People of God Do Extraordinary Things: May 22, 2022

 Year C, Easter 6                                                                  John 14:23-29                                                                                        

            Poor Judas (not Isacriot)---he gets one line, one recognition in the whole Gospel and the author feels the need to call him not by his full name, but Judas (not Iscariot).  In the Gospel of Luke, he has a full name---Judas, son of James.  In Mark and Matthew, his name is actually changed to Thaddeus.  Here in the Gospel of John, he is labelled not as who he is, but who he is not.   It’s understandable.  This scene comes right after Judas Iscariot left Jesus and the other disciples and went off to betray him.  It also comes right after Jesus predicts Peter’s denial.  Talk about and a tense meal.

And it wasn’t just tense, it was incredibly sad. Jesus had been trying to tell his disciples about his impending death for quite some time.  It wasn’t like he just sat them down for this one special dinner and laid it all out.  He had been preparing them, probably for years.  They were told it was coming, but they didn’t know when or how.  They probably hadn’t completely accepted it.   But Jesus knew.  Jesus knew he would soon die a horrible death. He would be denied, betrayed and abandoned by some of the people who he had been closest to. 

We don’t actually know what happened to Judas (not Iscariot) after Jesus was arrested.  We know he didn’t do anything horrible like Peter or Judas Isacariot.  He probably just hid with the rest of the disciples.  Because we know so little, Judas (not Iscariot) can sort of be a blank slate for us.  We might even imagine ourselves as him.  Have you ever been labeled for someone you are not rather than the person you are?

            When I have imagined Jesus telling his disciples not to let their hearts be troubled and not to be afraid, I imagined him saying these words with confidence and authority.  Isn’t that how we normally picture Jesus?  But as I studied this text and looked at where it fell in the story, I wondered if that was really the case.  Jesus was not one to hide his emotions.  He wept when we was mourning his friend.  He threw things when he was upset that people were taking advantage of the poor in the temple.   I would think it was incredibly hard for him to tell them not to be troubled, not because he wasn’t confident, but because he knew how hard it would be for them to believe and not be afraid.

            Before he tells them not to let their hearts be troubled and not to be afraid, he said, “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you.  I do not give to you as the world gives.”  Obviously we cannot know what the disciples were thinking when he said that.  But put yourself in their shoes (or sandals) for a moment.  Think of Judas (not Iscariot).  You have given up your life to follow this man.  You have seen him do incredible miracles. You have seen him raise the dead.  He has loved every person he has encountered, especially those who all others considered unlovable.  He has loved you unconditionally.  You believe he is God and will save the world.  But now he has told you he has to die a horrible death.   Then he tells you he will be betrayed and denied---maybe by you.  Then he gives you his peace.  His peace.  Would that bring you comfort? 

            Notice how he differentiates the peace that he gives from the peace of the world.  It was about 30 AD which was part of the 200 year period known as Pax Romana.  It was a period of relative tranquility in the Roman Empire, which meant there were no major wars.  The Roman Empire protected and governed individual provinces, allowing them to administer their own laws as long as they accepted Roman taxation and military control. Peace came at a price. Roman authorities would often violently crush any perceived opposition or threat to their rule.  It’s one of the reasons that Jesus was killed.  They were worried he would create an insurrection.  They crushed him and others to maintain peace. This was what people perceived as peace at the time…a lack of war. 

While we aren’t living in the Roman Empire, in many ways we perceive peace the same way, a lack of conflict, or lack of conflict immediately surrounding us.  But we don’t have to look to the Ukraine for examples of conflict. It is everywhere.  We saw it in a dramatic and deeply disturbing way in Buffalo a week ago. We see violence in our own small city. I wish that crime and hate was an anomaly, but it’s not.  This world has never known peace---whether we define it as the absence of conflict or something more holistic.  However, just because the world doesn’t know peace, doesn’t mean that we (Christians) cannot know peace.

I know that the disciple’s hearts were deeply troubled when Jesus was taken away by men with swords, and then whipped and crucified.  How could they not?  But that was not the end of the story.  Jesus was resurrected.  He returned to them and when he did, the first thing he said was, “Peace be with you.”  Because peace isn’t a one and done thing.  Even though Jesus tried to give it to them, he knew they would need more than the gift.  They would even need more than his resurrection and assurance.  They would need someone to come along side them and be with them as they attempted to carry the peace of God with them. 

He said to them, “The Advocate, The Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you.” The word translated to advocate means, “one called to the side of.”  It is also translated to counselor and comforter.   The Holy Spirit reminds us of what Jesus said then and what he continues to tell us now. The Holy Spirit counsels us when we cannot make sense of what Jesus says.  And the Holy Spirit can comfort us when it feels that all is lost and peace is elusive at best.    

No one knows exactly what happened to Judas (not Iscariot).  Because he isn’t named in two of the Gospels, some believe he changed his name to Thaddeus.  It wasn’t unusual for someone to go by multiple names in the Bible.  Jesus loved changing people’s names. Judas was a very common name before Judas Iscariot made it the least popular name in the world.  It meant praise.

 I like to think that Judas did change his name to Thaddeus, which means heart or courage.   Because that is what Jesus was asking his disciples in this text, days before his death. “Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.”  We are living in a terrifying time right now.  Personally, I feel the fear profoundly.  I don’t think we all need to change our names.  That would just get confusing, but I do think it’s time to embrace the heart and courage of those early disciples.  They were able to build a church and spread the Gospel, not because they were full of confidence and had resources.  They did it because they believed in the gift that Jesus had given them, the gift of the Holy Spirit. We still have that gift!!  So why do we act like we don’t?  Why do we Christians act like beleaguered players of the losing team in the final quarter?  We have the same gifts that the early disciples had. We don’t need to define ourselves by what or who we are not. No, we are not the church we were in 1965.  No, we don’t have to add chairs in the aisles for Christmas or Easter.

Photo by Nick Fewings 

We must let go of those memories and embrace the new people, the new church we can become.  People with big hearts and deep compassion, people who love this city and the people of this city, people who always want to feed the hungry, people who make music even with masks on, people who consume the body and blood of Christ any way they can, people who sing outside people’s windows when they cannot come out….the people of God.  Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.  You are not who you once were. You are not your mistakes or misdeeds.  You are the people of God.  And the people of God do extraordinary things.

Maundy Thursday: March 29, 2018

John 13:1-17, 31b-35                                               

            For many years the pope of the Roman Catholic Church has been washing feet on Maundy Thursday. Before 2013, the mass was held in St Peter's basilica or the basilica of St John.  However, in 2013 a recently consecrated Pope Francis washed the feet of 12 teenagers in a juvenile prison. Previous popes typically washed the feet of clergy.  Since Pope Francis was elected, he has washed feet in prisons, a center for asylum seekers, and a home for the elderly and disabled.  This year, he will once again wash the feet of 12 men in a maximum security prison. 

            Pope Francis has been determined to wash the feet of people of different faiths, genders, and ethnicities. In these 5 years, he has washed the feet of convicted felons, women (which was previously unheard of), Catholics, Orthodox Christians, Evangelicals, Muslims, a Buddhist and a Hindu person. For the pope, the symbolic act of foot washing is not merely an act of humility, it is an act of love and bringing people together. 

            If you look at the verses we read for the Gospel reading, you will see that there is a huge part that is skipped over.  We go from verse 17 to verse 31. We go from Jesus washing the feet of his disciples and telling them to do likewise to the verses about Jesus being glorified and then the love commandment, “Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.”  It’s a sweet gesture, washing the feet of his 12 disciples, his inner circle.  It was gesture of humility and love.  No one likes to wash feet, so it is nice that he would do this for his friends.  If we did not read verses 17 to 31, we could leave it at that, a nice gesture by Jesus for his friends.

            However, if you read those middle verses, this symbolic act becomes much more radical.  In these verses Jesus told the disciples that one of them will betray him.  He told them by saying, “It is the one to whom I give this piece of bread…” It was Judas, the man whose feet he had just washed, the man with whom he had shared a meal. 

            When Jesus confronted Judas, Judas left to accept the bribe and betray his friend.  It was only after that confrontation when Jesus told his disciples, “Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.”  Right after that command, he told Peter that he would deny him.  These are the bookends of this commandment to love one another, one friend who will betray him and one who will deny him. 

            What Jesus was showing was that despite what these 2 men would do…Jesus would still love them.  Even knowing what would happen—that one would betray, one deny and the rest abandon him—he still washed their feet and told them he loved them. That is what makes this more than a sweet and sentimental gesture.  This is not just about how we treat our friends and family.  It is about how we treat the people who have hurt and betrayed us. 

            In 1981, Pope John Paul II was shot 4 times.  The man was arrested and the pope not only forgave him, he visited him in prison. He then advocated for his release many years later. The would-be assassin left prison in 2010 and made news when he visited the grave of the late pope and left flowers.   That is an extreme example of loving those who have hurt us, but it’s a pretty good example. 

            While most of us have not been shot or turned in to the police for crimes we did not commit, we all know what it is to be betrayed or abandoned.  We all know what it feels like when someone we love says one thing and acts in an entirely different way.  Imagine what it would feel like to wash their feet, or maybe just look them in the eye and smile. 

            At another church I served, I had someone who yelled at me after the service.  He really yelled and did it in front of other people.  I knew it had nothing to do with me. It was something else going on in his life, but it hurt me and made me angry.  The next week he came up for communion and I thought “please don’t let him be on my side of the rail”---but he was of course because God likes to challenge us.  I would like to tell you that I gave him communion and my hurt and angry feelings just went away.  But they didn’t.  I was still mad.  But I smiled and I kept smiling.  It took a couple weeks, maybe even more, but eventually those smiles became genuine and I got over it. 

            That’s the thing about symbolic gestures, they don’t always represent exactly what is going on inside of us, but they do represent what we hope will happen, what we hope we will become.  If we continue to try, eventually the symbolic gesture becomes more than a gesture. It becomes real.  Jesus was upset with Judas. He called him out in front of the disciples.  He did the same thing with Peter. But he still shared the meal. He still washed their feet. 

             

            We do more than foot washing at this service.  As we do every Sunday, we read the confession together.  Typically before launching into the confession, I like to give a moment for everyone to silently consider the sins they have committed. Tonight I will give us all a little longer to consider what sins are keeping us from loving people.  Then we will share communion together. We will crowd around the altar in this rather tight space and we will accept the gift that God has given us, the same gift that he gave his disciples, a love that knows no boundaries, a love that is meant to unite instead of divide.  

            After that, the altar and this whole chancel area will be stripped.  It will be laid bare, which is what we are all trying to do before God.  Then finally when you leave, I encourage you to drop a coin in one of the buckets.  The coin represents a way we have betrayed, denied or abandoned God.  When we drop the coin, we leave that sin behind and we journey toward Easter with the knowledge that we have moved this much closer to loving others as God loves each one of us.