Sermon 4/8/04 - Maundy Thursday
Share with Me - John 13:1-17, 31b-35
(view lectionary notes for this text)
As some of you might know, the summer before I was appointed to St. Paul's, I spent time at a chaplaincy internship at Crouse Hospital in Syracuse. I was assigned to the neonatal intensive care unit, where I worked with the families of premature and struggling little babies. Part of the internship involved documenting my interactions with these families, and analyzing my pastoral responses with the other chaplains who were also serving as interns. For most of us, at the beginning of the program, our main desire was to help, to fix, to solve the problems of others.
But we soon learned that there are many situations in life that you just can't fix, no matter how carefully you speak, no matter what words you choose. You can't remove someone's pain when they lose a loved one. You can't make someone stop worrying over a child in need. You can't walk their journey for them, or make them forget about the trials and obstacles you face. In fact, the first realization for us in the chaplaincy program was that there was not much we could do for those for whom we were caring, if by doing we meant making what was difficult disappear. And so it was easy to feel helpless and overwhelmed by the pain and suffering we would witness on our floors.
But, part of the process of analyzing our responses to the families with whom we worked was putting theological language to our experiences - putting it in faith-language. And so, in searching for a way to understand what chaplains were called to do, I came across the gospel account of Jesus on the night of his betrayal and arrest. Jesus withdraws to pray, filled with grief and sorrow, worried about the task he must complete, wishing that somehow there could be another path for him. The gospel accounts indicate that he asked some of the disciples to wait and watch with him through his lonely night of despair. But they are too tired for even that, and they all fall asleep while Jesus is praying.
Perhaps the disciples wondered what comfort they could be to Jesus. They found it all too much to handle, perhaps, so they found escape in sleep. What they missed was that Jesus had told them exactly what they could do to help him in his night of greatest need - they just needed to stay awake - just needed to be there while he spent the long night with God.
I learned that parents of struggling babies already knew that there was nothing I could do or say to make their baby grow faster, come home sooner. They knew that - why couldn't I get it? What they could use from me was a person who would be willing to stay - stay awake - stay present in the midst of a difficult, painful time. Stay present even when it was hard to bear another's pain, stay awake even when I wanted to close my eyes. Share in their experience - that was how I could show my love and God's love.
So tonight we find ourselves here with Jesus on that same dark night - the night before his crucifixion - the night when he shared a last meal with his friends, the night when one of his own betrayed him into the hands of enemies, the night when he was arrested, the night when he would ask God to remove the cup of death from him if there could be any other way. And on this night, we are perhaps tempted to already look ahead - to the flowers on Easter morning, to the music and trumpets, to the joy and the singing, to the celebration.
Instead, Jesus asks us to pause here with him, to share with him in this longest of nights, even if it makes us uncomfortable, even if we'd rather not think about it, even if we don't know what to say to make it better. During supper that night, Jesus rose up, tied a towel around himself, and began to wash the feet of his disciples, an act of humility, an act of service, an act of love. Peter, not wanting Jesus to lower himself, protested, but Jesus answered with words that ring in my head: "Unless I was you, you have no share with me." After he is done, Jesus tells the disciples he has set them an example, saying, "You also ought to wash one another's feet . . . I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another."
Do we want to share with Jesus? We must be washed clean by him. We must, as he did, become like servants to one another. We must, as he did, wash one another's feet, shower one another with love.
But if we want to share with Christ, we must ask, are we able to share with him. He calls us: 'Share with me. Just stay here with me in my pain. Stay with me even as others abandon me.' Can you stay with Christ when everyone else closes their weary eyes? Can you stay even when you have no words to say?
The choice is yours - but the time is short. Tomorrow, our Christ is again put to death on a cross. What will you do tonight? When gathered with his disciples for a last meal, Jesus asked them to share with him by remembering him in the bread and wine they took that night. In the bread, Jesus said, you share in my body. In the wine, you share in my blood. In this meal, you share in me. Share with me - drink my blood, eat my body.
We, too, remember, and share, and become the body of Christ. We come and partake of the body that is broken for us. We come and partake of the blood that is shed for us. Will you come? Will you share with Christ? Amen.
Benediction: We are washed clean by the One who washed the feet of his disciples. We are blessed by the One who suffered the cross for our salvation. We are loved by the One who saved the world through sacrificial love. (Adapted from the Abingdon Worship Annual 2004, pg. 90)