FOCUS

It's Thursday.
Maundy Thursday . . .  from a root word, 'mandate' ... which we translate into "Commandment".
This is the commandment . . .  to love one another.
We are mandated to love one another as Christ loved us.
We are mandated to love another by following the precepts written for us in scripture.
This takes FOCUS.
Intentional, time consuming, every-word digesting focus.

How can anyone love another enough to actually die for them?
It has been done over and over again.
We hear stories of one choosing to die instead of another slated for death.
Young men go to the battlefield . . . a constant . . . to die for our freedom.
A mother does not think twice about enveloping her children in a fire.
 The children survive.  She does not.
The stories are endless.

Yet, THE story of stories might be the best example for us to follow for the rest of our lives .
Jesus knows this is his last Passover feast.
The disciples closest to Jesus, the twelve, anticipate an evening of remembering.
They plan to remember their salvation history, as do all Jewish people.
 'This is the night . . .'
The night of remembrance . . .
Yet, this night with Jesus would begin a new story of remembrance.

The table was set.
All were huddled around Jesus.
All were focused on Jesus' words, Jesus' movements . . .
      Jesus held up the bread.
He blessed it and broke it and said, "Take, eat, this is my body."
He held up the chalice of wine, blessed it and gave it to them saying,
"This is my blood, God's new covenant, poured out for many people."
And then he said, "I'll not be drinking wine again until the new day when I drink it in the kingdom of God."
 [Mark 14, Message Bible]

All but one focused on Jesus' words, Jesus' movements. . .
These words were new, different, not yet understood.
What did Jesus mean?
They remained focused on Jesus, waiting for more.
More would come later.

One, totally focused on self and his own 'mission', endured the ordeal of allowing his mentor, Jesus, to serve him.
One, ready to flee at any moment, even allowed Jesus to dip the morsel of bread into the wine and be fed by the leader he followed for three years.
One lost his focus on THE ONE who could save him from the curses of his soul.
One lost THE ONE in an instant because he could not understand the mandate to 'love one another.'

It is so easy to be the one who loses focus.
In a millisecond, as a tiny spec in this huge universe, we can lose our focus on the ONE who has the power to keep us focused on God for an eternity.

Let us focus on the mandate to 'love one another':
by humbling ourselves as Jesus humbled himself before his disciples when he washed their feet,
by eating the bread of Jesus' presence, his life given for us,
by drinking the wine poured out for us, his blood-sacrifice shed for us.
by remaining focused . . .  vigilant . . .  for the next three days . . . and more.
Focus on what we read in scripture,
Focus on what we hear from another who tells the story,
Focus on the taste and smell of bread and wine turned into his presence.
Focus on touching another's life with the mandate, "love one another."

Let's simply FOCUS