“I give you a new
commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also
should love one another.”
(John 13:34)
Back in my LA days I
rented a flat in this funky, Spanish courtyard-style apartment complex in the
Studio City neighborhood. While waiting for Hollywood to discover me, I made
ends meet by teaching at the junior high next door. My landlady, a sweet,
elderly woman with great maternal instincts, always felt I was too skinny and
often invited me over for meals. One particular summer evening she decided to
order a pizza. This was an invitation I’d never refuse. Unfortunately, just as
the Pizza Guy showed up in the courtyard, another guy—coming from
who-knows-where—also showed up, stuck a gun in Pizza Guy’s face, robbed him of
all his cash, and vanished back from whence he came. Pizza Guy dropped his
warming bag and dashed to his car.
This incident (just part of
the charm and excitement of living in Los Angeles) caused me and my landlady no
small amount of anxiety. It also left us with the dilemma of what to do with
three large pizzas and a warming bag. We called the pizza place. They told us
we didn’t have to pay for our pizza and we could keep the other two in the bag.
We’d just have to return the bag at some point and tell the police everything
we’d witnessed—which was practically nothing as the whole episode had happened very
quickly.
My landlady, never one to
let good food go to waste, instructed me to bang on the doors of the other tenants
and invite them to dinner. This complex housed a bunch of show-biz types: a
musical theatre performer, a voice-over actor, a movie extra, and a couple of
cartoon writers who provided the dialogue for Sonic the Hedgehog. We’d all pass each other and say our hellos,
but we didn’t really know each other very well. That night, however, sitting
around the courtyard eating free pizza and trying to deal with the fact that
our neighborhood wasn’t as safe as we’d thought it was, we became something of
a family. Sharing a meal will do that.
As Christians, we share a
meal every Sunday. In fact, Jesus was pretty well-known for dinner parties. He’d
eat with tax collectors, prostitutes, and others who were considered unclean by
the established folks. When some were excluded from making a temple sacrifice because
they were female or not fully Jewish or disabled, Jesus offered a meal of his
body and blood in which everyone could partake.
On Maundy Thursday we remember
that night when Jesus had his last supper with his disciples. I’m sure they
felt even more nervous and unsafe than I and my neighbors felt on that summer
night when a crime was committed in our courtyard while it was still daylight.
The disciples knew Jesus had his enemies, and they knew someone among them
would be the betrayer. It might’ve been difficult for them to remember, in the
midst of all that was going on, that they ate this meal to remember God’s
goodness in delivering God’s people.
But Jesus was about to
drive home the point. Before dinner was over he got down on his knees and did
this incredible, humble act. He, the teacher, washed the feet of his students.
It was not uncommon in that day for students to honor their teachers by washing
the master’s feet, but Jesus put an end to the ego, the hierarchy, and the love
of status. He gave his disciples two commandments which we celebrate and
remember on this festival day: share this meal and love one another. Love one
another the way he loved—in sacrifice and humility and service.
Poor Peter, of course,
was still a little hung up on protocol or status and felt really uncomfortable with
Jesus loving him in such a humble way. Maybe he couldn’t stand to see someone
he respected so much take a servant’s job, but, more likely, he didn’t feel
himself worthy to be served by Jesus. So Jesus had to set him straight once
again. God’s love doesn’t depend on our human standards of self-worth. God’s
love is free and unconditional for all of us. When we come to the table, we’re
all family. No questions asked. Nothing to prove. We just let ourselves be
loved, and in that way we learn to love and accept and honor one another.
That’s even better than free pizza.
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