LENT EDITION: JOHN 13-21
Week 1: BOTH/AND….HOLD THEM IN TENSION.. 

There were a few phrases that got us through theological college.

“It’s a mystery” or “God wins” if we didn’t know the answer.

“Hold that in tension” when something was not clear cut. And little was!

It’s said that we should not preach resurrection on Good Friday (let alone Holy Saturday when the disciples were completely lost as the enormity of the previous days events sank in). Good Friday is about the sacrifice. We need to sit at the foot of the cross in awe and thankfulness and absorb some of the apparent hopelessness the witnesses felt on that day.

It is through this lens of hopelessness that Easter amazement and joy is magnified. We cannot be complacent about Sunday resurrection if we have lived the Friday desperation. We need both….And.

We need to hold them in tension.

I recently preached a Midweek sermon * on shame. We are called to neither be shameless, for “all fall short of the glory of God” (Rom 3:23) nor hold onto shame. That is the point of the cross. Shame is taken away. But we need to know that we should be ashamed, sinners before God, before release from sin and freedom. We need Friday to appreciate Sunday. We hold them in tension.

This is important as we approach Lent.

Lent is traditionally a time for self-reflection and the Church of England has inherited a tradition of penance. We begin the season with Ash Wednesday. The service on that day is somber and reflective and penitential, imposing the mark of the cross on the forehead with ashes, a mark of repentance, self-reflection and seeking forgiveness.

However, we hold this in tension with the idea that the 40 day Lenten period a mirror to Jesus’ time of preparation in the wilderness immediately after his baptism. It was a time of fasting. It was a time of temptation. It was a time when, moved by the spirit, Jesus prepared for his public ministry, which explodes in Luke's gospel with his proclamation of the Isaiah 61 manifesto in the synagogue (Luke 4).

So, if Lent is a time of preparation, how does Jesus prepare us? Well we can look to John’s Gospel for a clue. Chapters 13-17 are known as the Upper Room Discourse. Jesus prepares the disciples for what is to come. Over this Lent period this blog will explore that preparation and what followed. We will be reflecting on what this might mean for us in the coming weeks and months.  In preparation for what we hope are looser restrictions from lockdown, what might our Lent Preparation Lessons (or Prep talks) be?

Chapter 13 is famous for Jesus washing the feet of the disciples. This is about service and the disciples learning by example – “he now showed them the full extent of his love” (13:1).  Later, Jesus gives his new command,  “Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another” (13:34-35)

In a recent bible-study I saw this scripture in a new light. Verse 3 says “Jesus knew that the father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; so he got up from the meal….” We know what happens next. He washes their feet.

Jesus goes on to say “You do not realise now what I am doing for you but later you will understand….Unless I wash you, you will have no part with me.”

Part of what?

Part of “all things under his power”…” that come from God”?

Feet of course carry the body from here to there.

Is this then, not just an act of service that was to be emulated, but an anointing to “Go”. A commissioning. A preparation ritual for the ones who would become the church? To carry the things “under his power”.

“Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them” (v17) , Jesus said.

We usually interpret this as serving others. Doing acts of service. Meeting material needs. Listening. Caring. Loving.

But what if it is these things and more?

Part in his power?

Peter it was whose feet were being washed. Initially, he refused. Jesus gently persuaded him saying a bath was not enough to be clean, his feet needed to be washed. Peter later instructed the churches under his care with these words “10 Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms. 11 If anyone speaks, they should do so as one who speaks the very words of God. If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.” (1 Peter 4:10-11)

Prep talk 1: Receive God’s anointing, in power, for his service and glory.

Blessings all

Doug

vicar@christchurchpurley.org.uk

*https://bit.ly/3qwslz0  or check out the podcast