Today is Maundy Thursday in the Holy Week tradition. Four years ago, I wrote and recorded this reflection for St. Andrew Presbyterian Church in Dearborn Heights, Michigan. If it speaks to you today, I offer to it to you. To all, please know that you are loved and absolutely worth that love. May we recall that love toward ourselves — while we are anxious in pandemic, while we are struggling economically, while we have concern for loved ones, while we seek to protect our own health. Loved, worth it, connected in it.
Having loved his own who were in the world,
Jesus loved them to the end.
Jesus knows that the end of his life is coming. In a matter of hours, he will be unjustly arrested and condemned to die a painful death. As the end of his life draws closer, with each minute of heartbreak, Jesus also knows he will soon experience betrayal and abandonment by his most beloved disciples. It is a terrible burden to bear.
Having loved his own who were in the world,
Jesus loved them to the end.
In his final moments, Jesus chooses to demonstrate love and righteousness, for he embodies the very love and righteousness that the disciples cannot fulfill. The King of Kings clothes himself in rags of servanthood and lowers himself to the ground. With love and righteousness, he washes the feet of the very ones who will walk toward his betrayal and then run away in fear.
Why does…
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Smuggling Grace 