Maundy Thursday, Yr. A, John 13 The Look of Love March 20, 2008

Years ago, singer Dusty Springfield recorded a romantic ballad “The Look of Love” for a James Bond movie “Casino Royale,” played now as elevator music. I can imagine the ‘look of love’ in Jesus’ eyes at the last meal he shared with his dear friends. I expect that his eyes held a mixture of joy and sadness. They were filled with the passion born of deep love and deep suffering on behalf of the ones whom Jesus loved. But Jesus did more than look; he spoke of many things that the disciples would not understand until days, even weeks later, things that we find hard to understand even today.
We are gathered in this sanctuary again tonight to receive Jesus’ new commandment: “Love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13: 34-35)
But Jesus offered more than the ‘look of love’ and he showed us more than words of love. What are the signs of Jesus’ love in this familiar text? We first hear of the towel - “During supper, Jesus got up, took off his outer robe, tied a towel around his waist, and began to wash his disciples’ feet.
In this way, Jesus demonstrates the servant host who did not pass this intimate task off to a slave, but took it upon himself. Some religious traditions wash feet at this service, but we do not. Is it because feet often appear ugly to us – with yellowed toenails and knobby hammertoes and calluses – these sweaty, overworked beasts that bear the burden of our bodies? The stoles that pastors often wear in worship derive in part from this towel worn by Jesus. I read a story recently about a campus pastor who was much beloved. Every 4 or 5 years as the student body turned over, he would put out a call for old washcloths. When he received enough – old, frayed, brightly colored, or plain, even stained, he would have them sewn together into a stole. He wore that terrycloth stole at every service to remind everyone of their calling to be servants.¹ We are called to wash one another’s feet, to walk in one another’s shoes, and to become part of each other’s story. Love looks like a towel…
The meal around a table is another sign of love in this story. It is a banquet table overflowing with meaning. Here in John’s gospel, the bread and the cup are not as prominent as in the other gospels. But still, this Passover meal hosted by Jesus echoes Israel’s most important story of God’s liberating activity. And this Passover meal reverberates with all the other meals that Jesus shared with his disciples, especially the picnic with 5000 of his closest friends multiplied from a small boy’s lunch of five loaves and two fish. We are reminded that God takes the most basic, every day gifts of life - bread, fish, water, wine - and renders them sacred so that we will be mindful of the sacred in the ordinary. Real food for real people.
And this meal brings together those who do not feel comfortable attending the regular fellowship dinner after worship, a lot of folks who were not welcome at the best dinner parties. It erases divisions of membership and denominational affiliation and ability to cook a tasty covered dish. It is the meal where Jesus gathers a catch-all group of unfaithful, greedy, cheating, gossipy, hungry people in need of healing. So also, Jesus gave Judas bread dipped in the dish just like all the others. This meal echoes the one hosted by the Lord God praised in our most quoted psalm – “You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.” Love looks like a meal shared, where everything we and God and Jesus have is laid out on the table…
Though our gospel reading does not record anything like a ‘group hug’ at this last supper, the touch of Jesus comes through loud and clear as a third sign of his love. Here’s another story of a Communion gathering so small that the people could stand together around the table. The pastor asked for prayer concerns and a little girl piped up “My dad’s sad, but he won’t tell anyone.” It’s funny what kids will say. The girl began hugging her father’s leg. He told his daughter to stop, for he was embarrassed that she was “hugging me to death.” But she replied to her red-faced father – “No dad, I’m hugging you to life.”² Love looks like arms grabbing us in a hug... Carolyn’s long-lost daughter Cassie arrived last week to hug her mother to life. God says I love you this much, and we receive hugs of love and peace and forgiveness. Love looks like arms outstretched, even outstretched on a cross.
I (and you as well) have been preparing for my departure from our family of Grace. You all have assured me that I will be missed. That looks like love to me. For we have a good practice of noticing those who are missing. Like a teacher or a parent of a child missing, but found at last – “Oh there you are, I’ve been looking all over for you.”
All the signs point to God who is the One who comes looking for us, who wants each of us to hear – “Oh, there you are, I’ve been looking all over for you” - and to respond. To have our feet washed, to pass the bread around, and to hug one another to life. As God first loved us, so we also should love one another. To love even with, especially with, the shadow of death hanging over all, as tonight. Let us gather around our Communion table to share the feast of life and love. And the world will know the peace of God that passes all understanding, the power of life that knows no end, and the grace of love that lasts forever. Amen.

¹ Bade, John. Maundy Thursday sermon “What Does Love Look Like?” accessed 3/12/08, hth

² Bade, John. Ibid.

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