All Shall Be Well

Brad Sullivan
Maundy Thursday, Year B
Thursday, April 5th, 2012
Emmanuel, Houston
Exodus 12:1-4, 11-14
Psalm 116:1, 10-17
1 Corinthians 11:23-26
John 13:1-17, 31b-35   

(Sung)  “All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well.”

I can’t help but think that is some of what Jesus was trying to convey to his disciples during their last Passover meal together, sitting in the upper room, sharing with them the bread and the wine, his body and blood, and washing their feet, commanding them finally to love one another.  Remarkably similar to the other commandments God gave, love God and love your neighbor, Jesus commanded his disciples to love one another.

(Sung)  “All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well.”

Jesus had already told his disciples that he was going to be killed; they had to be a little anxious about that.  As much as they tried to deny it, I’m guessing they knew by this point that Jesus pretty well knew what he was talking about.  So there had to be this fear and anxiety with them.  What was going to happen to Jesus?  What was going to happen to them?  What were they supposed to do once he was gone?  So Jesus tells them.  “Love one another.”

 (Sung)  “All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well.”

I was talking with some clergy colleagues this week about Holy Week and one commented on how dark this week seemed for her.  There’s been a month of Lent and penitence, and now we basically have a whole week remembering God dying for our sake.  We have this time when we seem to focus on the fact that the world was so messed up that it took God dying to fix it.  Add to that the fact that we’re in this in between time.  The cure has begun with Jesus’ death and resurrection, and yet the final restoration of creation has yet to take place.  So talking together, this clergy colleague and I, we were getting a little down, thinking about all the bad things going on in the world.

And yet we have this hope, in Jesus’ resurrection, that despite all the bad things going on in the world, there is still a lot of good and beauty and love in the world.  The fact that God bothered dying to redeem the world tells us there is hope for the world yet.  The resurrection tells us that at least in God’s eyes,

(Sung)  “All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well.”

So, like the disciples on the night of the last supper, we’re left in an in between time.  We’re left between Jesus’ resurrection and the final restoration of creation.  On the night of the last supper, Jesus’ disciples were left between Jesus’ proclamation that he would be killed and then on the third day, rise again, and the fulfillment of Jesus’ death and resurrection.  In this in between time, Jesus didn’t tell his disciples, “cure every illness; fix every problem.”  Jesus told disciples “love one another.” 

See each other, see people as human beings, as people with needs.  Sometimes we see others as those annoying things that are interfering with my life.  Jesus said to see people with compassion.  Loving people and seeing them with compassion, serve people as you can.  We’re not going to be able to fix every problem everyone has.  Jesus didn’t command his disciples to, and he isn’t commanding us to.  Jesus’ command is that we love one another. 

In this often crazy world, in this often anxious in between time in which we live, and we wonder, “what’s going to happen” and “what are we supposed to do,” Jesus commands us to love one another.

(Sung)  “All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well.”  Amen.