People do some really strange things to get their names into the Guinness Book of World Records. Every year, the Guinness organization publishes a book that lists the latest world records for such feats as walking the greatest distance on stilts, or eating the most M&Ms with chopsticks. Very few of us aspire to setting records like that. One particularly noteworthy entry in the 2004 edition of Guinness World Records was set on August 3, 2001, when 4,703 people participated in the world's biggest hug--that's right, I said "hug," a group hug--at a Scout event in Sweden. (1)
Perhaps some of you wish you could have been in that crowd. The world seems to be divided into people who hug and people who don't hug. (Huggers and non-huggers.) My guess is that the huggers are more emotionally healthy people than their counterparts. Imagine all the positive energy that filled the air that day at the Scout event. The world's biggest hug--except for the hug that took place that day long ago when Jesus stretched out his arms on the cross of Calvary. That was the ultimate hug. Perhaps a good way to refer to it would be that it was the hug that began all hugs, for all the love we share began with God's love.
Most of us consider a hug an act of love, and even small acts of love increase our sense of well-being and connectedness.
Nora Lacie Abell knows that her young neighbor, 12-year-old Quentin, loves her even if he can't always express it. Quentin is autistic, and because of his condition he lives in his own world and prefers to have very little emotional connection with anyone. But when Quentin wants to express his emotions to others, he finds a way to do it.
One day, Nora's husband took Quentin fishing. That night, Quentin called the Abell's home around midnight and burped out the words, "I love you." It may not have been the most conventional way to communicate his feelings, but Nora and her husband understood. Ever since that night, Quentin will occasionally call them and "burp" something into the phone. It is his own unique but effective way to express his feelings. (2)
Love doesn't have to be conventional, does it? We know it when we see it or when we feel it. We all have our unique ways of giving and receiving love.
In our Bible passage today, Jesus has a message for the disciples, and he can't afford for them to miss it. It says in John 13 verse 1 that Jesus would soon be returning to his Father. If he was ever going to imprint his message on their hearts and minds, the time had come. What exactly was that message? Here's a hint: "Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love." (NIV) That's an interesting concept-"the full extent of his love." Just what do you think he did to express the fullness of his love?
As always, Jesus chose an unconventional way to get his message across. First he took off his outer clothing and wrapped a towel around his waist. Then he filled a basin with water and began washing his disciples' feet. Is that it? Was this the last major image Jesus wanted imprinted on his followers' minds? Yes, actually it was. It was an image that they would never forget, an image that would forever shape their identities as followers of Christ. It was an image that would change the world.
When Jesus knelt down to wash his disciples' feet, he wasn't just showing them what to do; he was showing them who he was. As I John 4: 8 says, "God is love."
A young girl came home one day bursting with good news. "Mom, I know why we had to learn grammar!" she exclaimed. "It's so we can understand God."
Her mom gave her a puzzled look, so the young girl explained. "God is love, and love can be a noun, an adjective, an adverb, or a verb." (3) What a powerful concept! Love isn't just a vague feeling. It is an action, an attitude, a spirit, and a character trait.
Since Jesus was filled with the Spirit of God, his every attitude, thought, word, and deed was motivated by love. He was motivated completely and without reservation by love.
Whatever is most integral to our identity will be expressed in our actions, for it is almost impossible to live any other way. We engage in petty sniping, ego trips, controlling and manipulative behavior, and even violence against our closest friends and family members--and dare to call it love. The violent husband snarls, "I wouldn't have gone so crazy and done what I did if I didn't love you so much!" How many abusers have used that lie to manipulate their victims? Sometimes our concept of love can be so perverted.
Hallmark should publish a greeting card with a picture of dirty feet on it. Then we would know what love is. People who are doing marketing for diamonds might think about showing story lines of husbands and wives washing one another's feet. That would actually depict love in action. We have such an odd view of what love is that we're confused whenever we're confronted with the real thing. What does it mean that Jesus washed his disciples' feet? Only the purest love can humble itself to that extent, and that kind of love can only come through Jesus' Spirit. Jesus wasn't just saying, "Do as I do." He was telling his disciples, "Be who I am. Have a spirit and character of love."
Just as purity was the highest calling of Jewish believers, so love is the highest calling of the disciple of Jesus Christ. The ten commandments were and still are today absolutely necessary for teaching us purity and godliness. But those commandments are external guidelines. Anyone can follow an external guideline without experiencing a change in his or her character. I can drive the speed limit when I have to, but only I know that I have speed in my heart. And one of these days, when I think I won't get caught, there's a better-than-average chance that I will break the speed limit again. Jesus' new commandment demanded a change of heart and mind and character. You can only fake love for so long before the strain shows through. And it is almost impossible to fake self-sacrificial, agape love; it demands too high a price.
As Pastor Tony Evans writes in his book Who Is This King of Glory?, "God's kind of love is sacrificial. If you haven't loved someone to the point of paying a price for that person, you haven't fully loved yet." (4)
What price did Jesus pay? He gave up all his power and glory in the heavens and became one of us. He experienced weakness and exhaustion and hunger and pain. He humbled himself continually to show others the incredible extent of God's love. And as final proof, he gave his life in the most painful and humiliating way possible, all to bear a burden that remains rightfully ours.
What does your love for others cost you? Love should never cost you your health, or safety, or self-respect. Those things are abuse, not love. But what does your love for others cost you? Perhaps you give up some of your self-centeredness for those you love, or you give up your own agenda, or your need for control? Do you give up your petty, me-first attitude? Do you give up some of your time, or money, or comfort level, or prejudices, or your talents and emotional resources for the sake of others? Do you even count the cost? Jesus didn't. He just said, "Not my will, but Yours be done." That's when we know that love is real: when we can say to God, "Everything I have and am is completely Yours. Use me however You see fit. How can I serve You today?"
A few years ago, Pastor Tom Severson was brutally attacked by a homeless man in his church congregation. The man slit Tom's throat and left him for dead.
According to Tom, your life really does flash in front of your eyes at a moment like this. He felt like he was seeing his life through God's perspective. And in every moment, God seemed to be saying to him, "How much love did I pour out on you? How much of it flowed out of you to others?"
Tom recalled so many instances when he had ignored his family or lacked sympathy for his church members. He realized that he hadn't lived out his highest purpose in life--to share God's love with others. Fortunately, he survived the attack, and after a few months of recovery, he returned to his church a new man. He was determined to serve others in love, just as Jesus had done for him. (5)
Thank God that Tom Severson got a second chance, for some of us don't. He had to face death before he discovered his life's greatest purpose. So did we. Galatians 2:20 says, "I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." Think about those words, "I have been crucified with Christ . . ."
If Christ lives in us, then his love will shine through us. During this Lenten season, as we remember Jesus' suffering and his sacrifice, let us also remember the love that motivated everything he did. Then let us resolve to pay the price of love in every area of our lives, and in that way live as true disciples of Christ.
1. Guinness World Records 2004, edited by Claire Folkard, et.al. (Guinness World Records Limited, 2003), p. 24.
2. By Nora Lacie Abell in Stories of God's Abundance for a More Joyful Life, compiled by Kathy Collard Miller (Lancaster, PA: Starburst Publishers, 1999), pp.4-5.
3. Emphasis, May/June 2002, p.33.
4. Tony Evans, Who Is This King of Glory? (Chicago: Moody Press, 1999), p. 74.
5. "Minutes from Death" by Tom Severson Leadership, Winter 2003, pp. 109-112.