John 13:21-35

Earlier this year I visited my sister in her home. It’s a really cute home. It tells you a lot about her family as most homes will tell you about the people who live there. They love the ocean. Lots of lighthouses and seashells and dolphins. She and her husband have two boys. Lots of pictures of the boys everywhere. Artwork on the refrigerator. A playroom full of toys. Nothing breakable down at low levels that their cute little hands could reach and smash. She is the most well organized person I know – so even when I show up unannounced, everything is in it’s place. Even the 5 year old know not to put the hotwheels in the same box with the dinosaurs.

But the last time I went for a visit something was different. There was an enormous wooden cross hanging in the living room. She said they had gotten it on their last cruise. Somewhere in Mexico. It really was beautiful. Something I would hang in my house. I have quite a few things from my travels to Mexico, but for some reason it looked a bit out of place in her home, not quite her style, so I asked her what drew her to it.

She told me that it occurred to her recently that if someone came into their house, there was no way that the visitor would be able to tell they were Christians – just by looking around. And this disturbed her.

Isn’t that an interesting thought? I immediately told her, of course, that anyone she invited to her house she would have talked to for about 5 minutes at least, and that’s how they would know she was a Christian. They wouldn’t need to see her house to know. If you ever met my sister, you would agree.

But I’m not trying to belittle my sister’s idea in the slightest. I have a wall full of crosses, a sign that says “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord” right by the door, another that proclaims “Dios es amor”, an El Salvadorian carving of the Last Supper, a black and white photo of an Italian Duomo, a small statue of La Pieta from the Vatican, 3 icons, – and you know the list goes on. That’s just a few things I could see from my computer. It’s silly. I have so many, so many “signs” in my house that say “A Christian” lives here. I bet we could all have a competition around here – who’s got the most Christian symbols in their home?

But how many people do we invite into our homes? How many people really see all of our symbols? And what do these symbols tell them? That we are Christians? What the heck does that mean? What should it mean?

In the 4 th gospel’s version of the last supper – Jesus tells his disciples that they are to love one another as he loved them. That is how the world will know that they are his disciples. Ok, so how did Christ love them? That might be too scary a question to ask. But we have to ask it. I found the answer in an unlikely place this past summer.

I visited with a man for a short while, I’ll call him Jason. Jason was a rough kinda guy. You know, a bit of heavy drinking and bar fights was a normal weekend routine. A little bit of getting high. This was just simply cutting loose from mediocre, boring jobs and never having enough money. He was Catholic but didn’t go to church. On one of these weekends – when he was just relaxing shaking off the cares of the world a bit, he got in a fight with his brother. Who really knows who started it anymore? Jason says it was about a girl. But the point is, Jason’s brother stabbed him, twice. In the torso. And left him for dead. I met him about a year later. He was feeling some stress about this situation because he had not completely forgiven his brother in his heart – but he had the desire to. Even though his brother had never asked for forgiveness. His brother was still there – in the family. Even very much there for Jason – through his recovery. But he didn’t ask for forgiveness. And this bothered Jason. But Jason loved his brother. Had broken bread with his brother many times since the incident. I would say he had done much more than many people could do. Than many Christians could do. He wanted to be completely healed of any hatred towards his brother. He said that’s what was really hurting him, not the actual knife wounds that were still there. I pretty much was dumbstruck as he told me his story.

Something like that is what Jesus was talking about. That is how Jesus loved his disciples. How Jesus loves us. A radical kind of love that leaves most of us dumbstruck. Jesus loved all his disciples even though they would fail him, deny him, and betray him. Jesus tells his beloved disciple right here in this passage – I’m going to give a piece of bread to the one who will betray me. He might have even said it loud enough for others to have heard. Who knows? He shares the bread with his betrayer. Then sends him out into the night. Does anyone stop him? No. The text says that none of them knows what is going on. They all fail him. Even the beloved disciple. Definitely Judas. But Jesus has just washed all of their feet. Showing them how to take care of each other. Jesus has just given bread to the one who let him down in the most obvious way. And Jesus will lay down his life for all of them.

This is a radical love. This is the true eucharist. You might have noticed that this is the only gospel that does not have the institution of the Lord’s Supper. They are at a last meal. But he does not give them the words and share the cup and say do this in remembrance of me. What does happen here in this version, I believe, is a radical look at the eucharist. Jesus shares the bread with his betrayer. And gives the commandment – this is how you are to love one another. If all we do is go to this altar in our chapels and churches and drink our wine and eat our bread and say the words of the institution narrative, then all we are doing is drinking wine and eating bread. The Eucharist is radical. When we say the peace – we have to say peace to everyone at least in our hearts that we are at odds with, even if they don’t want peace with us. Even if we can’t do it completely – or we are just drinking wine and eating bread. If we can’t take the Eucharist outside these walls and live a life of radical love, then we are just drinking wine and eating bread.

No matter what your friends have done – there is never a point at which you stop loving them. That is how the world will know we are Christians. That we are disciples of Christ.

When we can love the Judases in our midst – which are all of us at some point or another, then we can be the models of Christians to the world that we are meant to be. It’s easy to love someone that has done no wrong. Or has done no wrong to you. But love the person who has stabbed you in the back. Love the person who feeds you to the wolves, steals what it yours, says terrible, hurtful things to you or about you, lets you down when you need them, forgets about you, denies you even exist. Love that person. Make peace with that person even if they have no desire to make peace with you. Give them what is yours – your love. Then you will be a Christian that the world can recognize.