Lent 2016 (C) 2016-03-24: Reading the Lectionary with my family
(I encourage you to read the full text. Hold me accountable if you feel it has not been handled well. It is what Scripture means when it says to wrestle with the Bible and mentally struggle with it and inwardly digest it.)
What does it look like to be a Christ follower? Tonight's readings are among the most poignant in all Scripture. We are shown God's faithfulness in the face of our unfaithfulness. In the remembrance of the Pesach (Passover), we encounter the loving example Jesus sets for each of His followers. Jesus does not set an idyllic standard beyond our reach. He asks simply that we love as He loved us.
As we read the text it begs us to ask: how am I doing? Am I living His example? Am I loving as He loved? Am I a Christian? Here we encounter a sadness - in truth, we are not doing very well. To say we love Jesus is to say we love those whom Jesus loves.
The Christian heart is the servant's heart. The Christ follower is the uncomplaining and uncompromising servant of all. The Christian loves others (all of them!) and provides for the needs of others ahead of their own. The Christian would not be defined by their net worth or their nice things or the quality of their vacations; the Christian is defined by their generosity, by their ability to see all needs and respond radically and sacrificially to them. This is the repeated example of our Christ. If we are Christ's Body why do we not look like this Christ of ours? To say we love Jesus is to say we love those whom Jesus loves.
To love the other is the lesson of the Passover, the foot washing, the Eucharist and the Cross. Let us pray that we become better students of Christ's example. Let us pray we learn quickly to follow our Christ. Let us be students of the Cross. To say we love Jesus is to say we will take up the Cross, lay down our lives and love those whom Jesus loves.
The question of the passion of Christ is "Do you love me?" Is our response no or is it yes?
