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A sermon preached by the Reverend Stanley A. Dubowski

God is making all things new!! A new heaven and a new earth are emerging. The home of God is among mortals. God will dwell with us. The resurrection of Jesus is just a preview of coming attractions—so to speak.

"Death will be no more; mourning and crying and weeping will be no more…"

This morning we hear the ongoing revelation of God's ongoing revolution.¹ And we learn that we are expected to join God's revolution if we are to be followers of Jesus. We live in a broken world, broken by our own actions and now we have a chance to change all that and we have the grace and guidance of God to assist us.

So, just what is God's revolution? It is really pretty simple: the new heaven and the new earth are meant to be inhabited by everyone without exception and we are called to make that a reality by acts of selfless love given to all—friend and foe and stranger.

Can you imagine being invited to a picnic or dinner party by someone really important to you and then refusing to eat anything that has been served? What Peter did wasn't quite like that but you get my drift. In a vision, Peter gets served a very unusual kind of picnic from God and Peter refuses to eat what is served up and he refuses three times because the food is ritually unclean despite God telling him that what God has made clean must not be called profane.

Peter eventually gets the message, he finally sees and understands the new thing God is doing, he comes to understands that Jesus was very, very serious about salvation being for everyone. In this vision, Peter sees that the removal of the ritual food restrictions is God's sign that the Gentiles really are included in the new covenant established by Jesus. Salvation is for all.

Back in Jerusalem after a trip to visit believers who lived outside of Israel, Peter was criticized for mingling and eating with the Gentiles. He was well aware that the Jews and Gentiles didn't mingle. There was a deeply rooted religious segregation at the time. I'm sorry to say but wherever you go in today's world you will still find segregation and bigotry around issues of religious beliefs or national origin or gender or sexual orientation or physical appearance or any variety of differences. And we use those differences to divide those who are "like us" from those who are not like us. Centuries after Jesus tried to teach us and centuries after Peter's vision and we have not managed to reach a point where we can live together as one family because we look at each other and we see differences—and we let those differences divide us and split our community.

God's revolution continues to be revealed. And what seems to be the toughest part of the revolution for us to understand and accept is the rather simple fact that God's new heaven and new earth includes everyone.

This morning we have the ongoing revelation of God's ongoing revolution—a revolution that we are expected to join. The call to join God's revolution is summed up in the mandate, the new commandment that Jesus issues:

… love one another. Just as I have loved you, you should love one another.

Before we get into the mandate itself we need to back up a little to understand just how serious Jesus was and just how revolutionary and extensive this mandate is.

In the Gospel just before that part we heard this morning, the part here Jesus issues this mandate to love one another, the part we didn't hear today tells a story of Jesus acting outrageously—yet again. Just before Jesus issued this mandate to love, Jesus washed the feet of the disciples. The Gospel records Peter's discomfort with this markedly unusual act of physical intimacy between this leader, this rabbi and his followers. Let's face it; no matter how you look at it, washing another adult is an intimate act.

Back then feet were washed by servants if you had them, if not, you did your own. You can bet that leaders of any ilk did not wash the feet of their followers. So this foot washing is a very outrageous act to say the least. And washing feet is not done routinely in our society. So the notion of washing feet is strange and I dare say that it is even a bit uncomfortable for us.

Despite the breach of social acceptability and the discomfort it caused, Jesus was very clear that night: feet would be washed and he would personally do the washing. By the way, if you aren't familiar with this particular part of the Gospel, after Peter recovers from the shock, his feet are washed by Jesus.

So, after washing the disciples' feet, Jesus really tries to make it clear that, in spite of being their teacher, in spite of being their leader, he has just served them; he has been the servant to his followers. He has done this for them and now they are to follow his example—they too must be prepared to serve one another as he has done throughout his adult life—and that includes being prepared to wash one another's feet if necessary.

Following Jesus involves more than being a Jesus groupie, it takes more than just hopping on the Salvation bus.

Just as I have loved you, you should love one another.
By this everyone will know that you are my disciples…

Through his actions, Jesus makes it clear that loving one another means serving, caring for, doing what is necessary for one another even if it means doing unpleasant things like washing someone's feet. Christianity is a way of life. The church part, the institutional religion part of being a Christian is the foundation of the Christian community; the church is the keeper of the communal history and the guidelines for Christian behavior. Belonging to the church provides a home base and support that enables and energizes us so that we can love others as Jesus loved us. Simply put that means the church is here to enable us and to remind us that we are to do good works not just think good thoughts.

Franz Kafka was a rather prolific author. My only experience of his writing happened when I was in high school. We were read his book, The Metamorphosis. It was a very strange book to say the least. I didn't know much about the author other than this strange story about a man who wakes up one morning to find that he has changed into an insect. So I was surprised when I read that he was quite a compassionate and even funny man.

Near the end of his life, while he was dying of tuberculosis, Kafka met a little girl on the street who was crying because she'd lost her doll. He talked to her and explained that although the doll had gone away, he just happened to have met it a few minutes ago and the doll had promised to write to the little girl as it traveled. During the weeks that followed that encounter on the street, Kafka wrote letters to the little girl in which he told the doll's travel stories and adventure, detailing all sorts of interesting experiences.

Each of us must learn how to love in our own, unique way. We can offer a kind word, listen to the troubles of someone when we'd rather be out doing something else, offer a helping hand, or even ease the pain of a child who has lost a treasured toy. The bottom line is that loving one another by serving one another, even when it may be uncomfortable or downright unpalatable, is what we Christians are called to do.

God really is doing a new thing and the revolution that Jesus started must be carried out by those of us who follow him. His message in this morning Gospel portion always reminds me of the old hymn: They will know we are Christians by our love.

The love we show one another is all that matters to God and the display of that love lets the world know who we are. And we must remember that love requires action. So we need to emulate the compassion, the empathy of Jesus in our day-to-day interactions and encounters with one another and with every one we meet. We need to reach out to help one another drawing on the unending grace and guidance of God which is freely given to enable us to minister to one another's needs. We need to be ready and able to be kind and gracious especially when we don't feel it is warranted.

Jesus, God incarnate, washed the feet of the disciples. To participate in God's salvation plan means that we have to follow Jesus and we must follow his example.

Because of God's unlimited saving grace and mercy, we have been released from servitude in whatever Egypt we've inhabited. We do not live in servitude any more but we are now free to serve, free to lend a helping hand to one another. The life and health of the community are dependent on all of us working together, helping one another.

Life as a Christian, as a follower of the Christ, can only be lived out in community—amidst all the pain and suffering and brokenness. Christianity, as demonstrated by Jesus and seen in Acts, isn't about piety but is about being actively involved:

Feet do need washing and food does need to be prepared.

Both require hands on action.

God's new thing, God's revolution has been initiated. We must roll up our sleeves and get busy—today.

As we prepare to celebrate the Eucharist and share Holy Communion, pause and reflect on just how ready you are to share the sacrament of bread and wine mindful of the role that each of you plays in the life of the community—in your families, our faith community here, in your neighborhoods, workplace, state, country, and in the world. Through our weekly gathering and liturgical celebration we are nourished by our loving God. Each time we gather to share this sacramental meal we should be mindful of, ready, and willing to go out and care for—and, yes, even wash the feet when necessary—of those who are in need—without any reservation or exception.

Just as I have loved you, you should love one another.
By this everyone will know that you are my disciples…

A new heaven and a new earth are emerging. God's revolution continues to be revealed to us. Are we ready to follow Jesus? Are we ready to be part of God's revolution? Are we ready to see and serve Christ in everyone we meet?

That old hymn seems to pose a question that hangs in the air here this morning:

Will they know we are Christians by our love?

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