it's a real rollercoaster

when the wind goes the other way

A sermon on Jesus washing of the disciples' feet

Seeing as it’s Lent, I’ll begin with a confession: I am a total fan of the pop darling Carly Rae Jepsen. *Any fans?

Lest you think I’m making this disclosure in jest, I offer exhibits A through E as evidence against myself. Even more troublesome, though, is if you don’t know Carly’s music, I implore you to rectify this omission as quickly as possible! I’d begin with her 2015 album, “Emotion.” 

Well, seeing as I’ve already made one confession, I’ll make another: I have no shame about this admission! And I don’t have any guilt about it, either! Carly’s songs are syrupy-sweet, and shockingly sophisticated, too. She’s a consummate pop musician. 

As such, her songs are about one thing and one thing only. Something we all have a stake in, to some degree. I’m talking about, of course, love. If you hadn’t already guessed that from the fact she named an entire album “Emotion.”

What’s so beguiling about Carly’s music is that she’s just as adept with her subject matter as she is at penning a tune. And the reason for this is, refreshingly, that Carly’s honest about love! Her songs are only about liking that boy who doesn’t like her or not liking the boy who does like her. And then, of course, that thrill when the ardor runs both ways.

In other words, Carly’s a straight shooter when it comes to love! She knows it’s something you have no control over! You don’t choose it. It happens to you. And all you can do is enjoy the ride. Or beg to be let off.

That’s why it’s called falling in love, by the way! It’s why we say someone steals your heart. It’s why The Bachelor always chooses the wrong person! They can’t help it! Choice plays no part in the matter! When it comes to love, you just tumble head over heels for the object of your affection!

And that’s all Carly sings about!

Now, this might sound obvious, but you and I are not actually all that forthright in this regard! Instead, we regularly think and act as if love is something we do have power over. And given its significance, it’s something we feel compelled to try and exert at least a little influence on.

The rub, though, is the more you try and control love, the less likely you are to actually experience it! This is the paradox of romance. And we all have some unhappy history with it. That miserable experience of realizing the harder you’ve tried and make someone love you, the flimsier your confidence that they actually do! 

Your efforts to secure love only doom you to never experiencing being loved for who you actually are! Rather than the person you’ve been trying to be.

Luther, a man familiar with romance, wrote about this while he was still a dewey-eyed, see celibate, bachelor. Luther described love as a thing that’s sparked. In other words, you don’t conjure love. Rather, it’s generated. It’s sparked. It’s lit! It’s kindled by whatever it is that lights your fire!

And there’s nothing abstract about this, either. Each one of us has experience in this regard. We’ve all been swept off our feet. And we’ve all tried to do the sweeping, too. Haven’t we?

We’ve all tried to put our best foot forward. We’ve all tried to make ourselves as desirable as possible to someone else. We don’t need any lesson on the inner workings of love. We all know how it goes all too well. Just ask Peter.

In today’s Scripture, when Jesus comes kneeling over to wash Peter’s feet, Peter tries to stop Jesus dead in his tracks! This is because Peter knows how love works. He’s just sure if Jesus lays eyes on what his sandals are covering, Jesus is going to be grossed out by what he sees. Peter has no doubts his grubby feet will reveal something about himself that Jesus won’t find very attractive. 

In other words, Peter thinks Jesus’ love is fickle as ours. He presumes Jesus’ affection for him is dependent upon him! And we do too. Don’t we? 

We, too, have tried to play footsie with Jesus. But all it’s done for us is land us in that blasted paradox of intimacy with him! The more we’ve tried to charm Jesus, the less we’ve been able to assure ourselves that he actually cares for us! 

…Remember Luther’s description of love I mentioned earlier? Well, that’s only half the description! Luther described human love in order to set it in contrast with God’s love! Luther had such penetrating insight into how love works because he had been bowled over by the way God’s love works! 

And, as you might guess, God’s love works precisely the other way ‘round than ours! Whereas our love is elicited by that which we find desirable, God’s love, conversely, creates that which God finds pleasing! As we like to quote around here, “God doesn’t love you because you’re beautiful. No, God loves you, and that makes you beautiful!” 

It’s God’s love for you that makes you into the apple of God’s eye! God isn’t looking to be impressed by you. No, God’s looking to impress upon you the fullness of God’s love! And this upside-down love of God makes you into the total package, at least as far as the one and only God’s concerned! 

When Jesus came ambling up to Peter, Peter tried to stop him. Didn’t he? That’s because Peter’s feet represented everything he couldn’t keep presentable. And Peter knows how love works when it comes to fellow humans.

But that’s right where Jesus went. Wasn’t it? And what Jesus told Peter when he was nose-to-toes with those stinkers was that unless Jesus washed Peter’s grimy feet, Peter would have no share with him.

Jesus tells Peter, in effect, that he’s different from all those other lovers! That there’s nothing Peter can do to scare Jesus away. And what’s more, what makes Peter so lovable to Jesus isn’t anything Peter did or didn’t do. Instead, it’s Jesus’s own unstoppable, beautifying love for Peter!

This is the paradox of grace! The unpredictable fact that you experience Christ’s red-hot love most fully where you are least lovable! Those parts of yourself you’re trying hardest to keep from Jesus are the very ones Jesus came for! 

For those are the places his all-too-real love takes effect! They’re where his love for you is made manifest!

Maybe it’s not your feet. But we all have some part of our life we’re trying to keep from Jesus. Don’t we? I could give examples, but why bother? Like Peter’s dirty tootsies, they’re all right there. Those things we trying so hard to cover, we can’t help but draw attention to them!

But that’s right where Jesus kneels up to you today! And what he does there isn’t look away in disgust. No, on the contrary, he gently takes that part of your life in his loving hands and wipes it clean with his undying compassion!

The lie of bad religion is the same as bad romance! That you have to make it work. But Jesus will have no truck with such bad religion. Or romance, for that matter! Instead, he just goes ahead and loves you to the very end. All the way! Come what may!

Come to church every Sunday. Or never again. Clean up your act. Or don’t. For none of that has any bearing on God’s love for you! Jesus made no conditions upon the cross! And Jesus’ passion wasn’t exhausted from there, either! No, it here it was exalted! Unleashed!

This reckless love of Christ’s will pull you into its orbit! Sweep you off your feet! And, as good love tends to do, leave you swooning, too. 

Singing love songs! Ballads giving voice to the thrill of finding yourself on the receiving end of love! All by the sheer good grace that the object of your affection has returned you ardor a thousandfold. And made you twice the lover you were before in the process, too!

And so, although we might not all be able to belt it out like Carly, as her music attests, there are few things in life, and death, as sweet as singing of this love! With that in mind and heart, let us lift our voices. Lift our voices in song, and enjoy this ride a little longer!