The Way of Costly Service

Preached at Hanover Street Presbyterian Church

On April 13, 2006

By Pastor Thomas C. Davis

Jeremiah 31: 31-34

The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah.  It will not be like the covenant that I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt?a covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, says the Lord. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. No longer shall they teach one another, or say to each other, "Know the Lord," for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the Lord; for I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more.

Hebrews 10: 16-30

"This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord: I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds," he also adds, "I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more." Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin. Therefore, my friends, since we have confidence to enter the sanctuary by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain (that is, through his flesh), and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us approach with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.  Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who has promised is faithful. And let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching.  For if we willfully persist in sin after having received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful prospect of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries. Anyone who has violated the law of Moses dies without mercy "on the testimony of two or three witnesses." How much worse punishment do you think will be deserved by those who have spurned the Son of God, profaned the blood of the covenant by which they were sanctified, and outraged the Spirit of grace? For we know the one who said, "Vengeance is mine, I will repay." And again, "The Lord will judge his people."

John 13: 1-17

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. The devil had already put it into the heart of Judas son of Simon Iscariot to betray him. And during supper Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going to God, got up from the table, took off his outer robe, and tied a towel around himself. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel that was tied around him.  He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, "Lord, are you going to wash my feet?" Jesus answered, "You do not know now what I am doing, but later you will understand." Peter said to him, "You will never wash my feet." Jesus answered, "Unless I wash you, you have no share with me." Simon Peter said to him, "Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!" Jesus said to him, "One who has bathed does not need to wash, except for the feet, but is entirely clean. And you are clean, though not all of you." For he knew who was to betray him; for this reason he said, "Not all of you are clean." After he had washed their feet, had put on his robe, and had returned to the table, he said to them, "Do you know what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord?and you are right, for that is what I am. So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you. Very truly, I tell you, servants are not greater than their master, nor are messengers greater than the one who sent them.  If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them.

Sermon Text

Every time I go to a Jewish Seder meal I learn a little more about my own faith.  It was so on April 2nd, when Congregation Beth Shalom hosted a Seder for members of Hanover Street Presbyterian Church and Shiloh Baptist Church, and Peninsula McCabe United Methodist Church.  Our passage from John says that Jesus was celebrating the passover when he ate his last meal with the disciples.  I've known that for some time--ever since going to seminary.  But I didn't know--until two Sundays ago--that Jews began to celebrate the Seder at the time of Jesus. I also learned that Seder meals have always invited improvising, in order to make the passover story relevant to the present day.  So, when Jesus arranged for his disciples to eat a Seder meal with him in the upper room, he didn't feel obliged to stick to a script.  And he sure didn't!  The Seder ritual calls for a ritual washing of the hands, but Jesus washed the disciples feet instead!  And, when the blessing of the bread came round, Jesus again ad-libbed.  He said, "This is my body which is broken for you.  Take and eat!"  Finally, when the Seder was coming to a close and it was time to drink the final cup of wine, Jesus again improvised.  He said, "This is a new cup in my blood. . .  As long as you drink it, remember me!" 

Jesus knew that his disciples wouldn't be able to comprehend the meaning of these new words and gestures until later, after he had given his very life for them.  Then they would get it: everything that he had taught them about serving, and caring more about God's kingdom than anything else.  Yes, it would take his death to make all that intelligible, but at the moment they weren't willing to think about it.  Instead, after supper, when they had all retired to the garden and Jesus prayed for them to keep him company in prayer, they fell asleep--scripture says, out of grief.  They just couldn't face his talk of dying.  To them it sounded like giving up the cause.

If we rush too fast to celebrate Easter resurrection, and don't put ourselves in the shoes of the first disciples, who couldn't bear to think of Jesus dying, then the Easter that we rush to will be a cheap,  sentimental substitute.  Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote that whoever wishes to follow Jesus must first come and die. Following Jesus is costly in a world that still worships wealth and brute strength and is still swayed by ignorance and prejudice.  If we want to keep following Jesus in this city, which is more and more stressed by poverty and violence, that will cost us something, my brothers and sisters in Christ.  Peter tried to dissuade Jesus from washing his feet because he didn't want Jesus to be dishonored by lowly service. Jesus rebuked him, saying that unless he were willing to serve in such a humble way, he could not be a part of what Jesus was all about. 

May that same Spirit that was in Jesus bless us as on this eve of his suffering to comprehend how serving in his name will cost us something.  May we come to understand the sacrifice of Jesus, and the sacrifices he calls us to make, as we follow in the way of the cross.