"Love Made Real"

So…

Have you ever been in love?

Was he or she really cute? Did they have some really winsome talents or ways of communicating? Did they make you swoon?

And then turn out to be a total jerk?

Sometimes we find ourselves with people who are really hard to love. Or we have been responsible for someone who really needs a lot of care. And maybe not even responsible, but, well…

Have you ever done something for a friend or a family member, or even just an acquaintance that really was not going to be very fun?

Cleaned out an attic or a garage of a hoarder, or perhaps went to find a dead animal that was stinking up their house, or maybe even provided some personal care.

It was a task that needed to be done, one that would really make a difference, but was definitely not on the top of your list of things to do?

Love they say is a many splendored thing!

And romantic love can be a fountain of great joy, although it can also be a tsunami of great pain.

Brotherly love is more a joyous and sometimes begrudging reaching out to show care and affection for someone to whom you owe in some fashion a debt of gratitude.

But there is another kind of love often demonstrated in scripture, self-sacrificial love, where one does something for another for whom there is no responsibility or familial relationship.

The kind of love Jesus demonstrates here in John’s gospel.

Choosing to wash his disciple’s feet, a task usually left to the person themselves or perhaps a servant, but never a task assigned to the leader or the head of the household.

A move so audacious, that Peter practically is losing his mind over it.

Because Peter cannot wrap his head around the idea that the master would choose to lower himself to do such a menial task, and perhaps, so personal a task.

I am not taking my shoes off to get my feet washed, just saying!

We, many of us, have bandaged a cut. We may have changed a diaper or two on a child that we were the parent to, or perhaps a sibling of. 

Older sisters in big families often got assigned that task, and some older brothers too.

But there is a huge difference between that task, and caring for a parent who need bathroom help.

And it is another level to do what is needed for a friend or in this case, a follower.

In Jesus’ day, as Jesus points out, when you went to a social event, you washed up. You were clean! 

But walking to the event you inevitably walked in the roads where pots of all kinds were emptied out of the houses, and where animals, who aren’t particularly concerned about where their manure ends up, could have made a mess right where you were walking.

You were clean, well, except for your feet. 

So, Jesus, the incarnate presence of God, offers to wash your feet, to do for you something remarkable, almost miraculous, and in some ways just crazy to think about. 

He offers freely and generously to wash away what keeps you from being completely clean.

And then makes clear that is what his disciples are to do, not to point out the mess, but to humbly and with thanksgiving for the opportunity, to clean it up.

Not to complain about hungry people, but to feed them. 

Not to complain about the sick, but to heal them. 

Not to complain about those possessed by demons, or in prison, or making messes of their lives, but to bring them to the source of all healing.
Jesus demonstrates a kind of love that is unique.

He while being powerful beyond all understanding, chooses to leave that power behind and instead humbly offers you and I help in our time of need.

Like at dinner with our dirty feet.

And you and I are invited to do the same. 

To see this world through Jesus’ eyes and recognize the remarkable opportunity we have been given to “make a difference” by humbly and graciously “washing feet”.

It is any wonder Peter wondered.

Making a difference, is who we are!

Amen.