Maundy......a command I give

Maundy.........probably from the Latin mandatum the word for command or commandment.  It is the first word of the phrase "mandatum novum do vobis ut diligatis invicem sicut dilexi vos" the Latin translation of "A new commandment I give unto you.  That you love one another as I have loved you."  John15

Maundy Thursday.  The day of Christ's commandment to love.

 How do you command someone to love?  How do you know when you have fulfilled such a commandment when love is as deep as the ocean?

Perhaps you start by getting your feet wet......and perhaps by washing the feet of another. Figuratively and literally.  Bend over and start at the bottom where every human foot encounters all the detritus, trash and dirt and seriously icky stuff of this world.  Start your loving there at the bottom.  Find whatever the equivalent of washing a foot is in your world and do it.

It will require putting down the stuff we drag around with us, our troubles, our agendas, our importance and our ego.  We will have to put down our smartphones and satchels, pull the ear buds out of our ears.  We will have to carry water and find towels.  We will have to get all. the. way. down.

Jesus loved his disciples before he washed their feet and washing their feet wasn't the lowest he was willing to go to embody God's love for God's creation.  Tomorrow he would take on Rome and a cross.

But let's start at a simpler place.  Let's try washing feet and see how we do with that.

All or nothing at all

All of us want to be in relationship with the God of love and mercy: whose arms are always open, whose heart has room for us (we are ambivalent about some other people) and who, when we are lost will come to find us.

We are not so enamoured of the God who calls us to follow Jesus.  Following Jesus can have some drastic consequences.  Like death.  And a tomb.  And a resurrection.

All things considered, we'd just like to have the God of mercy and not the God who expects anything of us.

Yet, I think, it is 'all or nothing at all.'  One half of a god is no God at all.

Listen

Really, it should be Listen!  In a 21st century world where sound is ever present (the music pumped into space while I am pumping my gas is my current annoyance), we hear a lot, but listen to little.

Yet, it is a command as clear as can be, from God, to disciples everywhere, "Listen to him!" and it comes to us from the mountaintop of the Transfiguration.  We will be listening to that story from Luke 9 this coming Sunday.

What does Listen involve?  Leaning forward and engaging the speaker?  Turning off our phones, clearing our minds and hands of distractions and focusing?  Giving thought to the words, considering the implications, reviewing the intersections between the speaker's words and our lives?

I am fairly sure that this kind of Listening is more than just the acquisition of facts; it is active, visible, eventful at least to some small degree.  Sunday we will be commanded to Listen to Jesus - a command that sets up Jesus' teaching as authoritative - authoritative as in 'guideposts for your actions and life.'

It begins with the command to Listen; no less important that the command to Follow.  Wrapped up in these two commands is God's gift of new life, grace, wholeness, forgiveness, belonging through Jesus.  I pray you are Listening closely.