Dead End. Emphasis on Dead

John 13:1-17, 31b-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. The devil had already put it into the heart of Judas son of Simon Iscariot to betray him. And during supper Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going to God, 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. He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?” Jesus answered, “You do not know now what I am doing, but later you will understand.” Peter said to him, “You will never wash my feet.” Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no share with me.” Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!” 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.” For he knew who was to betray him; for this reason he said, “Not all of you are clean.” 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? You call me Teacher and Lord—and you are right, for that is what I am. So 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. Very truly, I tell you, servants are not greater than their master, nor are messengers greater than the one who sent them. 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. If God has been glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself and will glorify him at once. 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.’ 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.”

There was not ONE person in the room that night who was unaware of what was happening around them in their world.  As clearly as YOU can see what is happening in the world around YOU tonight, THEY could see clearly what was happening around THEM in THEIR world.  It’s not that they were clairvoyant, any more than any of us are, but they could do the math.  You add one ruthless empire with the world’s largest military to a group of sellout religious leaders focused primarily on their own wealth and power and then you try to divide that by a rural preacher who proclaims a God of non-violence, love, compassion, mercy, and justice… and well, that math just isn’t gonna math, is it?  The answer to that equation isn’t going to be something we find on the other side of the equal sign.  The answer to that equation will be violently removing the rural preacher from the equation entirely! 

Everyone in that room could see that far ahead, but no further.  Beyond that it didn’t look like there WAS any future.  It was like a blind ally… a complete and total dead end… with the emphasis very much on DEAD.  So what do you do when you face what looks like a solid brick wall, dead end future?  How do you go on working and acting and being in the world when the Way you've been following is now completely blocked?  

Peter went with denial… its not just a river in Egypt you know.  Cutting off an ear is an idea.  Judas went with “if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em” which continues to be a popular strategy even today.  Still others handled this dead end by locking the doors, turning off the lights, and pulling the blankets up over their heads.  I’ve been very tempted to just throw up my  hands and hit the road… I hear Emmaus is lovely this time of year.

Jesus knew his disciples would be stuck as they faced a future that looked like a total solid, no way out, dead end.  That’s why on this night Jesus told his disciples… his disciples then and us disciples now… HOW to get through those times that look for all the world like a totally solid, no way out, dead end. Jesus told his disciples there was no need to give up.  Lashing out, violence, and revenge were not the answer.  He didn’t suggest finding someone to blame or point fingers at and he didn’t recommend lying in bed with the covers permanently pulled up over our heads… no matter how good that might sound!  Instead… Jesus says, when you look at the world and all you can see in front of you is a bricked off blind ally dead end of a future… THAT… THAT… IS WHEN YOU MOVE THROUGH that bricked off, blind ally, dead end of a future BY LOVING ONE ANOTHER.  

It wasn't a suggestion.  This was Jesus’s final command.  LOVE ONE ANOTHER.  When the road ahead is impossibly, completely, and totally blocked, love one another.  When the witness of the Messiah and the prophets… the witness for justice, mercy, and empathy is labeled as SIN… LOVE ONE ANOTHER.  When the sacrificial love of neighbor is demonized… LOVE ONE ANOTHER.  When the world is going completely, profoundly, unbelievably, maddeningly off the rails…  LOVE ONE ANOTHER.  When every logical calculation, reasonable thought, notion of justice, professionally researched conclusion and time tested truth is being replaced by hatred, conspiracy theories, violence, lies, ignorance, and just plain ugliness… when all that is happening… THAT is when we must come together and LOVE ONE ANOTHER.  When we look into the future and all that we had expected and hoped for and planned for has been replaced by a bricked up blind ally with no room to turn around… Jesus tells us THE way to deal with that… is to LOVE ONE ANOTHER.  

Tomorrow we will hear the story of our God’s PASSION.  It is the story of the Way of Jesus… (the Way of love, diversity, compassion, justice, radical inclusion, equity and mercy)… dramatically colliding with the dead end, brick wall, blind ally Way of Empire… (the way of hatred, power, might makes right, marginalization, and violence.)  Tomorrow we will hear the story of just how much the Way of Empire DESPISES the Way of Love… LOATHES the Way of Love… HATES the Way of Love… the Jesus Way… We’ll see that the Way of Empire HATES the Jesus Way…THIS much!  (stretch out arms)  

But in tonight's story… even though they all see it coming… Jesus doesn’t stop the Way of Jesus and the Way of Empire from colliding.  Instead, Jesus tells his disciples then and his disciples now HOW we are to live through those horrible times.  For genuine disciples of Jesus there is just ONE way.  Love one another.  With maximum humility we are to start with our neighbors that the world sees as the least, the last, and the lost, and we are to sacrificially love one another.  We are to sacrifice our own egos and put what is in the OTHER’S best interest before our own.  THAT is what it means to love one another.

Love is the Way through.  Not just the way through Jesus’ Passion two thousand years ago, but love is the way through every seemingly hopeless solid brick wall dead end that people of Faith encounter throughout history.  SO, when you open your window and look outside… when you open WINDOWS and look outside, and when all you can see is what looks like a completely, impossibly, wrecked future, a total blind ally, and an absolute dead end… with an emphasis on dead… remember for yourself and do the kindness of reminding one another what Jesus told us about how we are to live through times like these… We are to love one another.  Love one another.  LOVE ONE ANOTHER.  Amen.