Exodus 12:1-14                                                                                      Carol A. Solovitz

Psalm 116:1-19                                                                                      Maundy Thursday B

1 Corinthians 11:23-34                                                                         April 13, 2006

John 13:1-17, 31-35

 

 

 

How to Identify a Christian

 

                You probably have heard the question before:  “If you were accused of being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you?”  Frankly, I have some trouble with that question because it always makes me examine myself and discover that I come up short.  I find that, as St. Paul says in Romans 7, “I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do the good that I want, but I do the very thing I hate.  I can will what is right, but I cannot do it. So then, with my mind I am a slave to the law of God, but with my flesh I am a slave to the law of sin.”  If St. Paul struggles with this problem, then where is the hope for us?  How will people know we are Christians?  How will WE know we are Christians?

                How do we identify a Christian?  What criteria do we use?  What is the definition of a Christian?  I can’t tell you how many times I have heard people say that a Christian is someone who goes to church, believes in God, prays, goes to communion, reads the Bible and gives their offering.  Is that all there is?   Can it really be that simple? 

                When the rich young man asked Jesus what he must do to inherit eternal life, Jesus asked him, “What us written in the law?”  The man answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.”  Jesus said, “You have given the right answer; do this, and you will live.”  Problem solved, right?  But no… not for the young man.  He didn’t get it, so he asked one more question of Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”  He knew what to do, but he did not know how to do it, or for whom.

                In his letter to the Galatians, St. Paul contrasted the desires of the flesh – fornication, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these – with the fruits of the Spirit – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.  Demonstrating these qualities shows we are Christians.  But can’t non-Christians also show these same qualities, just as Christians can fall prey to the desires of the flesh?  How can we identify the real Christian?    

                The apostle James writes that “faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.”  That statement can cause problems for us, because it can lead us to think that it is our own good deeds that make us right with God.  We Lutherans believe that it is God’s grace that saves us, it is our faith that believes we are saved, and our good works that show our thanks for such grace and salvation.  James is saying that if we don’t have outward demonstration of thanksgiving, our faith is an empty one.  In short, how will people know you are a Christian?   James gives a list of things we should do to demonstrate that we are Jesus people – practice self-control, watch our tongues, do good works with “gentleness born of wisdom”, do not be bitter or boastful or ambitious or rude, practice peace, submit ourselves to God, and lay hands on and pray for one another.  Again, James convicts us by our lack of good works of faith. 

                At his final Passover celebration, Jesus gathered with his disciples in an upstairs room in Jerusalem.  As they sat together at the table, Jesus “…got up from the table, took off his outer robe, and tied a towel around himself. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel that was tied around him.”  They had traveled a long distance together in their few years together.  They had learned at Jesus’ feet to believe in his divine connection with God, as well as how to be Jesus’ hands to all of God’s children.  They’d just had an exciting, turbulent week in the Holy City beginning with Jesus’ triumphal entry and followed by his last-minute instructions and even a rampage in the Temple.  They were convinced more than ever that Jesus indeed was the Messiah.  It was all happening so quickly that they hardly had time to process its meaning.  And here, at the Passover Seder, when they were each others’ family for the holy meal, Jesus surprised them again by taking off his royal messianic robe and taking the posture of a servant to wash their tired, dirty feet.  Why on earth would their heavenly king wash their feet?

                After he finished with their feet, put his robe back on and returned to the table, Jesus asked, “Do you know what I have done to you?  If I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.  For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you.”  After all that they had learned from him, he left them with this command, “Wash each other’s feet.”  What did this mean?  Jesus went on, “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 there we have it, folks.  We can memorize the Ten Commandments and the 613 Levitical laws. We can keep checklists of our good deeds. We can be very, very careful to watch our moral actions. We can go to church every Sunday – every day if possible. We can give lots of money to the church. We can read the Bible and pray. We can take soup to the sick and give alms to the needy. These are all good things, and we should want to do them. But on Maundy Thursday, we stop to remember how Jesus demonstrated what it means to be a Christian. A Christian washes feet. A Christian stoops to serve another. A Christian welcomes the weary with a basin of soothing warm water and a soft towel.  A Christian shows the love of God to God’s people.

Cindy Maddox has written:

                God walks beside us

                Because God has already walked before us.

                With infant feet, so much like our own,

                God stretched and touched the world

                                That had become God’s temporary home.

                With wounded feet, so much like our hearts,

                Jesus changed the world

                                That could no longer hold him.

                From a wooden stable to a wooden cross…

                From an empty tomb to my empty heart…

                Every footstep God left proclaims God’s love.

 

How does one identify a Christian?  Look for the towel.  Then look for the love behind the towel.  They will know we are Christians by our love.

 

Shall we pray:  O that we would have the humility to accept your sacrificial love for us!  O that we would have the courage to take up the towel of love and wash one another’s weary feet!  O that we would have the strong measure of gratitude to let the rest of the world know that we are Christians by our love. Thank you, our Lord, for Jesus’ life, love, body and blood, given for our sake.  Amen  

 

   

 

   

 

 

Exodus 12:1-14

    The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt: [2] This month shall mark for you the beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year for you. [3] Tell the whole congregation of Israel that on the tenth of this month they are to take a lamb for each family, a lamb for each household. [4] If a household is too small for a whole lamb, it shall join its closest neighbor in obtaining one; the lamb shall be divided in proportion to the number of people who eat of it. [5] Your lamb shall be without blemish, a year-old male; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats… [7] They shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it. [8] They shall eat the lamb that same night; they shall eat it roasted over the fire with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. [9] Do not eat any of it raw or boiled in water, but roasted over the fire, with its head, legs, and inner organs. [10] You shall let none of it remain until the morning; anything that remains until the morning you shall burn. [11] This is how you shall eat it: your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it hurriedly. It is the passover of the Lord. [12] For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike down every firstborn in the land of Egypt, both human beings and animals; on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the Lord. [13] The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you live: when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague shall destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt. [14] This day shall be a day of remembrance for you. You shall celebrate it as a festival to the Lord; throughout your generations you shall observe it as a perpetual ordinance.

   

Psalm 116:1-19

    I love the Lord, because he has heard

        my voice and my supplications.

    [2] Because he inclined his ear to me,

       therefore I will call on him as long as I live.

    [3] The snares of death encompassed me;

        the pangs of Sheol laid hold on me;

        I suffered distress and anguish.

    [4] Then I called on the name of the Lord:

        "O Lord, I pray, save my life!"

 

    [5] Gracious is the Lord, and righteous;

        our God is merciful.

    [8] For you have delivered my soul from

 death,

        my eyes from tears,

        my feet from stumbling.

    [9] I walk before the Lord

        in the land of the living.

 

  

 

    [10] I kept my faith, even when I said,

        "I am greatly afflicted";

    [11] I said in my consternation,

        "Everyone is a liar."

 

    [12] What shall I return to the Lord

        for all his bounty to me?

    [13] I will lift up the cup of salvation

        and call on the name of the Lord,

    [14] I will pay my vows to the Lord

        in the presence of all his people.

    [15] Precious in the sight of the Lord

        is the death of his faithful ones.

    [16] O Lord, I am your servant;

 I am your servant, the child of your serving girl.

        You have loosed my bonds.

    [17] I will offer to you a thanksgiving sacrifice

        and call on the name of the Lord.

    Praise the Lord!

 

 

 

 

 

 

1 Cor. 11:23-34

    For I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took a loaf of bread, [24] and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, "This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me." [25] In the same way he took the cup also, after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me." [26] For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.

   

John 13:1-17, 31-35

    Now before the festival of the Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart from this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. [2] The devil had already put it into the heart of Judas son of Simon Iscariot to betray him. And during supper [3] Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going to God, [4] got up from the table, took off his outer robe, and tied a towel around himself. [5] Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel that was tied around him. [6] He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, "Lord, are you going to wash my feet?" [7] Jesus answered, "You do not know now what I am doing, but later you will understand." [8] Peter said to him, "You will never wash my feet." Jesus answered, "Unless I wash you, you have no share with me." [9] Simon Peter said to him, "Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!" [10] Jesus said to him, "One who has bathed does not need to wash, except for the feet, but is entirely clean. And you are clean, though not all of you." [11] For he knew who was to betray him; for this reason he said, "Not all of you are clean."

    [12] After he had washed their feet, had put on his robe, and had returned to the table, he said to them, "Do you know what I have done to you? [13] You call me Teacher and Lord--and you are right, for that is what I am. [14] So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. [15] For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you. [16] Very truly, I tell you, servants are not greater than their master, nor are messengers greater than the one who sent them. [17] If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them.

    When he had gone out, Jesus said, "Now the Son of Man has been glorified, and God has been glorified in him. [32] If God has been glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself and will glorify him at once. [33] Little children, I am with you only a little longer. You will look for me; and as I said to the Jews so now I say to you, 'Where I am going, you cannot come.' [34] I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. [35] By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another."