Scripture readings: Exodus 12:1-8, 11-14; John 13:1-17, 31b-35
SERMON
“Not an Option”
by Randy Lubbers
That’s “Not an Option!” Every heard that? It’s a phrase used to describe something that “just ain’t gonna happen.” For example:
“Dad, can we skip school today?”
“Sorry, that’s not an option.”
There are some things so out-of-bounds, so impossible for whatever reason… they are… just simply… not an option.
However, there’s another way to read this phrase…
In football there’s a play called the “triple option” – the quarterback takes the ball and can (1) keep the ball, (2) hand it off to the fullback, or (3) pitch it to the tailback. Lots of options.
And we all like options, unless there are too many; like in some restaurants:
“Baked, au gratin, mashed with gravy, hash browns, American fries, French fries, rice pilaf, or veggies…”
“Ummm could you repeat that?”
Every car now has something like 275 options with multitudes of combinations making it possible to line up 100,000 red Mustang convertibles and yet all of them are slightly different. Lots of options.
We sometimes say, “I’d like to keep my options open.”
Generally, options are a good thing.
Options make us feel like we’ve got some choice in the matter.
People without options are imprisoned. Sometimes literally. In prison bedtime (“lights out”) is predetermined. Then the lights go back on and the horns blare when it’s time to get up. Breakfast is scrambled eggs… or scrambled eggs. No options for prisoners and slaves and workers treated like slaves.
Free people have options.
Now for the children of Israel living in slavery in Egypt, there were not a lot of options. But in anticipation of Pharoah changing his mind one last time, the Lord gave Moses and Aaron instructions for the Passover. The blood of the sacrificed, slaughtered Pascal lamb would be a sign and the angel of death would pass over those houses. But even in their deliverance there were not a lot of options. The instructions are clear—ignoring them is… not an option.
We sometimes fail to remember the connections between the first Passover and our Holy Week and Easter observances. Christ, the Lamb of God, is our Passover. Christ took bread and wine and said this is my body and blood freely given for you. Christ offered himself up to be the unblemished, wholly-sound Lamb to be slaughtered.
But before any of that, the gospel of John tells us Jesus offered himself up in another way. He took the towel, filled the bowl, and washed the feet of his friends. As we sang, he suffers and serves ‘til all are fed… and “shows how grandly love intends to work….”
Jesus takes the role of servant, of slave. And Jesus calls us to “go and do likewise.” Jesus calls us to be servants.
Now this idea of being a servant doesn’t feel quite right to many of us. After all, weren’t the children of Israel set free from being servants? Aren’t we set free in Christ?
I think a big part of the problem with the idea of servanthood relates to the mistreatment of some Christians over the last 2000 years by bigger and more powerful Christians. Examples abound— Christians with guns took away the lands of Native Americans while others were trying to convert the so-called heathen Indians into becoming servants of Christ. Christians justified slavery and preached, “Servants, obey your masters in the Lord.” Theologians in Latin America have been reminding North American Christians for decades of God’s “Great Requirement”: To act justly, to love mercy, to walk humbly with God. Too often the richest people and cultures respond to the cries for justice by recalling Christ’s call to servanthood. Well it’s pretty easy for CEOs to tell people about being “a servant to all.” But the servants don’t really need reminding. Even today in many churches, only men can vote and preach and make the rules—and the women… do women’s work… the women… serve. So it should be no surprise, really, when the idea of being a servant doesn’t ring true.
Not to mention: We live in a world where serving isn’t very high up on the bucket-lists. In our culture, winning is almost everything. Greed is good. Violence is tolerated—even exalted—it’s cool to be tough, cool to be a gansta. Church youth groups shoot each other up with paint balls—“it’s just for fun.” And the kids rightly point out, “Hey, even my dad plays MafiaWars on facebook… it’s just for fun, right? What’s the big deal?”
I thought it was an April Fool joke at first, but it was headline news in the Minneapolis Star Tribune and the April Fool jokes are usually at least below the fold.
Strapped for cash, schools and boosters bring in professional wrestling to raise money. A school administrator says, it might have been in bad taste, but it happened nevertheless. In one match “…a wrestler playing an Iranian made a show of unrolling a rug and kneeling to pray…” as the crowd booed and jeered.
We live in a world where the strongest are rewarded and the weakest left behind. We live in a culture that doesn’t merely tolerate “me-first”—it’s promoted. We live in a time when it is not really so difficult to imagine a crowd of thousands—urged on by an irrational, screaming voice—to turn on someone and shout, “Crucify Him!”
Being a servant? Not an option.
Serving? Pastor, aren’t there better words you could use?
But “serve” is a big word in Exodus.
The deliverance of the people out of servitude to Egypt was the Deliverance of God’s people into the freedom of… serving the one true God. Freedom. Without serving God…. Is just… not an option.
And Jesus… in a world where everyone is striving to get served first… takes the towel… and puts LOVE into action… serving the disciples… washing their feet.
And this is what love looks like:
Caring for people you love when they’re sick—not always pretty or fun;
Patience with people who you might not even like;
Listening when you’d rather be doing anything else.
Love is not always pretty. As Christ demonstrates, love is the humble act of a servant. “And this is my new mandate,” Jesus says. “Love one another. As you have seen me put love into practice by being a slave to all, that’s what I want you to be doing. Love one another. That’s how people will know that you are my followers.”
Love one another.
For those of us set free from servitude to evil to serve God and God alone: love-one-another is what we must do. It is Christ’s command.
It’s not an "option."
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit…
Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless God’s holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and never forget all God’s benefits. We praise you, O God, for making your divine truth real to us in Jesus Christ. We ask that what we do, how we love, and the way we love, may increasingly become a worthy response. Amen.
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