I wonder how Jesus would have coped under today’s restrictions.
Washing his disciples’ feet.
Gathered together – 13 of them – sitting close together.
Passing around a common cup for Holy Communion.
Breaking bread and passing it on to one another.
They dipped their hands together into a bowl.
Even Judas would betray Jesus with a kiss.
No social distancing – no hygiene practices – lots of physical contact.
There are lots of people who are in crisis over the lockdowns that have occurred during this pandemic.
Those who have lost jobs.
Those who have had weddings affected.
Those who have had funerals affected.
And the church has not been spared from those affects.
Our church services have ceased – although we have found ways to still conduct worship through technology.
I have heard some people who enjoy this.
More than a few have said how they enjoyed getting up on Sunday morning and “watching” church in their pyjamas with a coffee.
But let us never downgrade worship to an event that we “watch”.
While what we are doing is patching a hole as we wait for the restrictions to ease – worship is not “watching” it is participation.
Yes God is everywhere – even in our loungerooms – but this is not the presence of God that we pine for.
We pine for the presence of God in his body and blood.
We pine for the presence of God in the people of God who gather around Word and Sacrament.
And so we won’t devise a situation where a Pastor will speak the Communion liturgy through the webcam while you have a piece a bread and a cup of wine at the other end.
That’s not what Jesus instituted.
This lockdown should be making us hunger and thirst for the time when we can again gather together – when we can shake the hand of our neighbour and share the peace of the Lord – when we can kneel together at the altar (or stand) and reach out our hand and have the body and blood of our Lord placed into our hands and not electronically transmitted.
Personal touch and togetherness is at the heart of worship and that’s why we are suffering.
I can’t help thinking of that passage in Matthew when Jesus is pining over Jerusalem, wanting to gather them under his arms like a mother hen gathers her chicks under her wings and he says:
Look, your house is left to you desolate. For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord’.
And that is what our churches look like at present – desolate.
And they will remain desolate until that day when we gather and hear those words again in the Communion liturgy – ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’
Until then we have the assurance of God’s presence with us as he promised in our Baptism – I am with you always until the end of the age.
And he will continue to be with us until the end of this current pandemic.
Like you I am pining for the day when we can gather together again and sing the liturgy together – sing our songs and hymns together – gather around the Table of our Lord together – to shake your hand in peace.
Until that day, which we place into God’s hands and trust him we can continue to be the body of Christ together as we fulfil the New Commandment that he has left us:
I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
So until that day when we meet again and sing “blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord” let us love one another as Christ loves us.
Let us call one another – let us support one another in any way we can – and let us pray for one another, for the world, for the church and for all people according to their needs.
Come Lord Jesus Come – come into our weary world.
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Amen.
9 April 2020 - Year A - Maundy Thursday
Text: John 13:1-17, 31b-35
13 It was just before the Passover Festival. Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.
2 The evening meal was in progress, and the devil had already prompted Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus. 3 Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; 4 so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. 5 After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.
6 He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?”
7 Jesus replied, “You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.”
8 “No,” said Peter, “you shall never wash my feet.”
Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.”
9 “Then, Lord,” Simon Peter replied, “not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!”
10 Jesus answered, “Those who have had a bath need only to wash their feet; their whole body is clean. And you are clean, though not every one of you.” 11 For he knew who was going to betray him, and that was why he said not every one was clean.
12 When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. “Do you understand what I have done for you?” he asked them. 13 “You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. 14 Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. 15 I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. 16 Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. 17 Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.
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,[a] 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.”
New International Version - for other versions see BibleGateway.com
Sermon - Year A – Maundy Thursday
Pastor Peter Ghalayini
