Today every person in the world goes to the foot of the cross, like it or not. Christianity is the largest faith in the world. The devoted look with awe at the cross, and those who reject and despise the cross who look with disgust. Yet here we are.

Whatever your belief about Jesus, there is one part of the story that lies so much at the core, people tend to accept it without really thinking about it. Jesus died for sin, as it says in 1 Peter 3:18 - "For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God." 

It's an awe-inspiring truth considering who Jesus is. According to Scripture,

"He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.  For by him 

• All things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities - all things were created through him and for him.  
• And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 
• And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.  

For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross." - Col 1:15-20 (ESV)

Jesus is not only our Creator-God, but has become part of creation. The fullness of God was pleased to dwell in Jesus, and to reconcile all things to himself through him. The implication is that God himself became part of this fallen world in order to reconcile what was already his to himself. 

Basically, humanity fell so far, we became subject to eternal punishment. We came to the place where the Holy and Perfect God of the universe Judged us unworthy of bearing his image, and deserving of his eternal wrath in hell, 'where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.' - Mark 9:48 (ESV). We bristle at such punishment for all eternity, because we see it as so harsh for some people who don't seem to have done anything quite deserving of such awful punishment. 

But that's just it. It's not about the harshness of the punishment. It's about the heinous nature of our sin. It's a critique of humanity, and in fact, a critique of me. And you. God considers you to have gone so horribly wrong that you deserve such heinous punishment. In fact, In exacting such punishment, God maintains his holiness in this righteous judgment. 

It is a devastating critique of each one of us.

But God is not only Righteous and Just. He is also Loving and Merciful. So we see, in Colossians 1:20, that God was not only willing, but pleased to send his Son Jesus, and through him to reconcile us to himself, by making peace with us by the blood of his cross. 

Jesus took our punishment. That's the story of Good Friday. We deserved the harshest punishment anyone could imagine, and that punishment was absolutely right. But God loved us, and took the punishment in the person of Jesus in our place. 

The Good of Good Friday is God.

Today is the Thursday before Good Friday, Commonly known as Maundy Thursday. Maundy comes from the Latin word Mandatum, or Mandate. It’s an old word that means “command.”

The command of Maundy Thursday is found in John 13:34. It comes after the disciples had eaten together, and just after Jesus washes his disciple’s feet.

Scripture says, starting in verse 31, “When he” (Judas) “had gone out, Jesus said,

"Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him.”

And dropping to verse 34, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.  By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another."

It’s a new commandment, to love one another. Is this a new commandment? I can go way back to the time of the Exodus, in Lev 19:18, and find the command, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD.” In fact, the Old Testament is filled with loving commands about showing mercy, about justice. Are these new?

The apostle John also talks about the Old-New nature of this command in his first epistle. In 1 John 2 John writes,

“Whoever says "I know him" but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him: whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.

Beloved, I am writing you no new commandment, but an old commandment that you had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word that you have heard.  At the same time, it is a new commandment that I am writing to you, which is true in him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining.  Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness.  Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling.” 

So, the commandment to love is an old commandment, but it is one made new in the light of the Savior’s love for us. The Savior who is Glorified, and God, who is Glorified in Him, reflecting perfectly the image of God.

This is a love that, though it comes from the One who is God above all, yet he washes the feet of His sinful disciples. Though this love comes from the righteous life giver, yet it comes from him who laid down his life for us, when we were dead in trespass and sin. This love comes from the one who goes to prepare a place for you, though he came to dwell where he had no place to lay his head.

We know what happened next on the cross - that great sacrifice, when Jesus became sin for us so that we might become the righteousness of God. The disciples had no idea yet of the extent of the love Jesus had for them. But they knew Jesus wanted them to love each other, just as He loved them.

So on this Maundy Thursday, we remember the extent of his love, because we too have been given this old commandment made new, to love one another as he loved us.

So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.    Phil. 2:1-5

Paul is urging the Philippians to take on a mindset of humility. Now, humility (lowliness) was no more a virtue in Paul’s Roman world than it is in our own world. Before understanding how to define the “humility” Paul means, we need to understand what it does not mean.

We’re not talking about some kind of an “underdog” kind of lowliness that Americans love – the kind you might find in someone not expected to succeed, who rises up and conquers all his or her foes. This is not about Superman, or Spiderman, or Batman, or some other superhero, hiding their identity, while relying on their own strength to get things done.

Nor are we talking about some "obsequious sycophant" (as one commentary put it) – in other words, someone who changes to be whatever you want them to be in a self-effacing way. An example would be the cowering toady in the Disney movie 101 Dalmatians. Cruella DeVil asks, “What kind of sycophant are you?” to which the toady replies, “What kind of sycophant would you like me to be?” This is false humility, arising from fear, with no heart to do what is right.

The humility Paul tells us to pursue is the opposite of that kind of selfish ambition that, for instance, might cause someone to preach the gospel for personal advancement. Paul mentions exactly this kind of selfish ambition in the previous chapter where he says,

Some indeed preach Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from good will. The latter do it out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. The former proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely but thinking to afflict me in my imprisonment.

Paul asks us to set our ambitions aside, and replace them with love, unity, and the respect of honoring one another even above yourself. Of all the gifts and abilities God has given you, Paul teaches you to empty yourself of all the identity you can have in those gifts, and instead employ those gifts as a servant to others.

I’ve been thinking a lot about men loving each other lately.

Now, if you’ve been brought up in the same American culture as I have, your mind probably went immediately to sexual love, didn’t it? Why is that? Because love between men in the Bible is not like that. Scripture says Jonathan loved David as much as he loved his own soul. Jesus loved Lazarus, and John the Apostle often mentions the disciple Jesus loved, probably referring to himself.

(None of these references have a hint of sexuality, although some provocative scholars steeped in our over-sexualized culture make such claims. These claims could not have been true in either case, since homosexual behavior was strictly forbidden in Judaism, yet the accusation was never even raised.)

I have had a few close relationships with men I would think of as close – like brothers. I don’t know what it would be like to love another man as I do my own soul, as Jonathan did, as Jesus did. I have not known this holy love. I have been accused of homophobia before, and have vehemently rejected that label. I am not afraid of gays! But here’s my confession – I think I do have a fear of having a holy love for another man. I have no idea what that is like. It is a level of vulnerability that I have never experienced. When I think of it, it feels like it would be a loss of myself, somehow. I suppose that’s why it’s called loving another as much as your own soul.

I wonder how much the love of a man is similar to how I love my wife after 31 years of marriage. Our man-woman love began quite lustfully. We married quickly. I was filled with romantic passion for her at the time, but that love has matured so much. Oh, I still have that romantic passion for her, but it is complimented with the deep richness and tones of friendship and sacrifice and knowing and empathy. I sense her. I know her looks and her posture. I know the angle of her mouth and the tilt of her head with her moods. I know the sparkle of joy and the flash of anger in her. I relish these. Not the passions themselves, as much as the knowing of her. I am her student. She teaches me herself, and I am an anxious learner. She inhabits my soul. When I rise, she follows, and she actually trusts me! In many ways, we are each other. I have given her myself with reckless abandon, and I have not given it a second thought. She has done the same. Our relationship is exclusive. Unshared.

No, I cannot imagine Jesus loving John this way, or Jonathan loving David this way. It must be different. CS Lewis distinguished erotic love from all other loves in that erotic love excludes others while the love of friendship invites others. This selfless, deep, holy love of Jesus for John – this is something I have yet to fully understand, and I would guess I am not alone. Our church in St Louis, sensing this same need among our men, has begun Journey groups: Intimate small groups for men to get together and study God’s Word. I remember similar groups at Elmbrook Church when I was much younger, growing up in Milwaukee. They were called “Top Gun” groups, or something like that. I suppose I have had such friendships – “Band of Brothers” kinds of experiences. And I wonder if that is the pathway to holy man-love. I wonder if I’m even up to it. Or if I’m too afraid of it. Or if investing in such a relationship in our busy culture would take away from time with my dear wife.

Lord, give me man-love friendships that teach me the holy love you intended for your sons to have. Teach me that “Psalm 133” brother love that I need to know:

“Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity! It is like the precious oil on the head, running down on the beard, on the beard of Aaron, running down on the collar of his robes! It is like the dew of Hermon, which falls on the mountains of Zion! For there the LORD has commanded the blessing, life forevermore.”

Now when Job's three friends heard of all this evil that had come upon him, they came each from his own place, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. They made an appointment together to come to show him sympathy and comfort him. 12 And when they saw him from a distance, they did not recognize him. And they raised their voices and wept, and they tore their robes and sprinkled dust on their heads toward heaven. 13 And they sat with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his suffering was very great. Job 2:11-13 ESV

There is a scene in the movie As Good As It Gets in which the friends of a horribly assaulted and beaten man come to visit him while he is laying in his hospital bed. They cannot hide their horror as they look at his wounds. The scene is intended to be comical, and indeed it is, however, it also demonstrates how important a good word is as we sit to suffer with our own wounded friends. Job’s three friends grieved with him. That was good. But at some point, a friend must lift the spirit of the wounded. It does not appear Job’s friends knew the cue for when to worship with their wounded friend.

Lord, make my heart sensitive to the prompting of the Spirit. Father, teach me to respond to that call. Jesus, let me heal others as you are healing me.