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The Loving Christ April 7, [866 Moundy Thursd-y John 13 -selected

In his conmentary on our scripture lesson this evening, irthur John Gossip specul tes

thet the twelve disciples were anything but ce celful ond loving when they gsthered in the

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upper room to celebrate the pessover with their master. | The mounting tension of the week
in Jerusslem wos beginning to t»ke its toll.\ Four short dsys before Jesus had entered
the city in the midst of loud and enthusistic ~coledes.\ It seemed inevitble that he would
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be king, or t+ le st recognized °s 2 gee t prophet befere long. | But to their dismay

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events hed t:ken the opposite direction. \ animosity hod repisced sdultion:| the powers
thet be were solidly sgoinst him:\ trouble was brewing ond they knew it., Judes had slreody
made arrongenents to betroy him + the opportune time: perhops they semsed on unessy
guilt about him. | {nf any case, they entered the upper room, tense, tired, worried «nd
irriteble.

Thus they neglected to wash esch other's feet, as wes the custom, Gossip hes one of
them say: ‘Sitting at his right hand end leff h nd indeed. ond see Beg sbout whet
| gsve up. They'll sit there tong enought until | wosh their feet." 1.6.

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Sé ff wes thot during the mecl, Jesus @- sensing the unrest and uneesiness, got up

from the tole ond himself, wshed their feet - everyome of them ~ Peter who protested and
even Judes. cs ( - aaah -
4 fy

The first observtion ‘| want to fAeke sbout this incident Is the reslity of Christ's
love. Lost evening we thought sbout the horrible relotty of his suffering: this evening !
wont to drow your »ttention to the tungible cuthenticity of his love, His was no Platonic
love — unconnected to the conmonslity of life. If ws no intellectual love thot existed In \
the mind, I+ wos = resl love: = love thst reached out to the scorned Prostitute - the
unwelcome public n: = love thet knelt down ond woshed the fmakz dirt off the feet of 12
men, one of whom wos about to betr-y him; enother of whorn would chcadaazbzm deny_him ind
the rest of whom would sbndon him. This is the kind of love he hed for them.

and then, sensing thet there was little more time left, he turned this little rituol
into an object lesson, “1! give you a new commindment. Love one another. as | have loved

you, so you re fo love one enother. If there is this love «mong you, thenall will know

that you re my disciples. |

pge 2.

The femz “i undy Thursd.y comes from the L tin ‘f\-und:tum', mesning commundment -

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ond this is wast the church has wnted to remember bout thel ist supper. | It wes the settings

cnnot, however, disregrd this one — this commnd to love = ind seriously consider himsel f

to be - disciple of Jesus Christ. dp

The fet thet Christianity down through the cneturies h-s stiryed from fhe fund ment: |
Hew gest mont te. ching is unfortun .te.'\ The f.chF+kat tod.y . Christin is, frequently
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mensured by wh t he doesn't do - rither thin by the fove thit he actively expresses is

4 sinful ind fot. | ffeav in our religion,

But assuming we do tcke this seriously, .ssuming we do understind our discipleship
in terms of loving one nnother - how do we go bout 147 Hox do we go “bout ioving someone
whe rubs us rhe wrong wuy — someone who offends our sensitivities: much less someone yhe

is on ‘vowed enanv? It's not cn e:sy question - nd obvioulsy the =nswer does not lie in

just tryins h rder,
femme here
The gre t ehtics| philosopher, Emm:neel Koni, thought thet loving other men wes

metter of will ond self discipline, He went further nd svid thet tryly ethics! love ws

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clweys < metier of self control snd will power, = to which his friendly critic schilfter
replied: | deorly love my friends, but unfertun.tely | do so only becouse | feel inclined.
It vexes me thet | om not ehticel. 1h &
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ve cil know the difficulty of loving someone our whole being Finds repeelent. | ve know

Jlso the shctlow hypocricy of peaple who try foo h-rd to love. ‘Ye kno the p-tern-listic
—_ - “ \ - .

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for the ney nd cre test ond fin.t comm.ndment: Love one «nother, pe
~» the ten comimndments, standing s the b sis of the Lav of Moses, hid given form arid
res . . . i . . ; 2
order to the n tion's life for centuries, Now Jesus va omending the [3st ~ :dding cnofher-
tht tn his words fulfilted [| the rest, , Of tne ten comasndments eight ire negtive:
‘Thou shlt not: One fiss to do with remeberina the s:bb th nd the other hénoring your \
Vv ~ : _ . a °
iv Nother ond | ter, Cut now Jesus vw.a6 ying Theft -Tl of These were encomp ssed in the new \
comm:indment: li of them ond mere.. For If we ore honest bout the Gospel we know th.t
ae \ - a
man con keep the tem commindments ind not be Christin. He con, «nd sll of us hove
, i — a
et one time or ‘nother, broken one or -nother fo some degree, ind stiil be . Christicn.! He

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condescension of the men who feels he is winning fis wy into he-ven by toving/| snd we
ms LOM IS ; an
persounlly, revei mat-ite imoughf of loving someone ve cnnot stiends

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The frousie lies In the wey we see other men, The «bility fo. love does not come from y |,
7 \ apes ener him Pare Et am
the wii ‘Tone — but from a défferent view of the other nen. et ditionslly we hove been ¢
faught to reg: rd other people In terms of their ubility.:ve velue « men for the t isks_he
-~éft eee & Cobe pier whi eds peg bok pie
con perform: for his worth in the murket pl.ce of life. ve are stingy with our love: bestowing

ane! bas
only on thosw who -re worthy of if. We love other people when they -re attractive and
charming «nd when they love us.: That is our love is quite contingemt, quite dependent on
we oe _ ee
the ofher person per se, and wh=t he cun do directly -nd indirectly, for us, , Because °F
~s EE a .

this we c.n be picky: we con -ffirm our love for hur: nifty at « distence and find tht there

ore . very fermen whom we re [ly love.

In the Sook, \LII Guiet on the “estenr Front, there is 1 remerkuble illustration of

how the rel ffonship betweenn two men con ch nee when one sees the other sport from his
d

utility oad function, During on ossuulf, © Sermn soldier Hes into - shell hole, «nd

wis sturtled to find it wiresdy .ccupied by -n Englishmen. \Stortl ed ond not knowing wi. 7
Mee \ os

to do in the extremely dose gu rters he p-used for second, long enough to notice th.¢ the

Englishmon w:s severly wounded. Ve yeas profoundly fouched nd qave the man . drink out of

hos centeen ond the man ave him look of gratifude, Then the Englishman indicated Thut

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he wanted him to open his breast pocket. He did so snd out fell pictures of his Femi ly.) The

Vermin soldter crcdled his hed in his arm, -nd -s he died held up before him the picture of
his wife end children. [(03)

The rea rk -bfe thing sbout this {ttle scene is thi for . momen? one men broke through
: aad a
the stricity utlitcrion wyy of seeing snother men. iit first he srw only the weurer of
; : a . oof
uniform ~ on eng he hid been tr.ined to h:te nd kill without mercy. \But suddenly, .Imost

mirsculously, he sw him ss semething else - ~s on Indivdusl with 4 farntly: a men with
children who loved nd missed him.,For © moment in time, Hew testament love broke through uid

“ cet Ds .
pecome « re. lity ‘mong men.

pige 4.

ne fous Sermon prescher ind theolegi-n, Kelmuth Thielicka, ce lls this other wey

at . . . a
of seeing men their 'slien dlantty’, ond movingly fells = story about i? from hts own

expeirienca.. 3 boy in school, he «nd dever' | of his friends plonned to ombush ond bet

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on other bey they deeply disliked becuse of his snebbishness.: Sut :bout fhe time when
ne -— i ' _

This ve

ee

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to jcke pl.ce he sw the boy's Fother bringing him to school: hey soi how they

wolked tonether, bow the F ther p:tted him on the heid — haw they weved aood bye is they
- 7 ; . A. wM Oy i

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parted at ine «. 7é. \ Suddeniy it deemed on the imbushers thet thiis boy wes joved by this

= \ . \
mon - ond this msde: difference in hima TF q-ve him .n :Sien dign nity, In Thieleicke's
x
werds “the anlendor of .nether's love ly iround hin’: Lhe

Me ougn? to underst.nd th-t by saxagimesz frenselves, very few men will e-rn our fove,

Je ought te cdufif tht ff ofl we hove to offer js ourselves, our person’| <ppe rence, our

cep: ETT fas, our r hopits ind idiocynerscies ~ we will eorn the love of precious few.

“ur thermore we ouglit to see the b-sic wrononess of this whole-ppro ch. | Pushed to ifs :

toctie:§ and it m-kes Pe tobl. If s-ys there is nothing to fove in « men unééss he produces”

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[t ultim.tely justifies kitting the mento tly iil, the crippled cond hoplelssly sick..1ft is
view of mom th.r produced both Moziism ond Communism. |nd it is « view, thst to . lesser

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extent, infects everyone of us.

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of fhe | si supper our Lord wshed the feot of the twelve... He washed the feet of

Jud:s who wos . despic ble betr yer: fhe w.bhed the feet of Peter whose protest:tions were
. oe - -

cre fer thon his be.rt: he weshed The feet of tie other Fen who were so cowerdly fhey would

flee .t the first sian of trouble.,They didn't deserve thir love - They should h:ve been

dvine for him. Teh he loved them bec-use he suv them differently — he sow beyond the immdei.cie

- ses

of their reacsective strangths nd we -knesses. L-ter he could even look down from the cross
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‘nd see throwsntthe setions of the men who put hin there ond love them foo,

- thee et be ae
cour ct pg eet - C aan cet h, » ag fee hewn bh tet 4 a a ned
he alt th oo ye. ox cated ete ~ theo wed Ld ob Lizattk Lag ity

i BO frithet he so loved those

Taxis is the mir-cie of Jesus: th ft ne wis « Icving Chris

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Think of

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beceuse This m-nh d so loved them,

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his wos - ere tive love th:t | ter mde nav men of fhose twelve.

cth.f Peter bec me: think of wh ft the disciples cid -

{sis ig the wmircele of the | st Suppar:i tht he so foved those twelve ond fh fF he
oe L ua
tble.: Hot thet we deserve his love, nov
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mime thet we «re worthy of if - bur Th ft Ho sees US US children of God --

so loves awverynen who ~2 in comes to hés

wae

for

‘gs individulls full of foults vad filings, we okness end infidelity — buf individutls

bithed in the spendor of the love of ‘od.

| TO us Ss Ve commune - -s ve receive th i love come the words he spoke fo thea:

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_. Hest commnement I give fo you; love one snother, Even is | heve foved you,
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so you .re to love one -nefhar..[f there is this love ameng you, them fi wif l know

tht yeu re my disciples,”

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