Loving body, mind, and soul.

“Do you understand what I have done for you?” Jesus asked them. “You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them. John 13:12-17

Jesus loves us. Jesus loves all of us. And on Maundy Thursday, we find out that the whole picture includes our bodies. We can try to make the crucifixion and communion into these very complex mental exercises, but for the first disciples, it was very physical, very visible, tactile, and smelly.

Have you ever thought about why people would wash feet of their guests? They wore sandals while walking on the same road with horses and donkeys and who knows what else.

So where not everyone in this room has stinky feet, you can be sure that the disciples did. When Peter realizes that the washing was Jesus expressing his love, he wanted a full out second baptism. The Jewish law required them to religiously wash their hands after encountering something unclean. Peter wanted his whole self to be clean.

Jesus responded that he wasn't being literal about the body's need to be clean. He was being clear about their calling to love one another, and that included the care for each other's bodies, and he wanted them to be prepared to get dirty and do things you imagine a slave doing.

I easily get the service portion, but I struggle with the body portion. These bodies seem so temporary. Even 100 years is a blink in the history of the cosmos. Growing up, I accepted an emphasis on spiritual beauty above physical beauty. How many of you were taught that the beauty God desires is from within? I still believe that is true, but God also sees each of us as having a physical beauty and precious body which is worth dying for.

by Joni Eareckson Tada

I've struggled to understand this because of some of my own physical injuries which have refused to heal. Like the unresolvable pain in my hand which began during grad studies to become a professional flutist. I remember asking God why I wasn't healed. I pleaded, "Show me what I am supposed to do to be healed and I will do it. If I am supposed to play through the pain and ignore my body or if I should choose a different calling for my life like ministry." Is this a mountain I climb or go around? My hand still has a little ache, but my ability to love others in only held back by my ability to love my own body. This body has carried me around the world, brought me two beautiful babies, and supported me to live a fun and meaningful life, and I am able to wholly serve others without playing my flute. How can I say that my prayer to be an instrument of God's peace hasn't been answered? Would I have gone into ministry without the injury? We will never know, but along the way, God has given me other ways to love people and spread joy while still using my hands and my lungs. Daily I discover new ways to love the Lord my God, mind, soul, and body, and to utilize this body to love other bodies.

When we don't heal or when we still see bodies suffering, it's easy to think God doesn't care about our physical ailments, but that's not the message Jesus portrayed to his followers. He touched Lepers and healed multiple physical ailments. He even fed the hungry people in miracles. And during this meal, we get a physical display of how we are to love each other.

"You need to be willing to get your hands and feet dirty when you care for others. You need to be willing to work up an appetite. Loving other people is physically hard. Get out there and love them."

Jesus is mindful of how difficult it is.

So much so, that he took human form to be present with humanity in that physical misery and pleasure. From the pain of being nailed to the tree to his willingness to touch smelly feet, Jesus wanted to show us that we are not alone in our suffering. Sometimes healing physically is the number one priority, and other times the physical healing will come while certain scars remain.

Even the risen Jesus carries scars. Watching physical portrayals of his arrest and the way the soldiers whipped and stripped him, I think it's curious that Thomas doesn't also want to see the scars on his back or his knees. Did the risen Jesus only have scars on his hands, feet and side? When Jesus appears to Thomas and allows him to touch the healed wounds shown by tender scars, Jesus also says how blessed are those who believe without seeing and touching.

Yes, we are blessed because we believe even though we were not there when they nailed his hands to the cross, but we also believe because we have seen God at work. Through a mentor or relative or friend or pastor or just some freak surprise of blessing you cannot explain. We have touched the wounds and dirty feet of our neighbors, and we have experienced the mercy of God.

One of my childhood heroes was Joni Eareckson Tada, she wasn't a star athlete or a pop-star, but she was an artist and maybe you've even heard of her. She had grown up like most girls and like me she also loved to swim. One summer in 1967(26), she had gone swimming with some friends, and Joni dove into a lake not knowing how shallow it really was. She broke her neck, and it paralyzed her body from the neck down. For the next two years during her rehabilitation Joni struggled. She struggled with life, she struggled with God, and she struggled with her paralysis. Her journey of healing turned her heart to love others and help others know how precious they are as children of God. She taught others to paint and use their bodies for the glory of God, in whatever way their bodies allowed. She mastered the art of painting with her mouth! Since then, Joni has written around 50 books, has recorded several musical albums, and she's widely known as an advocate for disabled people. Her body remained injured, uncomfortable, and awkward, but it was that body which taught her gratitude, patience, endurance, and hope.

When we can understand that God loves our physical bodies, then we can share that love with others. We can look them in the eye with dignity, respect, and gratitude for what part they play in the larger body of Christ.

When we can love our bodies and love the bodies of our neighbors, we can discover the deeper healing and wholeness that Jesus offered his life to redeem.

Our life on this Earth may be temporary, but it is so precious that God took on flesh and suffered, absorbing the violence and pain of the world, so that the abuse and injuries of our bodies may become like tender scars which remain as a testimony of God's power and love in our lives.