In the fall of 1862, the United States was reeling from one defeat after another at the hands of the Confederate Army under the leadership of General Robert E. Lee. European powers such as England and France were anxious to recognize the Confederacy, in part to discomfit the upstart United States and partly to be able to traffic in the coveted cotton needed by their textile mills.
General George McClellan of the Union, having amassed an enormous army, convinced himself over and over that Lee's forces were greater. As President Lincoln fumed, the man who was a national hero refused to attack.
Meanwhile, Lincoln struggled over when to release his Emancipation Proclamation. The European powers wanted to recognize the rebellion, but if he could declare slaves in the rebellion states free he would be able to reframe the war as a crusade against slavery. They would have no choice but to stay neutral. For that he needed a victory for political cover, and a victory with such a general wasn't forthcoming.
In the fall of 1862, General Lee began a campaign through Maryland, hoping to destabilize a southern state that had stayed with the Union. However, on September 10, Lee's plans fell into the lap of General McClelland. A soldier found three cigars on which were written Lee's orders. McClelland crowed that with these in hand he would able to defeat "Bobby Lee."
The forces met near Sharpsburg, Maryland. What followed was the Battle of Antietam, the bloodiest single day in American history. Over 23,000 died. Photographs by James Gardner of dead bodies in the Bloody Lane or in front of the Dunker Church suddenly made the war real.
It was a victory. Barely, but it was enough. Lincoln had the political cover he needed to release the Emancipation Proclamation, and England and France were unable to recognize the Confederacy.
And yet — McClelland, still believing in the numerical superiority of the force he had just defeated (in reality the Confederates were always outnumbered) did not pursue the defeated Army of Northern Virginia. Many experts think he could have ended the war by following up his advantage. The Confederates were able to limp across the Potomac River to safety, infuriating the president and leading eventually to McClelland's ouster.
McClelland had the plan. He knew what forces Lee had and where he was heading. Yet he could not follow a simple plan that would have ended the war, which then dragged on for three more bloody years.
It's easy to look back in history and see what people ought to have done. We can replay key events and point out how extremely simple the solution was and criticize those on the ground with the benefit of hindsight.
How about our own celestial Civil War? Is not humanity, to one way of thinking, in open rebellion against the kingdom of heaven? How many churches, even as we profess that Jesus is Lord, put themselves first, engaging in infighting, backstabbing, and plotting?
More important, we are in possession of all the information we need to win. We know what it takes to win a great victory over the world. Will we follow through with the battle plan, or will fatigue, cowardice, or exhaustion prevent us from achieving this great thing?
Today's scripture passage is short, but there's a lot there. And it's simple. John the Evangelist knew he had an important message, and he chose to write it in the world language of his day, Koine Greek. Koine Greek was not fancy Greek. It wasn't literary Greek. It was letter writing Greek, receipt writing Greek, business Greek. Greek was everyone's second language in the first Christian century.
John's Greek is very simple and his vocabulary is limited. It seems likely that this was his second language. The result is that he tells the story very clearly so that even folks like me, who need to have very simple instructions in order to operate a television with DVR and satellite, can follow along.
This passage is an integral part of John's account of the Last Supper. The chapter begins: "Now before the festival of the Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart from this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end" (John 13:1). Love is central to the verse. Jesus is about to demonstrate what love means — first in the upper room, and then on the cross. This love is going to be demonstrated in the face of and despite an agonizing betrayal. Judas is mentioned in the second verse, and again in today's passage when John states, "When he had gone out ..." (v. 31).
The "he" in question is Judas. Judas has left the building. Jesus knows that evil will soon have its way. One he has trusted has set out on a terrible task, and everything is about to fall apart.
Yet Jesus says,
Now the Son of Man has been glorified, and God has been glorified in him. If God has been glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself and will glorify him at once. — John 13:31-32
Glorify is a wonderful word, but the glory will come in being raised up for all to see on the terrible cross. Surely the disciples had looked toward a worldly definition of glory, and had thought that God's entrance into history would mean driving the Romans to the sea, freeing their land of temporal enemies, and establishing the political reign of God's anointed one.
But Jesus had demonstrated at this Last Supper what love means with the foot washing. It was customary to bathe before arriving at a dinner, but people walked barefoot or in sandals; so they would arrive at the home of their host with dirty feet.
Generally there were basins for people to wash their own feet. A slave could be forced to do this menial task — and it was considered very demeaning to do this. But according to biblical scholar John Christopher Thomas, there is no record anywhere in the ancient world of a superior washing the feet of an inferior — nowhere. When Jesus girded himself with a towel and washed the feet of his disciples before the Love Feast they were shocked — scandalized. Most of them sat silent, not sure what to say. Only Peter could bring himself to protest. Jesus made it clear that if anyone wanted to be a disciple of his, they needed to be ready to do the same.
This scene shows us that there is nothing love is not willing to do for the beloved. Caregivers know this, as they share times of service and ministry in the most gut-wrenching of circumstances. Love is not just the subject of valentines and little pink cherubic angels with stubby wings. Love is for the tough times, the real times.
Having shown them what love means, Jesus wanted to say something about it as well. After addressing his good friends as "little children" (here it is worth nothing that maybe we ought to be insulted to be identified as little children, were it not for the fact that it is as children we are to accept the gospel), Jesus proceeded to explain in very simple language that he was going away. "... I am with you only a little longer. You will look for me; and as I said to the Jews so now I say to you, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come' " (v. 33).
If these words puzzled them they did not say. Then Jesus continued:
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. — John 13:34-35
We might ask, how is this a new commandment? Leviticus 19 is known as the holiness code. "Holy" is a word that means "separate or different." In that passage God tells the people, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself" (Leviticus 19:18), words that we know better for the fact that Jesus quoted them as part of the greatest commandment. Nor would an ancient hearer of this passage require a Pharisee to ask a clarifying question like "Who exactly is my neighbor?" Later in the chapter we read "you shall love the alien as yourself," a reminder that outsiders in our midst are part of our community.
What makes this commandment new is that now these are no longer just words that come from above. These words are being lived before us. Jesus said they are to love one another "as I have loved you." Washing the feet of his disciples was only a start. They were probably still reeling from that. But they were about to be confronted by the ultimate act of love — the cross.
That's the simple plan. That's the secret we've stumbled on. That's the message that has been decoded and dropped into our lap. We are to love one another as Jesus as loved us. That's how they'll know we belong to Jesus, "if you have love for one another."
I wish this was more difficult. I wish it was harder because we'd have an excuse. I wish there were a number of steps we'd have to go through, levels of secret knowledge we'd have to be initiated in, or training we'd have to endure under blessed masters. Not that Christian education is a bad idea. Not that workshops don't benefit us. Not that continued and regular Bible study doesn't strengthen us. But this is simple.
The world is in rebellion against the kingdom of God. The rebels have an able general who has been able to redefine bad as good, sin as attractive, atrocity as pragmatic. Their leader has won many victories. In response we have been overwhelmingly cautious.
Are we ready to live this simple plan of practicing sacrificial love for each other and for the world? Or are we just going to talk a good game.
During the early days of the World Council of Churches, one of the delegates, M. R. Zigler of Virginia, stood up and made a proposal — that the Christians of the world resolve not to kill each other. Zigler was much beloved by the other delegates and admired for the many service programs he had administered in post-war Europe that had brought relief and healing to so many. Yet though he was given a respectful hearing, there was not a second to his motion.
This is not meant as a criticism of the WCC. It's the same everywhere. Christians are not willing to pledge that they will truly live the Sermon on the Mount, returning good for evil, turning the other cheek, and pledging not to kill in the name of Christ.
So there it is. The key to success has been thrust into our hands. We've found the key — to love one another with a sacrificial love that will stop at nothing — not at the washing of feet or other menial tasks, not even at the cross itself.
Are you ready to love the enemy to death, even if it means your own? Are you willing to answer the oft-repeated question whose answer is just as often ignored — What Would Jesus Do? Amen.
