Maundy Thursday 2019 + A night of urgent love + Una noche urgente del amor

Maundy Thursday 2019

This is a night of urgent love, lived out until our dying day. Esta es una noche urgente, y una noche de amor que vivimos hasta nuestra muerte.

Here is Jesus, gathered with his friends, for one last meal. Aquí tenemos a Jesús, reunido con sus amigos por una última cena juntos. He is preparing to say good-bye. Prepara para decir adiós. In this whole gospel of John, we have been invited into relationship with him, as the beloved disciple. En todo este evangelio de San Juan, Jesús nos ha invitado a estar en relación con el como el discípulo amado. To be the ones to rest on his bosom, just as he resides on the father’s bosom. Para ser los que están en su pecho justo como él está en el pecho de su padre.[1]

But tonight we see Jesus the man. Pero esta noche vemos a Jesús el hombre. The Jewish man who has heard for years the story of the Passover, and who has kept the tradition. El hombre judío que ha escuchado por anos la historia de la Pascua de los judíos, y quien ha mantenido la tradición. Who has heard the urgency of that story, when the people could not even sit down to eat, but moved with urgency, knowing their Lord was coming with a vengeance. That God would protect them, but only if they swiftly followed God’s commands. Jesús había escuchado esta historia urgente cuando la gente ni siquiera pudiera sentarse para comer pero tenían que responder rápidamente a lo que Dios los mando para estar salvados.
This same urgency fills the air tonight, on the eve of the Passover of the Jews. Esta misma urgencia llena el aire esta noche, la noche anterior de la Pascua de los Judíos. Jesus knows what he will give up. And he wants to be with his friends. Somehow all these three years of ministry have boiled down to this moment. Jesús sabe lo que va a perder. Y solo quiere estar con sus amigos. Solo quiere compartir algo con ellos que les puede ensenar del amor que él ha anhelado compartir en estos años en que él ha estado con ellos.

What does it all boil down to? ¿A que llega todo, en fin?

The basin and towel (Michael Card song reference). La jofaina de agua y la toalla.

Jesus picks up the basin and the towel here. Jesús levanta la jofaina y la toalla aquí. Y él tiene los ojos abiertos. He has open eyes. He knows that in a moment one friend, Judas, will betray him. And that in a short while his beloved Peter will deny being his disciple. Él sabe que en unos momentos su amigo Judas le va a traicionar, y que en muy poco tiempo su amado Pedro va a negar ser su discípulo. He may even begin to feel that awful moment in the garden coming son, the moment when even God is silent to him. Posiblemente aun sabe que viene pronto un momento en que aun Dios estará silente a su pedida. Remove this cup. No esta copa, por favor. Pero que se haga tu voluntad. But your will be done.

That is taking up the basin and towel. Moving forward in love even when you might get hurt, or abandoned. Seguir Adelante en la fe aun cuando pudiera sentir solo. Esto es tomar la jofaina y la toalla.

I remember the first time I felt conned at church. Yo recuerdo la primera vez que sentí engañada en la iglesia. I had helped someone out and then I found out that they mis-used my trust. On another occasion, a family had small children, and desperately needed a place to stay overnight. And they trashed the motel room I rented for them. Una familia con niños pequeños destruyó un cuarto que alquile para ellos en un motel. Hasta que el motel no quería hacer negocio conmigo. It was so shameful to feel that the motel didn’t want a church’s business after that.
But I have a savior who washed feet and healed and fed people even when they were going to betray him to death. Pero mi Salvador lavaba pies y sanaba a gente y los dio de comer aun cuando lo iban a traicionar hasta la muerte.
So what can I do? I must take up the basin and towel. Tengo que traer el agua y la toalla.
So tonight’s communion and foot washing are important and urgent work.

But the really important question is – how are you going to take up the basin and towel tomorrow?
And the next day.
Because, as Michael Card tells us:

“Our Savior Servant must show us show

Through the will of the water

And the tenderness of the towel…

And the call is to community

The impoverished power that sets the soul free

The humility to take the vow

That day after day we must take up the basin and the towel.”[2]

Amen.

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[1] Karoline Lewis, “Video on the Gospel of John in the Year of Luke,” transmitted as part of the Working Preacher conference in February, 2019.

[2] Michael Card, “The Basin and the Towel,” Poeima