Maundy Thursday 2022-- "So That You May Love"

“A new commandment I give to you,” Christ said on this night, “that you love one another....” But how do you command love? How do you order— or ‘direct’, or ‘require’— someone to love others? We imagine emotions to be beyond any higher authority. They are what they are. We feel what we feel. And we either feel it or we don’t. They are outside of our control, let alone being held accountable for them.

Jesus obviously doesn’t realize that. He sees no issue with commanding you to love one another. That is, after all, what the 10 Commandments require: Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and Love your neighbor as yourself. That’s what makes those commands impossible to keep. Even if you could do the things they demand and avoid the things they forbid, that’s not enough if you’re doing it to save yourself. Unless it flows from genuine love for God and for those around you, then you have failed to keep them perfectly. And He repeats that command tonight.

And all of that only serves to make the idea of ‘commanding’ someone to love even more absurd. But Jesus does it. He commanded the disciples— and He commands you— to love one another. Tonight we’re reminded why only He could possibly do it.

Let me explain why using a quick illustration. How do you, as parents, make sure that your children love each other? That might not be at the top of our minds from moment to moment— things like feeding them, keeping them physically safe, etc., are usually more pressing— but that’s something that we all hope for, I think. My family is at the point when our children are headed out on their own. I have to say, one of the unexpected joys is to see the bond that still ties them together, even when they’re not all under the same roof. We may not focus on it much, but one of our goals, as parents, is certainly making sure that our children grow up loving each other.

And there is a long list of strategies that people have come up with to try to do that. Obviously you set limits for what they are allowed to do or say to each other and what they’re not allowed to do or say— things like “no hitting,” or “no calling each other stupid.” But that only controls their outward behavior. It doesn’t change their hearts. Love is something different.

Spending time together might help. But, depending upon the activity and the kids involved, it might just have the opposite effect. I’m not sure how much love is created by really long car rides, for example.

Trying to get them to love each other seems like a daunting task, especially when most of the time it seems like you’re trying to keep them from killing each other.

Now, I can’t claim to be an expert— and I may or may not be able to claim personal success, for that matter— but it seems like there is one thing that you can do to ensure that your kids love one another: you love them.

You love each and every one. You love them, not just when they’re cute and ‘loveable,’ but when potty training isn’t going so well, or when they’re throwing up on the carpet, or when they’re, well, teenagers. You love them, not for who they could be or should be, but for who they are. You love them when they succeed and when they fail. You love them through the laughter and through the tears. You love them when they’re talking to you and when all you get is the cold shoulder. You love them when they disappoint you and when they make you proud. You love each and every one of them.

Of course, that doesn’t guarantee that they’ll love each other because, in the end, it’s not up to you. They are, ultimately, responsible for themselves. But that is the one and, I think, the only way that you can command love. To be able to say, “Just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.” And that makes it a pretty powerful command.

How much more powerful is it coming from the mouth of your Savior, especially on the night that, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end (John 13:1b)? He loved them— not just in theory, not just in words— but with His actions. He poured out His love for them on the cross— both literally and figuratively. And, tonight, as He does, He commands them to love one another, just as He has loved them.

The commandment is directed at you, just as much as it was directed at the disciples: Love one another. Starting with the people right here, all around you. The couple sitting in front of you. The family sitting across from you. And, of course, don’t overlook the family member sitting right beside you. Love them.

He has loved— and continues to love-- each and every one of you. He loved you while you were still His enemies. He loved you, not for who you could be or who you should be, and for who He would make you by His grace. He loved you enough to take your sins and failures upon Himself. He loved you through the tears. His love did not waver, even as He received far worse than a cold shoulder— mocking and cursing— and as He hung, completely alone, forsaken even by His Father for you. His love makes you a beloved child of God, in whom He is well pleased.

He loved each and every one of you. He loved you to the end.

“Love your neighbor"— that has always been what the law demanded of you. Tonight it is a ‘new’ command because, now, He has shown you the full measure of His love for you and for those around you. His love was poured out, literally and figuratively, from the cross.

Love one another. As often as your love for one another grows weary, come and receive His love once again. Eat and drink of the love that He poured out for you on the cross— the very body He gave for you there and the blood He shed for you there. Receive the fullness of His love for you and learn from Him true love for one another.

One in faith, in love united,

All one body, [Christ] the head,

When we meet, by [Him] invited,

[Christ] is with us, as [He] said.

One with [Christ] and one another

In a unity sublime,

[Every one a] sister, brother,

One in ev’ry place and time.

One day all the Church will capture

That bright vision glorious,

And [Christ’s] saints will know the rapture

That [His] heart desired for us,

When the longed for peace and union

Of the greatest and the least

Meet in joyous, blest communion,

In [His] never-ending feast.

(“When You Woke that Thursday Morning,” sts. 4-5. Lutheran Service Book #445.)