The Primacy of Love - John 13:1-17, 31b-35
In her little book, The Primacy of Love, Ilia Delio,
a Franciscan Sister, writes that if we understand love to consist of attraction,
irresistibility and union, then, as numerous scientists such as the Jesuit
Priest, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, have concluded, Love is the passionate and
unitive source and energy of the entire universe, from the tiniest of particles
to the most passionate human beings.[i]
Arguably, Jesus is among the most passionate of human beings, and yet,
according to this evening’s Evangelist
John, Jesus, the Logos, the Word, is also the passionate Divine presence that
is the source of all creation, a Divine presence that is Love Incarnate.
We shall let theologians sort out just how this can be – but
suffice it to say, “It is!” It is the attraction of love that holds particles
together as atoms; atoms together as matter; matter attracted to matter becomes
the creative force that results in creatures like us, humans, persons created
to love one another.
Or, as Jesus says on the night before he is to be betrayed,
tortured and die upon a Roman cross, “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.”[ii]
Thanks to some like Leonardo da Vinci, we live with the
misconception that there were only twelve men sitting at table with Jesus when
he did that singular, and what must have been the most astonishing thing he had
ever done: As that earliest witness, Paul, tells it, Jesus takes bread, breaks
it, blesses it and says, “This is my body!” Again, after supper, he takes a cup
of wine, blesses it, and says, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do
this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”
Yet, in the greater narrative we call John, as chapter
twelve ends, Jesus is addressing a great crowd – a crowd of men, women, Jews
and Gentiles, believers and those curious as to what the Passover feast is all
about. And before this, a great crowd of people came with him from Galilee, and
an even greater crowd gathered at Bethany after Lazarus walked out of his four
days in a tomb! It is safe to assume that there are others in the room when Jesus
offers his body and his blood to anyone and everyone who will eat and drink at
table with him. For he who is Love knows no boundaries.
And this mixed crowd, representative of the diversity of
humankind, which in turn represents the diversity of all of creation throughout
our entire 13.4-billion-year-old universe, witnessed something even more
astonishing than bread and wine becoming body and blood. Love, the Divine
Presence, the Logos, the Word from whom all that is created, visible and
invisible, is created, takes off his outer garment, wraps a towel around his
waist, gets down on his knees and washes feet.
Make no mistake about it. He washed a lot of feet that night
before Friday, the Day of Preparation for the Passover Feast. He washed brown
feet, black feet, white feet, dusty feet, blistered and torn feet, of men, of
women, of Gentiles, of Jews, of believers and unbelievers alike. I don’t know if
we can even begin to picture the scene – but, we must. Because this is what
Love looks like – indiscriminate attraction and union with any and all persons.
Jesus recognizes the love and the dignity and the Divine presence in every
person, in every creature, in every thing in the created order.
One Sunday morning, I was singing a communion hymn in the
choir of Grace Episcopal Church, Providence, Rhode Island. Our choir director
kept us basses in the front row to keep an eye on us! We were in the chancel,
and everyone coming up for communion walked right past us. All I saw of each
person was their feet, or more specifically, their shoes. Some polished, some
worn, some new, some old, heels worn down on the outside, heels worn down on the
inside – and suddenly I had a vision of all the millions of people throughout
the ages who come to that communion rail and return to walk out the door to
love the world as Jesus loves the world. I was lost in this vision for I know
not how long. All I could think about was all those feet coming to be washed,
touched, fed and refreshed by Jesus. All those feet…
Maundy. From the Latin, mandatum – a command. A simple
commandment that evening. It can be summed up in one word. Love. Love God. Love
neighbor. Love one another. Love all others.
Sister Delio summarizes her exploration of Love like this: “…love
is the source and energy of the universe. Given the primacy of love, if we have
only one choice to make today, let us choose love, let us seek love in all
aspects of our lives. If love really is the truth of our existence and truth of
God, then may we not aim to meet the minimum requirements of love; rather, let
us love to the point of tears. Let us breathe in the pain of the world and
breathe out the goodness of love, letting go in love, from the simplest act of
gratitude, to caring for another or perhaps risking our lives for a stranger –
or better yet – loving our enemy. For every act of love is a personalization of
God, and when God is born through our lives, heaven unfolds on earth. All that
we long for and anticipate becomes a reality in this moment, in the here and
now, in every particular act of love.”[iii]
When the Bread of Life, the Bread of Love, is placed in our
hands, may we remember, if we have only one choice to make today and tomorrow,
let us choose love. Love asks us, no, commands us, to do no less. Here, now,
and everywhere. Then let our feet walk us out of here, back into the world, to
love the world as Jesus loves the world. Amen.
[i]
Delio, Ilia, The Primacy of Love (Fortress Press,Minneapolis:2022) p.17.
[ii] John
13:35
[iii]
Ibid, Delio, p.82.
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