John 13:31-35
In today's reflection I want to take us back to before Easter and Good Friday. I want to go back to that day we call Maundy Thursday, the day, actually the night we commemorate Jesus' last gathering with his disciples as a man on earth.
Imagine this setting, if you will. Jesus will soon be sharing a meal with his closest friends. By this time he is fully aware that this will be his final night on earth and that a tragic death is upon him. Jesus also knows that he will be sharing a meal with people who will turn on him, deny they know him, refuse to stand up for him, and even point him out as the criminal the authorities are looking for.
In other words, Jesus will be dining with people he knows will leave him alone and helpless at a time when he'll need them most.
As his supper guests enter the room Jesus kneels before them and washes their feet, as would a lowly servant. During Supper he teaches them for the final time about love and how we all live together as one people under one God. He says a prayer to God for the protection of his friends and asks that they will be able to share the things they have learned from him.
Then, on his way out of that room to go pray alone Jesus says to his group of friends, of which every single one of them will abandon him in a time when he'll need them the most, "Love one another as I have loved you."
I ask this one question - If you knew, absolutely knew that the people you were having supper with were going to turn against you, would you be able to do and say the things Jesus did and mean it with every fiber of your being?
It is by that love we should strive to be known as followers of Christ.
No comments:
Post a Comment