VIDEO: “Vertical Limit”
   
A father's love for his children, even to the extent of sacrificing his own life so that his children might live. Christians speak of Jesus called the Christ as the Son of God. And as the Son of God, Jesus sacrificed his life so that all of us might live. There is a mystery in this sacrifice, and by mystery, I mean that we human beings can't fully understand the mind and the actions of God, nor the full way in which God loves us. But let's try to make some sense of this love.

We say that Jesus is the Son of God, that God created Jesus. But the fact is, all of us human beings have been created by God, and thus all of us are sons and daughters of God. It is by this relationship that we dare to call Jesus “brother.” For we are all creations of God, all of us are God's daughters and sons. Yet something sets Jesus apart from us, his brothers and sisters.

And that something is that God chose to act through Jesus in a special way, a unique way, that showed us how God would act and relate to the world and to the rest of us if God were human. In Jesus we see and experience the divine, especially in the way that God loves us, God's children. Yet that love is not just a word or an emotion as we many times use it. Our scripture is sandwiched between 2 events that show us the kind of love that Christ revealed through his life.

This first is the event of washing the feet of his disciples. On the night that Jesus was betrayed, at the supper that we celebrate as the Last Supper, Holy Communion, Jesus took a bowel of water and a towel and began to wash his disciples' feet. This surprised and shocked the disciples that Jesus would get on his knees and act like one of the lowly house servants. You see, washing feet was the job of a slave or a servant, someone who served the master of the house. The disciples would have understood if Jesus had asked them to wash his feet, for he was their master and therefore deserving of this service from those who followed him, those who were his students. But for the master to wash his disciples feet was scandalous and embarrassing. Yet Jesus had a point to make. The role of a disciple, a follower of Christ, a Christian, involves the humility of service. The Lord of Life showed God's love through humble service, through the washing of feet. Only those who truly reveal God's love will serve humanity with humility and without any reservation to do the lowliest task. Only those who serve not only reveal God's love, but show how that love is acted out.

The second event is the crucifixion. For after the last meal with his disciples, Jesus was arrested and crucified. Once again, to understand the meaning of crucifixion, we need to realize that it was a punishment reserved for the worst and lowliest of criminals, those who had rebelled against or were a threat to the Roman government. Crucifixion was a shameful death in the Roman world. Thus, one of the tasks and challenges of the first Christians was to explain how this lowly and shameful death could possibly be understood as something that God used for good. How could something so bad be good? It was here that the first Christians gave insight to this despicable act and changed its meaning. It was through the worst death that could be imagined that God conveyed a new message of love to the world. “That God loved the world so much that God gave the only son...”. By Jesus willingly going to the cross and sacrificing his life, God was able to work through a completely obedient and totally innocent man to forgive the sins of the world. The world deserved what Jesus got, but through the worst that the world could hurl at God, God turned the tables around brought something good and holy out of evil and death. So instead of humanity suffering for its own sins, God substituted the only son so that by Jesus' death we are forgiven and saved. It was an act of love, the ultimate sacrifice both on God's part and on Jesus' part. Like the sacrifice in the film clip, the sacrifice of one life so that the rest might live.

So it is that Jesus was able to say at his last supper, “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.” Just as you and I have benefitted from that sacrificial and forgiving love, that our sins have been forgiven because God took upon the divine the punishment and the shame that we humans so deserve, so we are called and expected to demonstrate that same kind of love. It is a love that is obedient, selfless, and outward directed. It is a love that puts others first, sacrificing ourselves so that others might find the grace of God in their own lives

In effect we are called to act and live as Jesus, not just offering to help others, but to love others first because God first loved us. It's the kind of love that raises others up to a higher seat of honor than ourselves. For instance, when we head some project or are involved in some program, do we make sure that we get our recognition or that we are the center of applause? Most projects and programs are a team effort, which means that many persons have made the end result possible and successful. As followers of Christ, we need to raise up everyone else for their gifts and talents and contributions and not put the spotlight on ourselves. 

Why? Because when we raise up others to glory, we are raising up God to glory. Anytime we make ourselves the center of attention, the highest step of honor, the focus of applause, we make ourselves the most important person in life. Yet, the most important being in all of creation is God.  And when we can move the focus away from ourselves, we demonstrate that all of glory should be centered on God. By giving God the glory, we once again affirm God's love and what God has done for us through Christ Jesus.

We've been given a new commandment: to love one another, because God first loved us through Christ Jesus. May we go forth as did Christ to humbly serve others in the love and grace of God so that God may be glorified and the world may be saved in Christ.