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When I was a kid I remember this ad campaign of sorts that was run by a TV network… ABC maybe… this was back before streaming and binge watching… when you actually had to wait for the next episode to air… and television series took a hiatus for the summer… so all summer long there’d be no new programming… just repeats. So as a means of getting more people to watch repeats and drum up viewership… they started airing advertisements that said… catch up on all the episodes you missed this season… because if you haven’t seen it… it’s new to you. “New to you,” we can use that phrase to describe any number of things… if you buy a used car… it’s not a new car… but it’s new to you… there’s a used furniture store in Defiance, Ohio called “New to You Furniture…” and a consignment clothing store in Fremont called “New to You Consignment.” It’s a good marketing strategy. “New to you” sounds way better than used. You might, at this point, be wondering what any of this has to do with Maundy Thursday or the Last Supper… well… the word “Maundy” means “commandment.” This is “Commandment Thursday,” and the reason we call it this is because of Jesus’ words to his disciples at the Last Supper… on the eve of his crucifixion… He says… “I give you a new Commandment: love one another. Love one another just as I have loved you. This is how people will know you are my disciples.” Jesus calls this command to love one another a new commandment… but the funny things is… it’s not new… it’s not new at all. Leviticus chapter 19, verse 18 reads, “You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against any of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord.” Jesus quotes this verse himself… In the gospel of Matthew when the young man asks him what he must do to inherit eternal life… and again when the Pharisees ask him what the most important commandment is… Jesus responds, “’You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’” And Jesus doesn't just leave it there… he tells the Pharisees… “On this… hangs all the law and the prophets.” Love God and love your neighbor… on this hangs all the law and the prophets. But what does that mean?It means that the whole of God’s “law,”… all the commandments in the Old and New testament… as well as the voices of all prophets… were and are about love. They are about loving God and loving each other. //Think about the 10 Commandments… the first three… Have no other Gods… don’t take the Lord’s name in vain… remember the Sabbath and keep it Holy… these are about how we love God… and the other seven… honor your father and mother, don’t kill, don’t cheat, don’t lie, don’t steal, don’t covet… don’t be jealous of people or things… these are about how we love one another. Even very specific laws about how we are to treat the poor … about how we to treat immigrants… about how we are to forgive… are about loving one another. And when the prophets spoke… they spoke of the people’s call to remain faithful to God… to follow God’s commands to care for those who cannot care for themselves. Love God, love one another. Over and over again… that is God’s message to us… //throughout all of scripture… the word of God… the law and the prophets… and finally, through Jesus himself… God tells us God loves us… and calls us to have that same love for one another. This is not a “new” commandment at all. So why does Jesus call it one?Honestly… I think maybe because… we aren’t always the best listeners… and sometimes the noise of our broken world is a bit overwhelming… the chatter and vitriol that tell us to fear and reject what is different… that it’s okay to turn our backs on those in need… because we matter more. We hear that noise… and we have trouble hearing the voice we should be listening to… the voice of God telling us that we are loved… and calling us to love in return… to love God and to love one another. Love one another is not a new commandment… but there are times in our lives… when we are overwhelmed with the world’s brokenness… when the voices of fear and hatred are resounding again and again… and it may seem new to us… so not “new”… but… “new to you…” new to us… to all of us. So tonight… as we hear this story of the Last Supper… as we see Jesus our Christ down on his knees washing the feet of his disciples in an act of loving service… as we hear the words he speaks to love one another, just as he has loved us… and we think to the days ahead… to Christ’s sacrifice suffering and death… and the gift of promise in his resurrection… let’s take this as an opportunity to hear something new… to do something new… to be something new… //an opportunity to examine all the ways the world is telling us not to love… but to fear… to judge and reject… to hate and to separate… //and let’s love instead. Let’s do this “new” thing that Christ has done for us… this “love” thing. Hear it as something brand new that can start today… love one another as Christ has first loved us… and let love be how we are known as followers of Jesus our Christ. ................
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