day treats man as if he is simply part of creation. He is just one element in “the circle of life.” Man does not have greater worth and value, and the needs of creation are accorded equal importance.

 

However, only man has been created in the image of God (Genesis 1:27).  He is the crown of God’s creation, and God has placed man as his representative in the midst of creation.  He is to subdue and have dominion over it (Genesis 1:28).  Creation is there for man to use, and the First Article of the Creed teaches that as he uses creation, God’s continuing act of creation provides for man.  Man is the steward of creation as he “keeps the garden,” and in a fallen world there will always be a tension in deciding what constitutes use or abuse. But man is over creation in biblical thought, and not just one equal part of it.

 

Finally, much of the thought surrounding Earth Day treats man as if he is the greatest threat to creation.  It is as if creation would be perfectly fine apart from the presence of man.  Yet creation itself is in fact a place of chaos, and not a place of balance. It is a world that is red in tooth and claw.

 

Scripture teaches that creation itself has been impacted by sin.  It bears the harm of the curse, and it is no longer “very good” as God intended it.  Paul told the Romans: “For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now” (Roman 8:20-22).

 

Paul went on to connect what will happen to creation, with what will happen to us. He states, “And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies” (Romans 8:23). The redemption of our bodies will take place in the resurrection of the dead.  The apostle describes the Spirit as the “firstfruits” because the presence of the Spirit in us now means that our bodies will be raised.  Paul had just said, “If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you” (Romans 8:11).

 

In Scripture, resurrection is a Last Day event.  The resurrection of Jesus Christ on Easter was the beginning of the Last Day.  Paul told the Corinthians: “But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ” (1 Corinthians 15:20-23).

 

The Lord Jesus will raise and transform our bodies when he returns in glory (Philippians 3:20). He will also renew creation and make it very good once again.  He will free it from the “slavery of corruption” so that it too shares in “the freedom of the glory of the children of God” (Romans 8:21).  Scripture refers to this as the “new heavens and new earth” (Isaiah 65:17; 66:22; 2 Peter 3:13; Revelation 21:1). Freed from sin, creation will again be what God intends.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sermon for the Feast of the Resurrection of Our Lord - Isa 25:6-9

 

         Easter

                                                                                                Isa 25:6-9

                                                                                                4/20/25

 

 

            The Surburg family has a tradition called “wine time.”  It started when I was away at college. My parents began the habit of having a glass of wine together before dinner when they got home from work.  This was an opportunity for them to unwind and talk about their day.  At some point, something to eat was added to this – cheese and crackers, or some summer sausage.

            My parents have continued the practice in their retirement.  When the day reaches around 4:00 p.m., it is wine time.  This was always the case when my family visited them, and so wine time became part of being with Papa and Grandma. Of course more people meant more food, as the variety and the amount of snacks grew.

            Wine time is now an established tradition that is part of visiting with my parents. It is something that we do when they come to see us in Marion.  When we have wine time with them at our house there are two things that happen.  First, my parents bring some good wine for us to drink. This always an upgrade from what we would normally have, and it’s not hard to tell the difference. And second, Amy prepares a charcuterie board filled with a variety of cheeses, meats, and crackers.  It borders on being a meal in itself. Good wine and good food make wine time a joyous occasion as the Surburg family gathers together.

            In our Old Testament lesson for Easter, the prophet Isaiah describes a joyous occasion that is also a time of good wine and good food.  He describes the feast of salvation – the occasion when God will have destroyed death forever. Today on Easter, we rejoice that in the resurrection of Jesus Christ, God has begun that victory for us.

            In the chapters leading up to our text, God has revealed through Isaiah that the Messiah descended from King David will bring peace and salvation for God’s people. In chapter eleven we learn, “There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit. And the Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD.” This One will destroy the wicked and bring peace that extends to creation itself as the wolf will dwell with the lamb.

            Isaiah tells us in chapter twelve that God’s people will rejoice in response to this.  They will say, “Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and will not be afraid; for the LORD GOD is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation.” Isaiah adds, ‘With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation. And you will say in that day: ‘Give thanks to the LORD, call upon his name, make known his deeds among the peoples, proclaim that his name is exalted.”

            The flip side of salvation for God’s people is judgment upon their enemies. Those who oppose God and his work will receive destruction from God. And so, in chapters thirteen to twenty three, the prophet shares oracles of judgment against the surrounding nations. The enemies of God’s people are the enemies of God, and he will destroy them.

            The description of God’s judgment against individual nations leads in the chapter before our text to something much more extensive. We hear about a universal judgment that Yahweh will bring upon the world – upon all people. Isaish says, “Behold, the LORD will empty the earth and make it desolate, and he will twist its surface and scatter its inhabitants.”  He adds, “The earth shall be utterly empty and utterly plundered; for the LORD has spoken this word.”

            In this scene of judgment, all joy is gone. In ancient Israel wine was a central feature of celebrations. And so Isaiah says that there is no wine.  He announces, “No more do they drink wine with singing; strong drink is bitter to those who drink it. The wasted city is broken down; every house is shut up so that none can enter. There is an outcry in the streets for lack of wine; all joy has grown dark; the gladness of the earth is banished.”

            Isaiah tells us why this judgment of God will come upon all the earth.  He says, “The earth lies defiled under its inhabitants; for they have transgressed the laws, violated the statutes, broken the everlasting covenant.” God is the Creator of all things. He is the One who ordered his creation, and determined how things are to work. This is a truth that applies to all people, of all cultures, and of all times. His law is an expression of his will for life.  It determines how we are to live as those who are in fellowship with God.

            Yet since the sin of Adam, we have all been people who break God’s law.  We are people who sin. We break God’s law as we create false gods – as we place more effort, money, and time into our sports, hobbies, and interests than we direct towards God and his Word.  We sin as we are jealous and covet the success and wealth of others.  We break God’s law as we lust and sin sexually.

            We learn from Isaiah that God acted to give us the forgiveness for these sins.  The holy and just God did indeed judge this sin. He did so through the suffering Servant. Isaiah says, “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned--every one--to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.”  The prophet tells us, “But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed.”

            The surprise of Jesus Christ is that the Messiah and the suffering Servant are one and the same.  Jesus descended from David and the Spirit was upon him as the Christ – the Messiah.  But at his baptism, he was also identified by God as the Servant. On Good Friday, Jesus fulfilled Isaiah’s words as he hung on the cross. God judged and condemned our sin as Jesus suffered and died.

            Sin brings death. But at the beginning of this chapter we hear, “O LORD, you are my God; I will exalt you; I will praise your name, for you have done wonderful things, plans formed of old, faithful and sure.” Isaiah tells us that God has a plan for the future, and that this plan will bring the destruction of death.

            The prophet begins our text by saying, “On this mountain the LORD of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine, of rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well refined.”  In the previous chapter, God’s judgment had been the occasion when there was no joy and no wine. But now his salvation is described as a joyous feast. It is a feast which does not just have wine.  It has very good wine.  It is a sumptuous feast that includes the meat that was a rarity in the diet of ancient Israel.

            Isaiah tells us that this will be the occasion when God destroys death.  He says, “And he will swallow up on this mountain the covering that is cast over all peoples, the veil that is spread over all nations. He will swallow up death forever; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the LORD has spoken.”

            God defeated death today, on Easter, when he raised Jesus Christ from the dead.  Jesus had died as the suffering Servant, and had been buried. But on the morning of Easter, when the women went to the tomb, they found that it was empty.  Angels announced to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead?

He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise.”

            Later that day, Jesus appeared in the midst of the room where the disciples were gathered and said, “Peace to you!” They were startled and frightened and thought they saw a spirit. So he said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me, and see. For a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.” And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet.

            God vindicated Jesus by raising him from the dead.  He demonstrated that he was in fact the Christ. Yes, he had died as the suffering Servant.  But this was part of God’s saving work to give us forgiveness.  Jesus is also the Christ – the Messiah – the One who brings God’s end time salvation as Isaiah had described.

            On Easter, God raised Jesus from the dead with a body transformed so that it can never die again.  Scripture teaches us that the resurrection is a Last Day event.  The resurrection of Jesus was the beginning of the Last Day.  It was the defeat  of death in Christ that will be true for all of us.

            St. Paul told the Corinthians that our resurrection has begun in Christ.  He said, “But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ.”

            When Jesus Christ returns in glory on the Last Day he will raise our bodies and transform them to be like his own. We will live with bodies that can never die again.  It is in this action that Isaiah’s words will find their fulfillment: “And he will swallow up on this mountain the covering that is cast over all peoples, the veil that is spread over all nations. He will swallow up death forever.”  Christ will destroy death forever when he returns on the Last Day and raises our bodies.

            In our text, Isaiah declares what our response will be. He writes, “It will be said on that day, ‘Behold, this is our God; we have waited for him, that he might save us. This is the LORD; we have waited for him; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.’” We will rejoice in God’s salvation as we live in the new creation – the creation made very good once again.

            For now, we do wait.  We wait for our Lord’s return. Death has been defeated in the resurrection of Jesus Christ.  But it has not yet been destroyed as Isaiah describes.  We await the consummation of God’s saving work – the feast of salvation that we hear about in our text.

            And so in the present we are sustained in faith by the foretaste of the feast to come that we receive in the Sacrament of the Altar.  The risen Lord comes into our midst as he is present in his true body and blood.  Through the Sacrament he gives us the forgiveness of sin that he won for each one of us by his death and resurrection. Through his body and blood he gives us food for the new man to enable us to wait in faith.

            Because Jesus Christ rose from the dead on Easter, we know that the wait will come to an end.  The risen and ascended Lord will return in glory. Death will be swallowed up – it will be destroyed forever when he raises our bodies to be like his.  There will be no more tears, and instead we will declare: “Behold, this is our God; we have waited for him, that he might save us. This is the LORD; we have waited for him; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.”

 

           

           

 

 

 

 

 

 

           

 

 

Sermon for Good Friday - 2 Cor 5:14-21

 

   Good Friday

                                                                                                2 Cor 5:14-21

                                                                                                4/18/25

 

 

            “And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.”  That is how the apostle Paul described his missionary activity when he came to Corinth.

            The Greco-Roman world’s education system was focused on rhetoric. It taught how to develop arguments and present them in a persuasive and appealing manner. An educated person learned the conventions by which this was done, and could recognize them when others were doing so.

            It was also a world filled with philosophy.  This was not the abstract academic exercise that comes to mind today when we hear the word. Instead, philosophy described how one was to live in the world in light of the principles that were true.  It dealt with wisdom for life based on an understanding about the ultimate realities of the world.  Individual teachers went around sharing this wisdom, and gathering hearers around themselves.

            Paul freely admitted that when he came to Corinth he did not proclaim the testimony of God using lofty speech or wisdom.  He did not employ the rhetoric that an educated person expected to hear. He did not speak wisdom that sounded like what the philosophers taught.

            Instead, Paul had proclaimed Jesus Christ and him crucified.  To the outside observer, this didn’t make any sense.  In fact, it was just stupid.  Paul certainly knew this.  He said, “For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom,

but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles.”

            Christ crucified was a stumbling block to Jews – it was a scandal.  Indeed, Christ crucified was an oxymoron. “Christ” and “crucified” were mutually exclusive.  The Christ – the Messiah – was the descendant of King David who brought God’s end time salvation. In the Scriptures he was mighty and victorious.  By definition, anyone who had been killed by the Romans could not be the Christ. And Deuteronomy said that a person hung on a tree was cursed by God.

            Christ crucified was folly to Gentiles – it was moronic.  Jesus was from that odd and disdained group of people, the Jews.  He had been executed as a criminal. And he had not just been executed.  He had been crucified.  He had been subjected to the most humiliating form of death known in the ancient world.  After all, crucifixion was something that polite people didn’t even talked about.  He had died, powerless and helpless – placed on display by the Romans for all to see.

            Christ crucified was a scandal to Jews and moronic to Gentiles. And yet, this is what Paul had proclaimed in Corinth. He explains why in our text as he says, “For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.”

            Paul says that Christ’s love controls him, because he had concluded that Jesus died for all, and therefore all have died. This death on Good Friday that we heard about in the Gospel reading from John was not an isolated event. Instead, it was something which affected all people.  Jesus Christ had died for all, and then he had risen from the dead.  Now people are no longer to live for themselves, but instead for this Christ who died for their sake and was raised.

            Jesus Christ died for all and rose from the dead. And the apostle draws a conclusion from this.  In our text he says, “From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer.”

            To regard things “according to the flesh” is to perceive them in a worldly way – in a manner that has no spiritual insight.  When viewed “according to the flesh” the death of Jesus on the cross appeared to be an event of weakness, failure, and humiliation.  Paul had certainly once viewed it that way.  For him it was proof that Jesus was no Christ at all, as he sought to persecute and destroy the Church which confessed Jesus.

            But the risen Lord had confronted Paul on the road to Damascus.  Now, he no longer looked at Christ and his death “according to the flesh.” Instead, he recognized that God had been acting in that death to give forgiveness and salvation.  The apostle says in our text, “All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.”

            Paul says that God was acting in Christ’s death to reconcile us to himself.  In fact, God was doing this for the whole world – for all people. The apostle uses the language of reconciliation to describe what God has done.  Reconciliation is needed when there is disagreement and antagonism between two sides – when opposition and division exist between them.

            The apostle identifies our trespasses as the cause of this division.  Our trespasses – our sins – put us in opposition to the holy God.  Created in the image of God to live in fellowship with him, Adam did not trust God’s word. He disobeyed God and sinned as he ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  In his action he brought sin and death to all people. As Paul told the Romans, “Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned.”

            This sin continues to be present in our lives.  We do not trust God’s will and loving care when things don’t go the way we want them to.  We get angry with others and speak words that are meant to hurt. We act in selfish ways as we look out for ourselves and ignore the needs of others.

            We were under the power of sin and unable to do anything about this. But Paul tells us that “in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself.” It was God who acted as he sent his Son into the world when Jesus Christ was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary.  Jesus lived his life with a purpose and mission before him. He carried out a mission that led to the cross.

             The apostle says, “in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them.”  God has reconciled us to himself. He has done this because he does not count our trespasses against us. 

Yet in doing so, God did not cease to be the holy God.  He did not cease to be the just God. Instead, he is the God who judges justly. As Paul told the Romans, “He will render to each one according to his works.” Then he added, “There will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek, but glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good, the Jew first and also the Greek. For God shows no partiality.”

Sin evokes God’s wrath and judgment.  It cannot be otherwise.  And so on Good Friday God judged our sin.  He poured out his wrath on our sin.  He did this in the person of Jesus Christ.  Paul says in our text, “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

Jesus Christ had no sin.  As the incarnate Son of God he did not receive the original sin that has been passed on since Adam.  And then, he lived perfectly according to God’s will.  He was the sinless one.  But in a striking turn of phrase, Paul tells us that God “made him to be sin.”  Jesus had no sin of his own.  Instead, he took our sin as if it was his own.  The apostle told the Romans about God’s action in Christ: “By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh.”

Paul says in our text that because God has done this, we have now “become the righteousness of God.”  We are now righteous and holy before God.  We are because of faith in Jesus Christ. This faith is not a work of our own. Instead, Paul defines faith as the opposite of doing. 

He told the Romans, “And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness, just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works: ‘Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin.’” This faith worked by the Holy Spirit trusts and believes in what God has done through Christ, and so God counts us as righteous. He says that we are righteous because of Christ. And because God declares this, it is true.

It is true, and so now we have a new status. Paul addresses this letter, “To the church of God that is at Corinth, with all the saints who are in the whole of Achaia.” All who believe in Jesus Christ are now saints – we are holy ones in God’s eyes.

You have this status because you have been baptized into Christ.  You have received the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit in the waters of baptism.  Your life has been joined to Christ.  You now live as one who is in Christ – you have come to share in Christ’s saving work.  Paul tells us in our text, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”

Already now you are a new creation in Christ.  Through the work of the Spirit the life of Christ is present in you to live in ways that share his love in word and deed.  As Paul told the Galatians, “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”

On Good Friday we remember that Jesus Christ died for us. This was the action by which the holy God reconciled us to himself. Paul tells us that “in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them.”  We are now righteous and holy before God, because he judged and condemned our sin in Christ. As Paul says in our text, “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

           

 

Sermon for Maundy Thursday - Jn 13:1-15

 

         Maundy Thursday

                                                                                                Jn 13:1-15

                                                                                                4/17/25

 

           

Maundy Thursday has two distinct emphases, and you can see this in the Scripture readings. The Old Testament reading provides the background for Jesus’ Last Supper with the disciples as it narrates the Passover.  Just as God had commanded Israel to continue to do so, Christ gathered with his disciples to celebrate a Passover meal.

The Epistle lesson from 1 Corinthians 11 provides the account of how Jesus instituted the Sacrament of the Altar at that meal.  Paul reminds the Corinthians about the tradition that he had received in the church, and had handed on to them.  On the night when he was betrayed, Christ instituted the Lord’s Supper.

The Gospel lesson from John narrates how Jesus washed his disciples’ feet.  John doesn’t tell us about how Christ instituted the Sacrament.  Instead, he tells us about an action by our Lord that we do not hear about in the other Gospels.

Maundy Thursday often prompts us to focus on the nature of the Sacrament of the Altar that was instituted at the Last Supper. The Hymn of the Day for this service is “O Lord, We Praise Thee,” which is a hymn about the Sacrament.

During Lent, our mid-week catechetical sermons focused on the Sacrament of the Altar.  Our current Bible study is looking at the Sacrament of the Altar.  So you know what I am not going to preach about tonight? The Sacrament of the Altar.  Instead, we will look at that other unique feature of the Last Supper – Jesus’ action of washing his disciples’ feet.

Our Gospel lesson begins by telling us, “Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.”  During Holy Week Jesus had said, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.”  He had declared, “Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But for this purpose I have come to this hour.”

Jesus’ hour had come. It was the time when he would be glorified through his death on the cross. It was the time when the purpose of his presence in the world would be fulfilled.  It was the time that began his return to the Father.  Our Lord knew this. He knew that he had loved his disciples – he had loved them all the way, and that was the reason he was about to give himself into death on the cross.

John tells us that Jesus rose during supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and then tied a towel around his waist.  He poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel that was around him.  Christ’s action was surprising and shocking.  The ancient world operated on the basis of system of honor and shame. People wanted to gain as much honor as possible, while avoiding shame.

In the Jewish world, the rabbi – the teacher – was held in the greatest honor by his disciples.  On other hand, the job of washing the feet of others was a shameful task.  Wearing sandals while walking on the dusty roads of Palestine meant that people’s feet ended up being covered in dust and grime.  The act of washing this off another person’s feet was a humiliating form of service that no one would choose to do.

And yet, Jesus had chosen to do this very thing.  The Lord was taking the expectations of the world and turning them upside down. Peter expressed the discomfort that this presented for all of them as he asked, “Lord, do you wash my feet?”  Jesus replied, “What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand.”  The Lord granted that right now they did not understand why he had done this.  However, later they would.

They would, because of the events that would happen that evening and the next day. John tells us that Jesus arose and “laid aside his outer garments.”  The verb used to refer to the action of laying aside the garments is the same one that had been used in chapter ten when Jesus said, “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.”

The Lord’s action of laying aside his clothes and washing the disciples’ feet pointed to what he would do on Good Friday.  The act of service signaled what he was about to do on the cross. Jesus had told Nicodemus, “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up,

that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.”  Jesus had shown that he would die on the cross when he said during Holy Week, “And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.”

            John the Baptist had declared about Jesus, “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” Christ offered himself into the suffering and death of the cross as the sacrifice for our sin.  After leaving the meal, Jesus would say on the way to the Garden of Gethsemane, “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.”  Jesus lay down his life on the cross out of love for us.  He did it in order carry out the Father’s saving will.

            Christ laid down his life through death on the cross.  Yet that was not the end of God’s will.  Jesus said, “For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.”

            When Jesus had finished washing the disciples’ feet, he put on his outer garments and resumed his place – the place of honor at the meal.  Then he asked, “Do you understand what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet.”

            Jesus acknowledged that he was in fact their Teacher and Lord. Yet this fact underscored what he had done, and the implications it had for them.  If Jesus had washed their feet, then they should be willing to do this for each other.  If he, their Lord and Teacher, had been willing to act in humble service toward them, then they should do the same for one another.

            Jesus said, “For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you.”  Christ described his action of washing their feet as an example.  His act of service provided the model that they should follow with one another.

            Of course, we have already noted that the action of Jesus to lay aside his outer garments and to begin washing their feet was something that pointed to the cross.  Ultimately, it is Christ’s death on the cross that provides both the motivation and the pattern of life for us. 

Later in this chapter, Jesus says, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.”  Jesus Christ loved us by offering himself in death on the cross.  He shows us that biblical love is not a feeling. Instead, it is action.  It is what we do in serving and helping others.

The Gospel teaches us that forgiveness and salvation are God’s gift.  These have nothing to do with our actions.  Our doing is not involved in any way.  Any teaching that tries to reintroduce our activity as part of the reason we are saved is a denial of the Gospel. It takes the Gospel and turns it into Law. It turns the Christian faith into what you find in every other religion of the world – religions of the Law that operate on the basis of the demand that we do things.

The Gospel frees us from every demand that we do in order to be forgiven and be saved. And because this is so, we are now freed to act in love and service toward others. We don’t have to get caught up in questions about whether our actions are good enough or whether there are enough of them.

Jesus Christ has covered all of those things by his death and resurrection.  Therefore, we look at doing in a new way.  We look at what Christ has done for us by being lifted up on the cross. We see the love he has shared with us.  And now because of this we seek to love others.  The humble act of service by the Lord that saved us becomes the pattern for our life. We seek to serve and help those whom we encounter in the vocations – the callings in life where God has placed us.

Just as Jesus loved us, so we love others.  And Christ tells us that this serves a purpose.  He says, “By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” The Christian Church is shaped and formed by mutual love.  The action of love and service for one another demonstrates to the world that we are disciples of Jesus Christ.

At the Last Supper Jesus did something that overturned all expectations about how the world works.  He, the Lord and Teacher, washed his disciples feet.  By this action, Jesus pointed forward to the service that he offered to us as he was lifted up on the cross to win us salvation.  His act of washing the disciples’ feet was an act of love by which he provided the pattern for our lives.  Just as Christ loved and served us, so now we serve and love those around us.