Maundy Thursday 07

John 13:1-17

The last free night before Jesus was killed, He got down on His knees and did something scandalous. Jesus kept doing things that forced the disciples to readjust their thinking. Throughout Jesus time with the disciples, they struggled to understand who He was and what He was doing. Just when they got a handle, finally, on who Jesus was, and what He was about, He would take them one step further. ‘Who do you say that I am?’ becomes deeper, more meaningful with this last demonstration of who Jesus was and what He was about; He is about serving the disciples, He is about serving us. Jesus is, at heart, a servant of both us and God. He does the Father’s will in serving us. Listen to John’s account of that last night, and what was important. Please stand…

It was just before the Passover Feast. Jesus knew that the time had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love.

The evening meal was being served, and the devil had already prompted Judas Iscariot, son of Simon, to betray Jesus. Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.

He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?”

Jesus replied, “You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.”

“No,” said Peter, “you shall never wash my feet.”

Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.”

“Then, Lord,” Simon Peter replied, “not just my feet but my hands and head as well!”

Jesus answered, “A person who has had a bath needs only to wash his feet; his whole body is clean. And you are clean, though not every one of you.” For he knew who was going to betray him, and that was why he said not every one was clean.

When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. “Do you understand what I have done for you?” he asked them. “You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord, and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. I tell you the truth, no servant is greater than his master, nor is the messenger greater than the one who sent him. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.

Let’s pray.

John in his gospel, doesn’t have the last supper. At that point in the development of the church, people were already celebrating the Lord’s Supper. So there was no need to put in another account of Jesus serving the disciples bread and wine. In its place, John puts in a different sort of liturgy. It is a liturgy of service, illustrated by this shocking humility as Jesus kneels before the disciples and washes their feet. In fact, John sets up the whole situation by saying Jesus knew that His time was coming to a close and wanted them to know really, finally, all that He was about.

Jesus knew that the time had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love.

It is in this foot washing that Jesus shows the final, full extent of His love. You’d think His final full extent of love was shown in raising Lazarus from the dead, or in riding triumphantly into Jerusalem, or in the feeding of the 5000. But it isn’t. His full love isn’t shown in healing the blind, helping the lame to walk, or in arguing with the Pharisees. His love is most fully seen in this humble act, the washing of feet. His full love wasn’t seen in the transfiguration, or in coming to earth at all. It was in a humble act of service, washing the very worst and dirtiest parts of the disciples.

You might remember that feet were a taboo subject in that society; there was nothing more ‘filthy’ than feet. In our society we have curse words about private parts; they had, and have, curse words about feet. Knowing that, listen to this next section.

Jesus washed their feet, one after the other. It doesn’t say so specifically in the text, but we are lead to believe that Jesus washed Judas’ feet as well. I wonder if that wasn’t the last straw for Judas. This wasn’t the world dominator he perhaps thought Jesus would be, this was someone who washed feet. How awful, to wash the feet, to humble yourself, before the person who is going to, and will in a short time, betray you. Maybe the closest scenario I can imagine is a good parent having to deal with a troublesome child. The good parent is serving the child who cannot understand the reasons for everything that has to happen, and become rebellious and plots to injure and kill the parent. I cannot imagine the kind of love it took to wash the feet of someone who was in the process of betraying me. Probably it is the same level of love as someone hanging on a cross, praying, ‘forgive them Father, for they know not what they do.’

When I thought about this scene, it occurred to me that Jesus was doing this foot washing in front of the hired help, the people who would normally have had this degrading job as a part of their work duties. Here is a man, a Jewish man, washing the feet of men his own age and social level. This is a demonstration of extravagant love, extravagant service to the disciples. This was unheard of. There would have been no precedent for a rabbi washing the feet of his disciple. It wouldn’t have fit with what they knew of the world. And yet, there it was. There He was, stripped down, towel around the waist, tending to the dirty feet of the disciples. Jesus is a servant. And as His followers, we are called to be the same. If our job as Jesus disciples is to reflect Jesus to a lost world, one of the primary aspects of Christ people should see in us is a desire and willingness to serve others, despite the costs. Jesus willingness to serve took Him to His knees before the disciples, it took Him all the way to the cross for our sins.

Is it too little to be a servant of Jesus? Is that beneath us? If we are called and asked to serve do we think up excuses, do we avoid responsibilities, do we think up reasons that we can’t serve? Jesus asks us to be like Him. This is one of those ways, but because we have been taught to have large egos, and that serving is beneath us, so we avoid it. We desire to live like those around us in society rather than as Christ lived. We don’t desire to serve, especially when it is costly. But Jesus demonstrated a costly servanthood; serving cost Him dignity, friends, suffering and eventually, death. We back away from serving if it costs us a little money or prestige. Can we aspire to be like Christ? Can we start to make little decisions that move us toward Christ’s example of servanthood? Can we start to look for opportunities to serve? Can we adjust our attitudes to lose the complaining and see times serving others as what we are created for, as a time to act like Christ?

He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?”

Jesus replied, “You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.”

“No,” said Peter, “you shall never wash my feet.”

Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.”

“Then, Lord,” Simon Peter replied, “not just my feet but my hands and head as well!”

This is Peter acting like Peter. He wants all God has to offer. If God is offering clean feet, Peter wants an entire clean body. But Peter doesn’t understand what Jesus is doing, and Peter doesn’t understand that God is not subject to Peter’s enthusiasm. Jesus is demonstrating His authority even as He serves Peter. It seems to me that if we have committed our lives to Christ, then we are clean. The penalty for our sins has been washed away in the blood of Christ that flowed from the cross. But we do need a periodic cleaning. We live in the world, and we sin. Our sins have been ultimately forgiven, but also need to be confessed to Christ so that we can grow in the knowledge and love of Christ, so that our sins won’t continue to be barrier to our relationship with God. So we come each week before God and confess the things we’ve done. We get our feet cleaned.

We need to be cleaned periodically so that we can be better servants of God. If we cannot hear God clearly because of our sin, then we are not going to be clear on how God would have us serve Him by serving others. One of the most important aspects of the worship service is our prayer of confession where we can individually and collectively admit to God what He already knows; that we are sinners. We fall short of God’s standards of conduct. Christians always have; always will. Jesus came to serve us in our very worst part; our tendency toward sin. It is not too little to ask that we also serve others. The last part of the passage really brings the message home to the disciples and to us.

Are you greater than Jesus? Of course not. Our Master, our Lord, our Savior and friend, has told us to serve others. This isn’t optional. This command is not something we can take or leave. We have been clearly told; serve others. Jesus sets the example, we follow. That’s how it works when we are disciples of Jesus. I’m not sure we’re good at this. We have a couple of ongoing service outreaches, the food program, the deacons making baskets at key times of the year, and the reading program. But on the whole, I think we are more in line with society’s view of servanthood than with Scripture’s views.

Servanthood is a decision. It is a decision to live as Christ commanded us to live. It sometimes feels like we are being taken advantage of, but the truth is that we are taking advantage of Christ; His righteousness, His relationship with the Father, His resurrection. We didn’t deserve it, we haven’t and can’t earn it; it is a free gift. So in some key and important ways when we are serving others we are mostly closely imitating Christ; we are acting like Christ when we serve. We want to know what we are going to get out of a relationship, out of a contact, out of an act of generosity. But perhaps the answer will be nothing except the knowledge that you are serving in a way that Christ would have served. It is the decision to be used by Christ to show what His kingdom is like, to demonstrate a little of what Christ is like. Is that too little for you? Is that too little for us? Is being a servant beneath us? It wasn’t beneath Christ. Jesus loved you, me, us so much that He became a suffering servant. He suffered in His decision to serve mankind, in His decision to serve you.

Servanthood is a way of life. It is to imitate, as nearly as possible, the purity of action and motive that Christ had in serving us. Jesus gained nothing by serving us. He was already God, He had everything that He needed. But He wanted us. And to get us, He took the path of servitude. To respond to God, in love, in faith, we also must take the path of serving, of living to be a servant. Is that too little for you? It wasn’t too little for God. Respond this night to God’s serving love, painful as it was, with a commitment to look this week for people to serve, for places to serve others because it is the faithful way, the most faithful way of being a disciple of God. It is the hardest way, but the most faithful way.

Let’s pray.