A New Command

Today is known in the Christian calendar as “Maundy Thursday.”  It is the day on which many Christians around the world remember the Passover meal which Jesus shared with his friends shortly before he was arrested, tried and crucified.  That meal has become known as “The Last Supper.”

‘Maundy’ is a rather strange word, thought to derive from the Latin mandatum, the first word of the phrase "Mandatum novum do vobis ut diligatis invicem sicut dilexi vos" ('A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.')  The gospel writer John includes those words of Jesus in the passage in which John describes the events surrounding the last supper.

John also tells us about a quite remarkable incident which occurred at the last supper.  It was customary in that society for a servant to wash the feet of guests; this was a role reserved only for someone on the very lowest rung of the social ladder.  Apparently on this occasion no-one had come forward to perform the duty.  The disciples were shocked when Jesus himself began to wash their feet.  In doing so he was setting them an example, and reminding them that to be a follower of Jesus is to be ready to serve others.

The apostle Paul puts it like this: ‘Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.  In your relationships with one another, have the same mind-set as Christ Jesus’ (Philippians 2:3-5).

And that’s the challenge for all who claim to follow Jesus Christ: we are called to be like him!  Jesus reminded his disciples that their love should be the same as the love they had experienced in him.  And not long after he had spoken those words, he gave his life as he died on a cross to pay the price for our sin.  He laid down his life for this desperately broken world, for each and every human being.

As we mourn this week with the victims of terror, not only in Brussels but around the world, and as weep at the inhumanity of human beings to one another, how can we even think that the life and words of Jesus are no longer relevant to today’s society?  If only we would heed Jesus’ words, ‘love one another as I have loved you.’

I love

Just thinking back to the days of my teens and early 20s when car stickers were all the rage (not to mention stickers for a multitude of other occasions).  We Christians seemed to be particularly into stickers, believing that this was a great way to spread the message.  No doubt Jesus would have made abundant use of "Jesus loves you" smiley face stickers if they had been around in the 1st century!

Of course not all church folk appreciated car stickers, especially if they involved humour, which was frowned on in certain quarters.  Many years ago we had a car that just about got us from A to B most of the time (we were struggling to start it on one occasion and our daughter Caroline called out from the back seat, "It won't start because you haven't prayed about it yet!")  Our affectionate name for the car was Galeed, which is a Hebrew word found in the Old Testament which can be translated "witness heap."

Of course our struggling but faithful car was a witness heap because it was adorned with several Christian car stickers.  The sticker in the back window stated, "Don't laugh, Jesus travelled by donkey!"  On one occasion Sue and I were berated by a very serious gentleman who was most concerned that we were, in his opinion, using the name of the Lord in vain!  We did try to explain the concept of humour to him but he was having none of it (bless him).

The heighday of Christian stickers has long since passed, but there are still various sorts of car stickers around.  One of the most popular seems to be the "I love____" sticker, with a heart symbol representing love, and with various words being offered as the subject of the love (N.Y. music, dogs, pizza - the list is endless).  A few days ago I noticed an "I love" sticker in the back window of the car in front of me as I was driving along.  The wording after the heart was so small I couldn't read it, so the sicker simply appeared to say, "I love.

 

That simple message really struck a chord in my heart, because it spoke of a generous, unrestricted love, freely offered: the kind of love which the Bible describes as being seen supremely in God.  John puts it like this: 'God is love' (1 John 4:8).  It is that amazing, abundant and overflowing love of God the Father we focus on at Easter as we think of the gift of his Son ('God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners' (Romans 5:8))

What's more, God's plan for us is that as he pours out his love into us, we should allow that love to flow from us into the lives of others.  In fact, Jesus himself said that the most powerful sign that we are his followers will be through the love that is seen in our lives, 'Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples' (John 13:35).

How amazing it would be if we Christians were known primarily for our love.  Sadly it has not always been the case, and sometimes our love has been restricted to those who are like us, or those whose behaviour and lifestyle we approve of.  Yet as Wallace Brown so rightly states, 'We are called to love people where they are, not where we think they ought to be.'

It seems to me that the message "I love" summarises in a simple yet profound way exactly what God longs to see in us all.

Staying connected

Last month Sue and I celebrated our 38th wedding anniversary.  We didn't do the normal kind of thing like going out for a celebratory meal; instead we went along to a Pantomime at church!  Sue tells me that before we were married I said to her that ours would be the first perfect marriage.  I can't actually remember saying that, but if I did, my prediction was a long way from reality.  We've had our fair share of ups and downs over the years, and there have probably been times when we've felt like we were in a pantomime, but I know that I have been enormously blessed to have Sue by my side over the past 38 years.  I don't imagine that I would be where I am without having had her support and encouragement.

A few days ago I received an e-mail to advise me that my TomTom navigation device was in need of updating with the latest road information etc.  I have to say that when we first owned a sat-nav it did immediately improve our marriage, because one of the areas where Sue and I regularly fell out was over driving and navigation.  For whatever reason, our teamwork as a couple often fell apart when it came to navigating our way round the country.  Now that we can rely on the sat-nav, we have far fewer in-car arguments!

But the reality is that new roads are being built all the time, and junctions and speed limits are regularly being amended, so it is important to keep the device up to date.  I therefore had to connect the device to my laptop and download the revised information from the TomTom website.  It didn't take too long and was a fairly simple procedure.

As I looked at the screen and noticed the message, "Updating.  Do not disconnect your device," into my popped the thought that this is an image of how it is with our relationship with God.  Unless we keep 'connected' to God, our relationship with him can become stale and out of date.

It is quite clear that Jesus modelled the "connected" life.  For example, he said of himself on one occasion, "the Son can do nothing by himself. He does only what he sees the Father doing. Whatever the Father does, the Son also does" (John 5:19).  He also said, "I don't speak on my own authority. The Father who sent me has commanded me what to say and how to say it" (John 12:49).  In other words, Jesus lived each moment in intimate and constant relationship (connection) with the God the Father, so that all he did was in response to what Father was showing and saying to him.

How I long for such a connected relationship with my heavenly Father.  And I also thank God for the invention of the sat-nav!