Passion Week: Thursday - Our Last Time Together... Like This

Scripture Reading: Mark 14:22-24; John 13:12-17, 34-35

For several years Jesus had been with his disciples almost all the time. There was little he did without them.

They walked from town to town together. Met new people together. Jesus taught amongst his disciples. And he healed people in the presence of those twelve he had chosen to follow him. Now, things were getting to change in a big way.

Their time together was drawing to an end. In fact, this would be the last time Jesus and the disciples closest to him would be together like this (that is, until the resurrection and the eventual outpouring of the Holy Spirit). And so, what does Jesus do with his disciples during their last evening together? He shares a meal with them, of course.

Actually three events take place during their last time together. Jesus easts with his disciples. He washes their feet. And, lastly, he gives them a new commandment to live by.

First, the meal. In celebration of the Passover, they share a Passover meal. And, at the end, Jesus gives them what for the next 2,000+ years will be celebrated by the Church as The Lord’s Supper, or Communion. In that act Jesus took bread, which he said represented his body (that would be given for the many), and a cup of wine, which represented the blood of the new covenant (that was poured out for many). He offered it to his disciples and they ate and drank together. In much the same way we continue to do today.

Secondly, after the meal, Jesus took off the outer garments he was wearing, got down on his knees, and washed his disciples feet until they were clean. This, Jesus said, was done on purpose in order to show his disciples how they ought to live amongst one another and in the world. “I have set an example that you should do as I have done for you.” This was both the way the kingdom of God would be brought into the world and the way the children of God would live in the kingdom of God. Above all, they would serve one another. And, lest there be any objections to this kingdom way of life, Jesus tells them, “Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you should also wash one another’s feet.”

Lastly, a new commandment. Jesus already showed the disciples what it looks like to serve one another. He showed them what type of people the kingdom of God contains. Now, he sums it all up in one command: love one another. He tells his disciples, “As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” This is weighty. Love will be the identifying mark of those who follow Jesus. And not just love in a generic sense. This type of love is like the love that Jesus showed for his earliest disciples, and us. This kind of love drove Jesus to the cross both as a king and a sacrifice.

Next is the arrest, the trial, and the crucifixion. Under the cover of darkness, through the cooperation of one close to Jesus, the authorities will come for him in order to make him pay with his life for the life he led.

A Church Called Love (Part 1): “…but have not love.”

without love, nothing

Burgers or pizza tonight?

What about burgers or pizza for the next 40-nights? What about for the next 10-years? Or, what about for the rest of your life?

At first the question is simple, because not much rides on it. It doesn’t really matter if I have burgers or pizza tonight, because I could have the other one tomorrow, or something else entirely. Now, if I had to choose one of those foods for the next 40-nights, things get more interesting. Further, if I had to choose one for the next 10-years, or the rest of my life. Now, we’re talking about a big, life-changing decision.

Let’s try another one.

If you could pick only one characteristic for your local church to be known by, what would it be?

Acts of service?
Generous hospitality?
Miraculous healings?
Sound teaching?
Unwavering faith?

I know what I’d choose from those five options. I know what I’d choose because of how incredibly important I believe it to be. Churches live or die based on what is taught and, ultimately, lived-out by those who make up a church. It’s not a far walk from believing that Jesus isn’t really God, to believing that salvation isn’t really possible, and so believing that these “stories” of Jesus in the Bible aren’t worth your time.

That being said, if I had to choose just one characteristic for my local church, it wouldn’t be on the list above. I know, I know, it wasn’t fair how I framed the question, because you didn’t know picking your own characteristic was actually allowed. A thousand pardons, please.

If I had to pick, it would be what Paul considered to be the most important. It would be what he, in 1 Corinthians, exhorts his fellow brothers and sisters in Christ to make the foundation of all they do. It would be what Paul believed gave meaning to everything else.

The apostle writes this in 1 Corinthians 12:31b-13:3:

And I will show you a still more excellent way.

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.

And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.

If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.

The message seems to be pretty straight forward. If Paul (and by application, you and I) doesn’t have love, it negatively affects all he does. It doesn’t matter if he can speak in different languages (humanly or angelic). It doesn’t matter if he has prophetic powers, or if he is able to understand all mysteries and all knowledge, or if he has total trust in God. It doesn’t even matter if he gives up his own body. If he does not have love, whatever he has said or done has come to nothing.

The message is clear: without love we are nothing, and there is nothing.

Why is this so? Why is it that without love, it doesn’t matter what we do? To answer this, we must first take a step back.

you are not far from the kingdom of god

In one sense, what Paul just said there in 1 Corinthians 12:31b-13:3 doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter to us, nor does it matter to the world, if we have not considered ourselves to be living in the same world as Paul. For Paul, the world as we see it now, was not all there is. There were other things going on that weren’t readily visible to everyone. To put it another way, Paul really believed that God was doing something in this world that really changed the way those who followed him could and ought to live. This thing that God was doing is commonly called the kingdom of God (or heaven).

The kingdom of God was (and is) the reign of God in and through this world that Paul, you, and I live. It is the place within the world where God’s rule, influence, and way of life is being practiced and experienced. The kingdom of God is not some far off dream of an escape one day; it is the actual present-day reality of those who bow the knee to Jesus. And both of Paul’s knees hit the floor in front of Jesus.

Jesus talked about the practical reality of the kingdom of God like this:

You have heard that it was said, “You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.”

But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. (Mt. 4:43-45a, ESV)

He was confronting this convoluted half-truth that God had called his people to love their neighbors and to hate their enemies. This was never what God had called them to do; instead, it was a manipulation of the real request God had made for his people: “You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.” (Lev. 19:18, ESV)

And so, Jesus being Jesus, he announces to those who had been following him that if they are going to be a part of his kingdom then they are going to live in the truth of who God was and continues to be: love. Those who live in the kingdom of God (Jesus-people) are going to live like their king, and their king does not hate his enemies. In fact, he died for them (Rom. 5:10). So, his people are not going to hate them; instead, they are going to love them as their neighbor, because the kingdom of God is a place where love reigns supreme.

One day, as was pretty typical, someone came up to Jesus with a question about what type of life God had actually called his people into:

And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, asked him, “Which commandment is the most important of all?”

Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”

And the scribe said to him, “You are right, Teacher. You have truly said that he is one, and there is no other besides him. And to love him with all the heart and with all the understanding and with all the strength, and to love one’s neighbor as oneself, is much more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.”

And when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And after that no one dared to ask him any more questions. (Mk. 12:28-34, ESV)

The scribe knew what he was talking about, but I’m not sure he knew the implications of what he was talking about, or he at least didn’t want to fully accept them. There is nothing more that God asks of his people than to love those who were made in his image. This is much more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices. In other words, there is nothing more special to God that you could offer him than to love other people. The implication, however, of agreeing with this is striking. If you trust Jesus and you trust what he has said then you are not far from the kingdom of God. You’re right there. You’re at the doorstep of living in the reality of God being king; the reality of Jesus being king. The next step is to move forward from mere agreement to living it out.

called to love

When he had gone out, Jesus said, “Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him. If God is glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself, and glorify him at once. Little children, yet a little while I am with you. You will seek me, and just as I said to the Jews, so now I also say to you, ‘Where I am going you cannot come.’

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (Jn. 13:31-35, ESV)

One of the last things Jesus tells his disciples, before his eventual crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension, is to love one another. Now, on one level this is not a new command. This had been given ages ago. God’s people were always instructed to love one another. However, on another level, this command from Jesus was as fresh as could be. Here he is, the king of the kingdom of God letting his disciples know that he is going away and there is but one thing they are to do: love one another. The reason, as Jesus says, is that by their loving one another the world will know that they are his disciples. And, as a result of the world knowing that they are Jesus’s disciples, the world will have a chance to know Jesus. That’s how love works in the kingdom of God. It is given to others, so that others would know God.

The Apostle John drills down on this point in his epistle to an early church body when he writes that, “Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love” (1 Jn. 4:8, ESV). It’s not hard to see how Jesus’s words in John 13 still hung in the ears of John years later. He took to heart what Jesus meant by calling his disciples to love one another and that was worked out for a group of early Jesus-followers through John explaining that those who don’t love, don’t know God, because God is love. It’s pretty cut-and-dry. They (and we) could not call themselves disciples of Jesus (i.e., God) and have no love for others. The two are (and continue to be) mutually exclusive realities. They either do not love others and thus prove that they don’t love God. Or, they love others and thus prove that they actually love God.

John naturally continues this line of reasoning in writing that, “…we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him” (1 Jn. 4:16, ESV). Those who remain/live in love, remain/live in God. The two realities go hand-in-hand. It’s not like there are a bunch of hoops to jump through in order to be connected to God and helpful to the world. The calling is simple: love.

okay, but, what is love?

Now, although the calling is simple, the practicalities and real-world application of that calling bring with it all the complexities we could imagine, which is why we ought to be so thankful for Paul because of what he wrote down for the Corinthian church (and us, two-thousand-years later).

Paul began with the truth that our speech and our actions are meaningless if we do not have love. Next, he will continue down this road by describing to us some of the characteristics of this slippery word love. Because, if you’re anything like me, the question that’s been buzzing around your head throughout this article is: what is love?

By the Numbers: "Love" in 1 John 4:7-21

1 Corinthians 13 is often referred to as the “love chapter” in the New Testament, and rightfully so. What Paul says about love in that part of his letter is worldview altering. We all ought to come to 1 Corinthians 13 ready and willing to be examined by God through Scripture because what Paul says there is no less than definitional about love.

That being said—and you should have known an exception was going to be made from the title of this article—if we’re going by the numbers there’s one section in the New Testament that really ought to be considered a primary authority on love. And that section is 1 John 4:7-21.

In those 15 verses love (or loved, loves, and loving) is used a total of 27 times. That’s roughly 1.8 times per verse. To put it into a bit of perspective, love, loved, loves, and loving is used a total of 46 times throughout all of 1 John. That means 58.7% of the usages of love, loved, loves, and loving throughout the entire letter is found in 1 John 4:7-21.

To add more perspective to the matter, love (and its different forms) is used 56 times throughout the entire Gospel of John. This means that in 1 John 4:7-21, love makes up 26.4% of its usage in 1 John and the Gospel of John combined.

In comparing 1 John 4:7-21 directly to 1 Corinthians 13 we something pretty interesting. In 1 Corinthians 13, love (and in context, “it”) is used a total of 17 times in just 13 verses. That’s roughly 1.3 times per verse. Compared to that of 1 John 4:7-21’s 1.8 times per verse, we see a difference of only 0.5 usages per verse.

For even more perspective—just because it’s fun—love shows up a total of 316 times in the New Testament and 751 times in the entire Bible. This means that in 1 John 4:7-21 we find 8.5% of its usage in the New Testament and 3.5% in the entire Bible.

By the numbers, 1 John 4:7-21 is definitely the authority on love for John’s writings. Whether it really is the authority over that of 1 Corinthians 13 is up for debate. But, if we’re going by the numbers, 1 John 4:7-21 wins in a close one.