What Does Love Look Like? (A Maundy Thursday Poem)

What does love look like?

Like water spilling onto the floor
as Jesus dipped his hands into the basin
and wiped the dirt from his disciples’ calloused feet.
Love is a messy business.

I can see them – the twelve disciples, with their
shifty eyes, sweating palms, nervous laughs –
what in the world is Jesus doing now? 
as he knelt – one by one – before them.
I can see Judas, too; his mind…elsewhere.
Indeed, this is what love looks like:
Jesus kneeling before Judas
with foresight
and heartache,
but still – he knelt.  And washed.
And loved him to his heartbreaking end.
Love is a risky business.

I can see them gathered at the table.
There’s chatter over clinking dishes, and
banter with mouths full of food and a
precious oblivion of the future;
well, for all but Jesus.
Until he stands and silence falls as he takes
simple, blessed bread
and calls it his body
torn in two.
Pouring the wine, he offers
his blood
his life
himself.
Love is a selfless business.

Jesus said: Love each other, just as I have loved you.

So I suppose,
this is what love looks like:
a basket of rolls passed around a warm table
of a family who chooses to belong with one another
(with kind and understanding hearts)
even when their differing politics tell them it can’t be done.
Love is an ever-expanding business.

This is what love looks like:
a father giving up countless hours of sleep,
pushing his patience to the limit
to cook and clean and care
for his rambunctious kids and sick wife,
all without a word of complaint
and with a grateful (albeit tired) smile on his face
because his family is just that – his.
Love is a tireless business.

This is what love looks like:
being four years old and
giving half of your handful of easter eggs
filled with candy
to a kid you’ve never met
who has less in his basket than you,
because you know he, too, is your Neighbor.
Love is a generous business.

Jesus said: Love each other, just as I have loved you.

Perhaps Jesus is simply saying
(as his final words of instruction, no less,
so he must really mean it):
My friends,
be
messy,
risky,
selfless,
ever-expanding,
tireless, and
generous
in the way you care for others.

Then you’ll see what love looks like, and
you’ll know what my love looks like
for you.

The image above is “The Washing of the Feet” by Ghislaine Howard – https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/the-washing-of-the-feet-42951