John 13. 31-35
Created in god’s own image, we have the opportunity to love!
Male privilege. White privilege. Executive privilege. Privilege of the rich. Privilege of the famous. We hear a lot about it, nowadays. The perks, the benefits, a person has based not so much on their accomplishments and abilities, but, simply, on who they are, on what they are. All expressions of the advantages one person, one group of persons, have over and above someone else.
It was one of the lessons I remember my mom teaching me, way back then. RHIP, she called it. Rank has its privileges. It was her way of encouraging me to climb the ladder and not look down, not look back. Her way of egging me on in my pursuit of the American dream. And it all came back to me, again, last week. Partly because last Sunday was Mother’s Day. But even more so, because of the passage we would read, this morning. John. Chapter thirteen. Verses thirty-one to thirty-five.
I don’t know if you noticed, last week’s reading from John had nothing to do with Easter. In fact, it was from the part of the story on the other side of Easter. On the other side of the cross! Before Good Friday. Before Maundy. Even before Palm Sunday. Today’s reading gets us a little closer, but it’s still from the pre-Easter, pre-crucifixion account. It’s Maundy Thursday. The night in which he was betrayed. John’s story of the Last Supper is light on the Supper and heavy on Last Words. Five chapters of last words, to be sure. Anyway, it’s Maundy Thursday. Jesus has gotten up from the table, taken off his outer robe, and tied an apron around his waist. He kneels down and, one by one, washes the feet of his friends. When he’s washed them all, he gets back up, takes off the apron, puts his robe back on, and takes his place at the table. And then, he says this … the Maundy part of the evening …
I give you a new mandate – a new commandment – that you love one another.
Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.
I read those words and, immediately, I heard my mother’s voice. “RHIP! Rank Has Its Privileges!” And I pictured them tacked onto the cross, right above Jesus’ head! Instead of “INRI” – the initials for “Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews” in Latin – I saw this! RHIP – Rank Has Its Perks, Is Privileges! And I realized, that’s how most of us have come to understand believing!
Church is our own, personal club with its own special benefits! Benefits that only we have! Benefits that belong to no one else! Think about it! Christians – or most of us, anyway – have this impression that we’re the only ones invited to the party! Or at least, the only ones allowed through the door! As Christians – as Christians in America – we expect to have all our high, holy days off! Christmas! Easter! Music and television and movies all reflect and echo our morals and our values and our principles! When we need something religious to celebrate, to commemorate our faith, it’s easy to find in any store! We get so offended when someone wishes us, “Happy Holidays,” instead of, “Merry Christmas!” As if there’s something wrong to treat other religions with dignity and to respect! When our leaders – from the city on up – make their promises, we expect them to put their hand on OUR book! And swear by OUR god! Prayers in the public arena all end “in Jesus’ name!” The list goes on and on and on! It’s all privilege! Christian privilege here in the United States! Those are the advantages and the benefits of white-protestant privilege! And when people try to level the playing field – religiously speaking – we cry, “Persecution!” RHIP! Rank – as well as faith – Has Its Privilege …
What a friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bear!
What a privilege. . .
Entitled! That’s what we are! Advantaged! Fortunate! Favored! Compared to anyone else! Compared to everyone else! Loved! Forgiven! Heaven bound! Just like the Marines, we are the chosen, the few! We have the password! We know the secret handshake! And nothing can take that away! And there it is, tacked up on the cross, for all to see! RHIP! Rank. Has. Its. Privileges. Unfortunately, that’s not what Jesus said. That’s not what Jesus says. Any of it.
It’s true, we are privileged! And yes, we have benefits! Blessed because we are the church! Blessed because we’re god’s! Blessed because Jesus died for us! And we have the privilege and the benefit of going and doing the same! As the church, we have the privilege of loving creation! The privilege of loving creation and the benefit of dying to give it life! Dying to save it! Dying to redeem it! Dying to make it new and set it free! You and I are privileged, you and I have the advantage, of picking up someone else’s cross and giving our life for them!
The gospel’s more than a story we proclaim. It’s more than good news we administer. It’s something we become! It’s more than something done to us or done for us. It’s something we do! Christ’s story becomes our story! Christ’s life becomes our life! Believing’s not about building Temples and offering sacrifices to god. It’s about building communities and offering ourselves as a sacrifice! Offering ourselves as a sacrifice for the sake of the world! God so loved the cosmos that he gave Jesus to die for it! And god so loves the world that god gives us, as well, to do the same! “Love one another,” Jesus says, “Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another!”
By this, everyone will know you are mine … When you, too, suffer! when you, too, break and bleed! When you, too, die! For the sake of an enemy! For the sake of a friend! Everyone will know … when you get up from the table and kneel down before another and wash their feet! When you do for them something they can’t – something they won’t – do for themselves! Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice shame on … Well, that’s turning the other! That’s going the extra! That’s doing unto! And that’s what Jesus has done, what Jesus still does, for us! And it’s called love! It’s called love! Just as I, you also!
That’s the perk, the privilege, we receive for belonging to god! For being god’s very own! We’ve been given opportunity to care! To care just like Jesus! We’ve been given the chance to create something out of nothing! We’ve been given the chance to make all things new! To set all things free! To tell people – plain, ordinary, everyday people – just how much they matter! Just how much they matter to god, of course! But just how much they matter to us! It’s not INRI that marks our cross. It’s RHIP. Rank Has Its Privilege! Its privilege to hang on a cross for all the world to see …