Mandatum novum do vobis ut diligatis invicem sicut dilexi vos.
This isn't a suggestion. It is a mandate.
"A new commandment I give to you: Love one another, as I have loved you."
There is no picking and choosing here. There's no clause of exception in the story of Jesus doing what he does best (scandal) and washing the feet of his disciples, as recorded in the gospel of John.
Love one another ... except for those fools who over-extended themselves on credit and now are facing foreclosure on their houses.
Love one another ... except for those punk kids in detention who ought to have known better.
Love one another ... except for those reeking homeless people who don't have a job and don't even pay their own way in this society.
Love one another ... except for those criminals who break laws.
Love one another ... except for those immoral deviants who pervert love, sex and relationships.
Love one another ... except for those coworkers who take credit for your work.
Love one another ... except for those relatives who embarrass you at every family gathering and act shamefully in public.
Love one another ... except for those people who have hurt you, betrayed you, injured you, angered you, disappointed you.
If Jesus had considered his love for us with these exceptions, I imagine he would have climbed right down from that cross and looked each one of us in the eye and said, "Well, you certainly aren't worth that."
If you think you aren't in someone else's exceptional category, that by some miracle you are worthy of love in every instance, then you best hurry to the closest Maundy Thursday service in your area.
When you consider other people through the mandate of love, it will change how you interact with them.
It will seal your lips against judgment and hate. It will affect how you vote. It will encourage you to be vulnerable and open your home, your wallet, your life.
"But I might lose something! I might get hurt -- again! I might die!"
Father, if this cup can just pass me right on by, I'd be quite grateful.
Sigh, but if you insist ...
God's will for us is to risk that which has first been given us in the service to and love of the other. We are clearly told that it is of no credit to love those who love us back, to assign value to those who already have worth.
It. Is. Not. Easy.
As a friend often says, "It isn't all Jesus and buttercups." No, indeed it's all Jesus and thorns and nails and blood.
The amazing part is that such is the catalyst for limitless love. We are freed from the power of sin and death and sent forth in the world to witness the boundless and no-exceptions of God's grace.
The next time you find yourself feeling any number of love's opposites for someone, imagine instead washing that person's feet.
For that is what you have been called to do.
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