50 Day Spiritual Adventure, July 30, 2000
A sermon by Rev. Dr. John K. Luoma
What are the reasons that Jesus
was so attractive to so many? We've talked about three so far.
Today we talk about the fourth: He knew his identity and yet served
with humility. What was his identity? The third verse of our reading
states it quite clearly: he knew that he had come from God and
that he was going to God. Do we know our identity?
In the best selling book, Angela's Ashes, Frank McCourt tells his life story. He talks about the moment he discovered that he was born four months after his parents were married. Here are his reflections on what he discovered. He apparently still believes this today. "Why am I doomed? It isn't my fault I'm illegitimate. All illegitimate children are doomed. They're like babies that weren't baptized. They're sent to Limbo for eternity, and there's no way out and it's not their fault. It makes you wonder about God up there on his throne with no mercy for little unbaptized babies. That's why I don't go near the church anymore. Anyway, you're doomed."
It is so sad that so many live their lives believing that this is their identity and that they are doomed. How sad that so many have been taught the faith in such a distorted way and have never learned about the love of God in Jesus.
Compare this to another life story shared in a newsletter called, The Healing Line. Judith McNutt talks about the moment in which she realized her true identity before God. She says that her baby daughter woke up crying after her mid-morning feeding. She gathered her into her arms and settled down in her favorite rocker. Soon the baby was satisfied, and she was humming a lullaby to her. As she looked at her, she realized the amazing and overwhelming love that she had for her child. Up to that moment nothing had ever stirred such a profound feeling of love in her.
In that very moment she heard the voice of God within her. "You love your daughter very much don't you?" She answered, "Oh, yes, you know I do." To which God responded, "I love you more than you love your daughter." She says that she had a hard time accepting that and she responded, "Oh no you don't; you couldn't." She knew how strong her love for her daughter was, but she never realized how deeply God loved her. God gently answered, "Oh, yes, I do love you more!" At that moment she says, "God's gift of love was poured into my heart and I began to weep for joy."
Though many think like Frank McCourt and believe that they are doomed. The truth is that we are loved by God beyond all imagination. That's the truth declared to us at Baptism. That's the truth we need to cling to.
It is out of this identity, as a beloved child of God, that Jesus acts on that evening when he takes up a towel and basin of water and begins to wash his disciples' feet. By doing this he wants his disciples to learn just how much God loves them so that they can be free from living out of the anxiety of believing they are worthless and doomed. But, as we listen to the story, we see that the disciples just don't get it. Like us they have trouble grasping that God could love them so much.
And, so, when Jesus comes to Peter, Peter refuses. He would not allow the Master to do a servant's job. Those who are in authority are meant to be served, not serve. And if this is true of an earthly master, how much more is it true of God? That's the way Peter thought. And so Peter refuses in the strongest language possible. Peter uses a double negative here: "By no means will you ever wash my feet." Peter believes he knows the mind of God. It is not God's nature to stoop to such lowly service.
But Peter is wrong, and Jesus tells him as much. God loves us so much that he is willing to lay aside all his divine privileges and serve. He is willing to put aside all his divine privileges and love us into his family. Now, I hope I'm not the only person who finds that to be absolutely mind blowing. So often when we think of God we think of might and power and judgment. We see ourselves as doomed. But this story asks us to hold on to a different way of conceiving of God: God loves us so much that he is willing to humble himself and serve us. If you give yourself to thinking about that, it is absolutely overwhelming. It brings you to tears.
And when we are grasped by this kind of love, what are we supposed to do? We are to allow God to serve us in whatever way or through whatever person God comes to us. And that's not easy for us to do, even for the best of us. Too often we are like Peter. We want to be in control. We want to be independent. We don't want to be obligated to anyone. Often we are willing to serve because that puts us into the superior position. But often we find it hard to be dependent on someone else.
Don't you find it interesting that first Jesus asks us to be aware of his service to us before he utters a single word about our service to others? Those of us who use the Daily Texts for devotions are reminded again and again that prayer and life begins with thanksgiving. Every day we are to give thanks for the incredible servant love that comes to us through Jesus. Every day we are to give thanks for the variety of people and the variety of ways God's love comes to us. Some of these ways have become so ordinary to us that we sometimes take them for granted. We ought not to . We need to live in thanksgiving.
Well, only after establishing the baseline of God's serving love and only after he insists that everyone needs to receive it, does Jesus begin to talk of our service to others. "Wash one each other's feet. Follow my example," he says. Certainly a lot could be said about the kind of serving love to which Jesus calls us, but I think two things especially need to be said. And Richard Foster emphasizes both of these is his wonderful book, The Celebration of Discipline. First, he says that serving in the way Christ serves is incredibly freeing. Knowing that we are loved, we no longer have to play the world's game of status seeking and self-promotion. Why should we worry about status when we have had the highest status of all already conferred on us as children of God?
Second, he corrects a misconception that we have about service. The false thinking that service always means some enormous or tremendously sacrificial action. Certainly we ought to be willing to do these things when the opportunity presents itself, but more often than not service is made up of small things we do in the ordinary every day process of living. And sometimes these things are not easy to do because we simply don't want to inconvenience ourselves for the sake of others.
I've told this story before, but it seems especially appropriate in this context. I once attended a continuing education event for seminary faculty. One of the faculty there, who taught at Yale Divinity School, told this story. He said that for years he resented how often students would interrupt him as he was working in his office. Then, one day, which he regarded as a moment of grace, he realized that these interruptions were an important part of his work. These were people that God gave him the privilege of serving.
I think that story is a parable about our service. Service more often than not is made up of such small duties. Service requires that we momentarily put aside our duties to help those who need some small service from us.
Foster also points out that such service isn't always easy because we have to take ourselves out of the center. And any time we have to take ourselves out of the center and put our agendas aside, that can be painful. But at the same time it is an opportunity to be like Jesus. It is an opportunity to sacrifice a little of ourselves for the one who sacrificed so much for us.
So, what do we need to remember today and every day? We need to remember how incredibly loved we are. We need to remember that because of Jesus we have the permanent status as beloved children of God. What does this require of us? It means that we need to let God love us. It means that we need to give up acting like we are independent and have no need of God or others. We need to remember that since we are loved in this way, we need to love others. We need to remember that kind of loving service is done in the ordinary things of life.
I want you to join with me in a simple exercise today. I want you to do this because I think that so often we rehearse a negative kind of script every day whereas we need to rehearse a positive one. The negative script we rehearse goes like this:
I AM WORTHLESS AND DOOMED.
NEITHER GOD NOR ANYONE ELSE COULD LOVE ME.
WHY SHOULD I LOVE ANYONE ELSE?
The script we need to rehearse daily goes like this. Please repeat if after me:
I AM A BELOVED CHILD OF GOD.
I NEED TO ACCEPT THE LOVE OF GOD.
MY CALLING IS TO LOVE AND SERVE OTHERS.
Copyright 2000 by Rev. Dr. John K. Luoma