Jesus Army

Being humble soldiers in the army of the Lord

05/11/2017

John 13:16-20 

When Jesus had washed the disciples' feet, he said to them: "Amen, amen, I say to you, no slave is greater than his master nor any messenger greater than the one who sent him. If you understand this, blessed are you if you do it. I am not speaking of all of you. I know those whom I have chosen. But so that the Scripture might be fulfilled, The one who ate my food has raised his heel against me. From now on I am telling you before it happens, so that when it happens you may believe that I AM. Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever receives the one I send receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me."

        How many of you know what an army is? What does an army do? An army is a group of people, composed of men and women, who go to fight a war. Now, how is an army organized? All armies have “ranks” of soldiers, some soldiers are “privates” (they’re the lowest level) and others are generals (they are the highest level). Who is the most important and gives all the commands, the general or the private? Obviously, it is the general. For example, the general could tell the private: “You have to wash my car.” And the private would have to do that, and do it quickly. Could the private tell the general, “No way, you have to wash my car!” What would happen to him? He would be kicked out of the army.

         This is the same here at St. Boniface. I am the administrator, which means I am the all-powerful leader of this church. And so I am like the general. And let’s say that our kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Audra Harper, is like a private, because she doesn’t have any power in this school. So, theoretically, I could say, “Mrs. Harper, I want you to wash my car!” Do you think she would do it? Okay, that’s a silly example; I’m just trying to be funny. But I hope you get my point about how an army is organized: privates obey the orders of the general; generals do not obey the orders of privates.

In the gospel today, Jesus tells his apostles how his army will be organized. In Jesus’ army there are privates and there is one general. Who is the general in this spiritual army? Jesus is, obviously. And in Jesus’ army who are the privates? The apostles are (and us, too). And Jesus’ army fights a war, too, against sin and Satan (all armies fight wars). And it’s really a tricky war because Satan and sin are invisible, which means you cannot see them. It’s very hard to fight an invisible enemy. Now, here’s the funny thing about Jesus’ army. Even though Jesus is the general, he does not tell the privates to wash his car. He washes their car! And he does more than that: he even washes their feet. Have you ever seen a general get down on his knees and wash the feet of his privates? Of course not, that would be ludicrous! But if you read John chapter 13, that’s exactly what you would see: Jesus, the general, washing the feet of his privates, his apostles. You see, Jesus’ army is kind of funny; the stronger, the smarter, the more handsome serves the weaker, the slower, and the less beautiful. In other words, I should wash Mrs. Harper’s car, if I really belonged to Jesus’ army! And by the way, that’s exactly how you fight the invisible enemy of sin and Satan: by being humble. That’s how Jesus’ army wins the war.

         Boys and girls, how many of you want to be in Jesus’ army? I hope you all raise your hands! I want to be in his army, too. If you’re in an army, you have to learn to say “Sir, yes sir!” when your general gives you a command, and you have to say it loud, like you really mean it. Now, in Jesus’ army the stronger serves the weaker. So, that means you should never bully anyone because you are stronger. And you should not have a group that leaves anyone out because you do not like them. And you should not tease anyone who is different from you. In other words, you should wash their car, not tell them to wash your car, just like I should wash Mrs. Harper’s car.  That’s the command Jesus gives his privates, and we should all respond enthusiastically, “Sir, yes sir!”

         And that’s how you win the war against sin and Satan. We are fighting a war against an invisible enemy, and when we are humble and willing to wash cars and even feet, that’s when we win the war.

Praised be Jesus Christ!