If You Have Love for One Another

Meditation on John chapter 13

First Presbyterian Church of Smithtown

Pastor Karen Crawford

March 28, 2024

Maundy Thursday

I woke up Tuesday morning to discover the Francis Scott Key Bridge was no more.

Being a Maryland native and having lived in Baltimore for a number of years while I was studying to be a teacher, I was shocked to watch the footage of the mile and a half bridge on Interstate 695 collapse into the Patapsco River.

A cargo ship as large as three football fields, carrying 1.5 million gallons of fuel oil and lube oil and 4,700 cargo containers, lost power. And though the 22-member crew and a local harbor pilot did everything they could to avert the disaster, the ship drifted into one of the 47-year-old pillars. Those on board the ship were not hurt, but most of those working on the bridge, filling potholes in the middle of the night, were plunged into the 47-degree, dark waters below.

Soon, the stories of those whose day started as an ordinary work shift began to be shared. We learned about the six construction workers from Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras. Divers recovered the bodies of two men inside a red pickup truck. Alejandro Hernandez Fuentes, a 35-year-old from Mexico, was the foreman of the construction crew and lived in Baltimore. Dorlian Ronial Castillo Cabrera, was a 26-year-old from Guatemala who lived in Dundalk, a blue collar community in Baltimore County.

A few days after the tragic bridge collapse, some miracle stories are coming to light. Two of the workers were rescued and survived. Another man escaped the collapsing bridge that night by running back to the end. He was a highway inspector with valuable knowledge about the construction site. He was commended that, in spite of the traumatic experience that left him shaken to the core, he was able to help the dive team map out the debris field before the divers went into the water.

“He almost died,” an official said of the highway inspector. “That man is a very special man. He was able to fight the fear and really help us out.”

The other four workers are still missing. The recovery efforts have been paused due to the danger to divers searching essentially blindly in the dark waters, with shifting debris all around them. Miguel Luna, a Salvadoran father of three who lived in Maryland for 19 years, is among the lost, as is 38-year-old Maynor Yassir Suazo Sandoval, a U.S. resident for 18 years who migrated from Honduras. Suazo was married with two children – an 18-year-old son and a 6-year-old daughter.

The missing men and their families were the subject of Masses and vigils across the city this week that we call Holy Week. Prayers for God’s help in recovering the lost were lifted up at an interfaith vigil at Mt. Olivet Baptist Church of Turner Station, a historically black community in southeast Baltimore County that was once a thriving steel mill town.

The interfaith community promised to support the families impacted by this tragedy.

Tonight, we hold in our hearts and prayers the families who lost loved ones and the city and county now struggling to recover in the wake of the bridge collapse. We do this while we recall what happened at the Last Supper—what Christ did and said. What his disciples did and said. And we consider how what we say and do bears witness to the love of God, revealed in Christ Jesus, our Savior and Lord.

This is what I hope you will remember from tonight’s message. Three things.

The meal. The towel. And the “new commandment.”

First, the meal.

It isn’t actually his last supper with his disciples. The Risen Christ will eat another meal with his beloved in John, a breakfast of bread and broiled fish that he will prepare for them on the shore of the Sea of Galilee. But this is the meal, tonight, that we think of as the “Last Supper” and imagine a certain way because of Leonardo di Vinci’s famous painting of the same name.

We don’t know exactly what is on the menu, but we know what is on Christ’s mind. He knows that “his hour had come to depart from this world and go to the Father.” He foretells his death, and he is passing on the mantle of authority to his disciples, much like Elijah to Elisha, equipping them for the work of his ministry. He wants them to be able to continue on when he is no longer with them in the flesh.  And Judas Iscariot is on his mind. This is why Jesus is “troubled” in spirit, a Greek word, tarassó, also meaning “agitated” or “stirred up.” Jesus identifies his betrayer at the supper, not by name or angry confrontation, but by handing him a piece of bread that he has dipped in a sauce, possibly made from fish. This is a gesture of warmth and intimacy—to share bread that one has dipped.

This is something important for us to notice—that Christ not only tells us to love our enemies; he shows us how by sharing food and offering friendship. This is further proof that the Table of the Lord is open wide to EVERYONE. No one who seeks to partake of the bread and cup and come to know Christ more should ever be excluded from the Lord’s Supper, where we are made one in Christ, united as Christ’s body for the world.

An unseen guest is present at the meal. Satan is there, though his disciples are unaware of The Accuser’s presence. He is in the heart of Judas before the meal, but then Satan enters Christ’s betrayer fully after he eats the bread that Jesus has given to him.

And now, the towel.

During supper, before Judas leaves, Jesus stands up, removes his outer garment, wraps a towel around his waist, and begins to wash his disciples’ feet. This is upsetting to the disciples because, according to Jewish Midrash, “not even a Hebrew slave was expected to perform such menial service.” (Mary Louise Bringle, Feasting on the Word, 279). Foot washing is an ancient form of hospitality, but usually water was brought so that the guest would wash their own feet.

The towel, the foot washing, is Jesus laying the groundwork for his final instructions, his “new commandment.” This is his sermon illustration. He says, “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.”

Jesus is often using ordinary objects from his environment to teach spiritual principles. Such as when we he says, “Look at the birds…” Or “Consider the lilies of the field…” in the Sermon on the Mount. He is now using the towel as the object that brings the lesson home to them and stirs an emotional reaction.

“A towel,” one theologian says, “something used to dry dishes, wash children, wipe tables, clean wounds, cool fevers, warm aching joints, swaddle babies, mop up sweat, blot away tears. The mantle of Jesus’ authority is a tool of women’s work—of practical, daily, unglamorous service.” (Bringle, 279)

Peter’s refusing Christ’s humble act of service, saying, “You will never wash my feet,” is an example of how we find it hard to receive one another’s gifts of humble hospitality, even from someone we love and who loves us. We would have felt the same way if we were in Peter’s place. Sometimes, when we do receive hospitality from someone else, we immediately feel compelled to pay them back, in some way. This is what our society teaches us, but it’s not what Christ meant in his final instructions. God’s love, revealed in Christ, is sacrificial, unconditional, and everlasting. God’s love never ends.

Finally, the new commandment.

As we continue to hear updates on Baltimore’s recovery and learn about the economic impacts of the bridge loss, and even a temporary closure of what was the busiest port in the nation. As we continue to listen to debate over the question of who will pay for a new bridge, and speculation over who is to blame, I pray that we will keep our ears open to the stories that honor the men who lost their lives, those who worked all night at a low-wage, dangerous construction job, filling potholes on a bridge, something that most people would never consider doing.

I hope that we will remember to pray for the families impacted by this tragedy and the communities that will be affected by the loss of the bridge named for the 35-year old lawyer and poet who saw the U.S. flag of 15 stars and stripes flying victoriously over Fort McHenry, after a night of bombardment by the British Navy during the War of 1812, and he was inspired to write The Star Spangled Banner.

Prayer is one way we can ALWAYS show our love for one another and for all people in need of God’s healing, comfort, peace, and provision.

May we remember, through our own acts of humble service—the giving and receiving of acts of kindness and generosity—the meal, the towel, and the commandment for all Christ’s followers.

“Little children,” he says to us now. “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Let us pray.

Holy One, we lift up the families of those who lost loved ones in the bridge collapse and the people of Baltimore who are struggling and will be struggling to recover from this event for a while. We pray that the interfaith community will be a strength and support to those in need. Thank you for Christ’s example of love through the washing of his disciples’ feet. Teach us how to heed that “new” commandment to reveal Christ’s love by loving others through the giving and receiving of acts of kindness and humility. Thank you that your love for us, shown in the giving of your Son, is sacrificial, unconditional, and everlasting. Thank you that your love never ends. Amen.