They say that people remember the first thing you say and the last.  They say it to little sixth graders who are writing their first speech, they say it to presidents.  They say the same thing…  People will remember the first thing you say and the last.

 

It was the night of Jesus’ betrayal, the night of the Passover of the Lord.  Jesus’ last full day alive.  Passover always came in the Spring so there was a chill in the air as, all over the city, people slaughtered the Passover lamb and prepared the sacred Seder meal.

Jesus wasn’t the only one having a special meal with his friends on this night.  All over Jerusalem people were eating the Passover Seder. They stood around the tables with their sandals on and staves at the ready. They ate quickly as the ancient Hebrews enslaved under Pharaoh had done.  They had put the lamb’s blood on the lintel.  The lamb’s meat was on the plates served with bitter herbs.  And in one house, in one upper room, around one table that night were thirteen men who had shared three years together, sharing a Passover together.  Only, their Passover meal was different.

The meat, the lamb that was a sign of the Hebrew’s redemption, wasn’t there on the table, only a loaf of bread.  The blood for the lintel, the blood of the Passover lamb that was a sign of the Hebrew’s redemption wasn’t there, only a cup of wine.

Then Jesus lifted the bread and said, “This is my body given for you.”  And he broke it and gave it to them saying, “Do this in remembrance of me.”

Then Jesus lifted the cup and said, “This is my blood, given for the forgiveness of sin.”  And he gave it to them saying, “Do this in remembrance of me.”

Then he stood up, took off his outer robe and knelt and washed each of their feet.  It was after that that Judas got up and fled.

 

It is the end.  Here comes the end of Jesus’ ministry.  What would he say on this night?  The clap of the door from Judas’ retreat still echoing in their ears, Jesus looked at them.  I believe he looked at them with honest eyes that could make a grown man cry.  With nothing but love in his heart he looked at them and said:

“I give you a new command: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.”  

 

I imagine it was a warm day when it all began—when Jesus first started his ministry.  

Days before he had gone out to John, his cousin, the radical, the prophet, and John had baptized him, and when the heavens tore open and spiritual power descended upon him, Jesus fled into the wilderness, not into a wilderness jungle, but into the rocky, barren desert.  And after a time, walking out of that wilderness came a new man, one prepared to bear whatever should come for the Messiah.

I imagine it was a warm day when Jesus first arrived in his hometown after those wilderness days.  He went to the synagogue, and stepping forward he reached for the scroll of the prophet Isaiah, and finding his place near the end of that book he spoke his first words of ministry as recorded in the Gospel of Luke.  Tell me if they are not words of love:

 

Luke tells us that Jesus closed the scroll and all eyes were on him, and the eyes spoke volumes.  They said, “Whoa.  Can it really be true?  Has God finally come to redeem us?”  Jesus’ first words were words of Love.  Among Jesus’ last words were words of love.  And in between?  Love, too.  Love upon love, just as he proclaimed back in Nazareth.  

You can always tell real love, because it moves a person, makes them act.  Real love is like a shield.  It protects us and enables us to do things we would not want to do.  You may not want to go out into the cold car to get your mother’s purse, but you do it, because you love her.  You may not want to give away your money, but you do it, because you love the people in need.  A soldier may not want to die to save a new country, but she will, because of love.

 

We who are Christians are a part of a great religion, but our religion is great not simply as a function if its truth. Christianity is great because on its surface it is about love and in its depth it is about love.  In the coming of Christ as a baby child, there is love, the ministry of Jesus, there is love, in his mentoring of his disciples, there is love, in his healing and teaching, love… Deep and active love followed Jesus as though imprinted in his DNA from the day of his birth to his dying day.  And his rising became a testimony to Love’s eternal power.

 

Would you like to have your faith renewed this Advent season, made fresh again and strong?  

Understand “love” to be its core.  Then walk in love and talk in love, give in love and bless in love, take Christ into your deepest heart and work in love, show mercy in love, ACT on love, be a creature of Love, and the Holy Spirit of God shall be upon you as you have never before known.  And then you shall know true Hope, true Peace, true Joy.

Amen.