Keep your Fork, The Best is yet to come
It’s hard to imagine a world where today’s commandment from Jesus is followed and lived out. Love one another as I have loved you. All we have to do is turn on the TV or open an internet browser and we are reminded that we live in a broken world – one that does not conform to Jesus commandment. The brokenness of this world breaks into our lives on a regular basis. Most likely, we all know someone that has been affected by addiction, violence, hatred, or suicide. Brokenness surrounds us.
Yet, Jesus, when he spoke those words, was not aware of our world. When he spoke those words, it was Maunday Thursday, he was celebrating a meal surrounded by his apostles. The passage takes place right after Judas leaves to betray Jesus and before Jesus tells Peter you will deny me three times. Jesus himself was surrounded by brokenness: brokenness in his world, brokenness among God’s people and even among his group of followers.
In the midst of the turmoil surrounding him, Jesus still tells his disciples, “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.” At that moment, the disciples can’t even begin to understand the magnitude of those words. Shortly, they will see what that love looks like. Words of forgiveness to those who put him to death, words of assurance to a criminal crucified by his side. Even words of restoration to Peter, who is given 3 opportunities to profess his love for Jesus. But most importantly, Jesus willingness to give even life itself in order that they and we might come to know a life with God.
That is the type of Love that Jesus commands his followers to offer and 2000 years later, we are still struggling to come to terms with that commandment. We look for caveats to get out of loving one another. That person isn’t worthy of love, that person does things against scripture, that person.. In reading what Jesus said, there is no BUT, there is no unless. There are no conditions on the love Jesus calls us to offer to one another. It is just love.
While we are making strides to obey his commandment. We haven’t gotten fully. There are still tears, pain, suffering. Rather than offering the love of Christ to each other, giving of ourselves for the other, this world still has animosity, apathy, and ill-will.
Some people find it difficult to comprehend the love that Jesus spoke of. And to further complicate that love, we have the reading from Revelation this morning. Where the writer hears a voice saying, “God will wipe every tear from their eye, Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more.” Isn’t the writer in his passage talking about a time when Jesus commandment is fullfilled?
Let me tell you a story:
There was a woman who had been diagnosed with a terminal illness and had been given three months to live. So as as she was getting her things “in order,” she contacted her pastor and had him come to her house to discuss certain aspects of her final wishes. She told him which songs she wanted sung at the service, what scriptures she would like read, and what outfit she wanted to be buried in. The woman also requested to be buried with her favourite Bible. Everything was in order and the pastor was preparing to leave when the woman suddenly remembered something very important to her.
“There’s one more thing,” she excitedly.
“What’s that?” came the pastor’s reply.
“This is very important,” the woman continued. “I want to be buried with a fork in my right hand.”
The pastor stood looking at the woman, not knowing quite what to say. “That surprises you, doesn’t it?” the woman asked.
“Well, to be honest, I’m puzzled by the request,” said the pastor.
The woman explained. “In all my years of attending church socials and potluck dinners I always remember that when the dishes were cleared, someone would inevitably lean over and say, ‘Keep your fork.’ It was my favorite part because I knew that something better was coming… like velvety chocolate cake or deep-dish apple pie. Something wonderful and of substance! So I just want people to see me there in that casket with a fork in my hand and I want them to wonder, ‘What’s with the fork?’ Then I want you to tell them: ‘Keep your fork… the best is yet to come.
The fork is a sign of what Revelation is talking about. There is a new heaven and a new earth as the old has passed away. Chaos is no more. God has come to live among the mortals. The peace of the Garden of Eden has returned. The reading lets us know that Jesus death and resurrection signal that the brokenness, heartache and disappointment that we sometimes experience in this world do not get the last word. Our death is now simply a doorway into God’s glorious presence. Jesus commandment of love will be fulfilled.
For now, as we continue to work toward living into Jesus command, we have to work at seeing that time when possible. For Christians, we that love here in this place, where God definitely dwells with God’s people, in the word and sacraments. For they are a foretaste of the joy, we will encounter after our deaths. Currently there is mourning, crying and pain, but our faith knows that even now all things are being made new, and so therefore we must keep our forks because the best is yet to come.
