15th May 2022 – Easter 5 All Saints Church, Childwall
Read: John 13: 31-35
31 When he was gone, Jesus said, “Now the Son of Man is glorified and God is glorified in him. 32 If God is glorified in him, God will glorify the Son in himself, and will glorify him at once. 33 “My children, I will be with you only a little longer. You will look for me, and just as I told the Jews, so I tell you now: Where I am going, you cannot come.
34 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
Reflect: This passage from John’s gospel comes immediately after Judas has left, as all the disciples had been eating an evening meal together. Jesus knows that Judas is about to betray him, but at this point the other disciples think he has simply gone out to buy more provisions.
That evening Jesus had washed the disciple’s feet and had demonstrated his servant heart to them. He had given them a very powerful and humbling experience. Peter had reacted and had said to Jesus “you will never wash my feet.” Other disciples I am sure would have felt uncomfortable as well. Jesus responds with a challenge “unless I wash you, you have no part with me.” Jesus goes on to tell the disciples to wash one another’s feet as he has washed their feet. Jesus says to them, “I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.”
Jesus then speaks of his coming crucifixion, but in a way that the disciples don’t fully understand. He then gives them a new commandment a very clear one that is easily understood. It is a commandment though that is difficult to put into practice daily. To love each other as he loves them. It is by this love that other people will know that they are disciples of Jesus.
On this evening Jesus gives his disciples 2 new challenges. To serve each other and love each other.
These challenges are powerful and profound. Jesus knows they will have a life changing impact not just on the disciples but on every person that they meet. In this Jesus demonstrates his love for the same disciples who will fail him miserably. Jesus washes and feeds Judas who will betray him, Peter who will deny him, and all the rest who will fail to stand by him in his hour of greatest distress.
Respond: How often do we fail Jesus in our attitudes and our actions and our words? We all fail him often and yet he still uses us, forgiving us and equipping us to serve him.
Do we demonstrate love for each other in our Church family of All Saints along with a servant attitude towards each other? Do visitors and new people who come to our church services experience and see that love and servanthood in action by the way we speak and act and live?
We as disciples of Jesus have continually fallen far short in our love for one another as well as in our love for those outside the community of faith. Jesus could not be clearer: It is not by our theological correctness, not by our moral purity, not by our impressive knowledge that everyone will know that we are his disciples. It is quite simply by our loving acts—acts of service and sacrifice, acts that point to the love of God for the world made known in Jesus Christ.
Pray: Lord God, Help me to love others as you first loved me, a sinner with all my faults and failings. Strengthen me by your Holy Spirit to love and serve you in this world where you have placed me. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen
Andrew Colmer (Vicar of All Saints Childwall)
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