HOW DO WE DENY HIM? Is it directly, like Peter’s denials? Or are our denials more insidious – professing kinship on the outside, while denying Him from within?
There are many ways that we can be identified as Christians. In Peter’s case, even his accent gave him away. For us, today, it may be as simple as turning into a church carpark, wearing a cross, saying a prayer before starting a meal, having a bumper sticker that acknowledges Jesus as Lord, abstaining from meat on Fridays, or even having a prayer card in our wallet or a bible on a coffee table. Indeed, there are many ways to identify a Christian by outward signs and symbols that exhibit our faith.
Perhaps this is why, when we read the accounts of Peter’s three denials of Christ, we are apt to think that, at least in this regard, we exceed the Prince of Apostles in steadfastness of faith. After all, which of us would wantonly deny our faith when asked? In a world where, by and large, there are no repercussions to fear for professing our beliefs, we are able to wear the badge of faith proudly on our chests.
We may not face many situations where we might be ashamed of our Lord or our faith in Him, as Peter was, but we are reminded on this Holy Day that living up to our identity as Christians means we are tasked with more than just outward symbols or even vocal declarations of faith.
The ‘Mandatum’ from which ‘Maundy Thursday’ gets its name, is a new ‘commandment’ from the mouth of the Lord Himself; a commandment that will serve as the identifier of all those who are called to follow Him: for “by this everyone will know that you are my disciples.” And that commandment is to love one another just as perfectly as Christ has loved each of us.
Christ loved us even enough to die for us. Peter, despite his denials that fateful night, was to follow in those sacred footsteps. We may not be so privileged as to be called to lay down our lives for our faith, but in order to be identified as Christians and refrain from denying our Lord in our lives, we must love, all the more, in the fashion demonstrated by our Saviour in his every action on earth.
We are called to love through service. This Maundy Thursday night, our Lord washed the feet of his disciples and calls on us to repeat this humble service, not just for those to whom it pleases us to perform it, but to the whole world. For did not Christ wash even the feet of the one who would betray him? We owe humble service to every person that God brings into our lives, for, “very truly, I tell you, whoever receives one whom I send receives me; and whoever receives me receives him who sent me.” And through his example we are taught that humility is not limited by station, nor does it devalue our station. That we are chosen by the Lord does not mean we should not humble ourselves even before those who are not redeemed by His blood, as our acts of humility do not diminish but rather enhance our state of grace before God.
The call to love as He has loved is a call to love who He loved, in witness to our faith. To do less would be a denial of our faith, a denial of the Lord Himself. And who did Jesus love in the world? Of course he loved those closest to Him, even when they misunderstood Him, let Him down, betrayed Him, denied Him, and deserted Him. But it was not just those closest to Him that Jesus loved. (How easy a mandate would it be to just love our families, friends, and fellow believers?) No, Jesus loved the sinner and the outcast; the poor and the sick; the Roman and the Samaritan; and those who despised and rejected Him. If we cannot demonstrate the love of God to even the least of these people, then we do not bear the mark of Christ that identifies us, through our actions of love, as His own. And such a denial is far worse than Peter’s denials, for which he wept bitterly and regretted, even unto laying his own life down in the name of His Lord.
Tonight then, my brothers, as we watch and pray with Christ in Gethsemane and await His handing-over to those that would take His life most cruelly, let us think about how we have responded to the challenges of our faith. Have we stood up in loving action to prove that the religious symbols we outwardly bear are genuine reflections of inner faith and an eagerness to embrace the mandatum novum to love one another as He has loved us? May we, as did the Prince of Apostles, weep bitterly for the times that we have denied our Lord in the people we have treated with anything less than Christ-like humility and love. And through our tears of remorse may we ever more readily appreciate our Blessed Lord’s love for us in bearing the cross for our sakes, and commit ourselves to being a vessel of that love in the world.
No comments:
Post a Comment