Easter 5
Devotional
Water From the Rock
Lectionary Devotional for Cycle C
Object:
By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.
-- John 13:35
Jesus had just demonstrated the type of servanthood that he commanded his disciples to offer one another by himself washing their feet (John 13:1-20). He then acknowledged that "one of you will betray me" and the reader, not the disciples, was told that it was Judas. In this manner, we are made aware that Jesus' love was offered even to Judas who would betray him. Immediately upon Judas' departure, Jesus said, "Now the Son of Man has been glorified, and God has been glorified in him." In the Hebrew scriptures, to speak of the glory of God was to speak of signs of God's presence. As Jesus prepared his disciples for his coming crucifixion, he demonstrated that the glory or presence of God was revealed through a love that extended even to those who rebel against God's purposes.
Following this demonstration, Jesus said to his disciples, "I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another." We have been given our marching orders. We are to demonstrate to the world a capacity to love others in a manner that even transcends betrayal. God's glory is made manifest when enemies are reconciled. As John's readers are fully aware, such a demonstration of love will not always be joyously received by the world around us. Jesus was about to pay the cost of such love, and his disciples should be under no illusion that the path of faith would be easy.
While the church will continue to tell the rest of the world about Jesus and seek to help others in obedience to Jesus, their most powerful witness will be a demonstration of their capacity to love one another. Churches are made up of humans with all the foibles of the rest of the world. As such, the church will experience conflict, tension, fights, and even betrayals. None of this will surprise anyone. What will surprise them is when we demonstrate the capacity to love each other despite such human foibles. When churches demonstrate how to love each other in such situations, then the world will know that we are Jesus' disciples.
-- John 13:35
Jesus had just demonstrated the type of servanthood that he commanded his disciples to offer one another by himself washing their feet (John 13:1-20). He then acknowledged that "one of you will betray me" and the reader, not the disciples, was told that it was Judas. In this manner, we are made aware that Jesus' love was offered even to Judas who would betray him. Immediately upon Judas' departure, Jesus said, "Now the Son of Man has been glorified, and God has been glorified in him." In the Hebrew scriptures, to speak of the glory of God was to speak of signs of God's presence. As Jesus prepared his disciples for his coming crucifixion, he demonstrated that the glory or presence of God was revealed through a love that extended even to those who rebel against God's purposes.
Following this demonstration, Jesus said to his disciples, "I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another." We have been given our marching orders. We are to demonstrate to the world a capacity to love others in a manner that even transcends betrayal. God's glory is made manifest when enemies are reconciled. As John's readers are fully aware, such a demonstration of love will not always be joyously received by the world around us. Jesus was about to pay the cost of such love, and his disciples should be under no illusion that the path of faith would be easy.
While the church will continue to tell the rest of the world about Jesus and seek to help others in obedience to Jesus, their most powerful witness will be a demonstration of their capacity to love one another. Churches are made up of humans with all the foibles of the rest of the world. As such, the church will experience conflict, tension, fights, and even betrayals. None of this will surprise anyone. What will surprise them is when we demonstrate the capacity to love each other despite such human foibles. When churches demonstrate how to love each other in such situations, then the world will know that we are Jesus' disciples.
