Jack Hardaway
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And it was night.
The darkness has arrived.
The hour has begun.
Judas takes his bread and leaves. The Judas walk.
What he does he does quickly, the betrayal.
The Passion begins with Judas walking out.
And this is where Jesus’ glory shines brightest, this is where God’s glory is seen most clearly, in the dark hour, to keep choosing love.
When all is darkness, and betrayal, and anger, and torture and pain and death, keep choosing love.
That is the glory of God.
We have Maundy Thursday again today, Maundy Thursday all over again. The commandment to love, the mandate to love one another, and wash one another’s feet.
Practical, nonabstract, intimate work, of loving one another, honoring one another.
We can’t problem solve our way out of sin.
We can’t fix evil.
Flannery O’Connor at her deepest said, “Evil is not a problem to solve but a mystery to endure.”
Endure the mystery of the night falling, by choosing love, by keep choosing love.
We can’t solve each other, or change each other, but we can choose to love, especially when it is hard.
We endure the mystery of evil by washing one another’s feet.
We endure evil by bearing witness to God, to the good news of Jesus’ glory shining in the night.
And in John’s Gospel, the darkness comprehended it not, the glory of love is beyond evil’s comprehension and capacity.
Judas walks away.
Night falls.
And it is God’s briar patch from there on.
God’s glory abounds in the flesh and blood choice to love in the face of the demonic, the lie that demands we threaten, and harm and control.
The faith is that we die bearing witness to God’s love by loving.
The faith isn’t that we fix everyone.
The faith is that we keep choosing love.
And in this God is glorified, God is revealed, God is known.
We live in God’s briar patch.
Keep choosing love.