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Maundy Thursday
April 13, 2006 Sermon
by Rev. Barb Hauck, Deacon
Readings
We were gathered together…
about 10 of us in all… gathered together to celebrate how far we had
come and where we were going. We stood in the kitchen… amid the clatter
of dishes and the chatter of voices. Vegetables were chopped, fruit was
washed, meat was prepared for the grill. We were talking about momentous
things that afternoon and evening – our lives, our Church, and our Lord.
Those of us gathered in Fergus Falls that day had been together a couple
of years at that point… and we’d grown to care for one another, trust
one another, depend on one another. We were a community of disciples
ready for action. And then he appeared – our hostess’ grandson, Dana.
Big bottle of lotion in hand, he sat on the floor, removed our sandals,
and began to apply a liberal amount of lotion to feet he thought looked
tired, cracked, worn. It was an incredibly intimate and powerful moment
for us. This six-year old child had never met any of us before that day…
but with the gentle movement of his hands over the feet that would carry
us forward, we were given the gift of this child’s pure, selfless love.
Sounds a bit like the setting for today’s gospel passage.
The community of disciples in the passage from John’s gospel were
gathered together for the festival of Passover. They were sharing a meal
– perhaps the meal described in the reading from Exodus. That ritual
meal passed down through the generations which served as a reminder of a
meal eaten long ago… a meal eaten in haste, with “loins girded,” sandals
on their feet, staff in their hands. Those who ate that first Passover
meal many generations before, those who painted their doorposts with the
blood of the lamb so God would “pass over” their houses and not take
their firstborn children in the final plague… those folks were to be
ready for the journey of their lives, and there was no time to waste.
The disciples with Jesus were also ready for the journey of their lives,
a journey beyond anything they could possibly have expected or imagined.
Their Lord had ridden into town just four days earlier to a tumultuous
welcome. But time was short and there were lessons yet to be learned. So
Jesus… “got up from the table, took off his outer robe, and tied a towel
around himself. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the
disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was tied around
him.”
We heard how, at first, Peter refused. He might have been happier
washing Jesus’ feet than letting Jesus wash his. Do you suppose the
thought of Jesus on his hands and knees at Peter’s feet was just too
frightening, too threatening? Surely, this wasn’t the way it was
supposed to be. Jesus was demanding to be let out of “the box,” the box
of Peter’s, and the other disciples’ expectations. With great
reluctance, Peter yielded to this humble, serving Lord.
Now these were Jesus’ closest followers… but lest we take comfort in the
idea that it might somehow have been less uncomfortable to wash the feet
of people who were close to him… let us never forget he was washing the
feet of one who had already decided to betray him, one who would soon
deny him three times, and others who would abandon him in his hour of
need. “After he had washed their feet, had put on his robe, and had
returned to the table, he said to them, “Do you know what I have done to
you? You call me Teacher and Lord – and you are right, for that is what
I am. So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also
ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have set you an example, that
you also should do as I have done to you.” Yes, the journey these
disciples of Jesus were about to take would take them places physically
and spiritually they could never have imagined… a journey into a world
turned upside down.
We’re a lot like Peter, aren’t we? Following Christ’s example of washing
one another’s feet during a Maundy Thursday service is an idea often met
with resistance. People hesitate baring their feet to another person.
It’s an experience of intimacy folks tend to avoid – having someone
touch their ticklish feet… perhaps even having the clergy wash their
feet in public seems somehow ‘over the top’ for church. Then, of course,
there are the logistics. Who’s going to sit where and on what, how do we
do it safely so no one slips on the soapsuds on the chancel steps, and
how long will it take?
We seem to be as reluctant to bare our feet to others as we are to bare
our selves to others. Many of us are embarrassed to take off our shoes
and socks in public, believing our feet are big, smelly, and ugly. Our
feelings of shame about calluses, nails stained by the grime of our
lives, or knuckles swollen and painful from disease make us stuff our
hands deep in our pockets to prevent them from being seen, either. And,
of course, many of us are also embarrassed to take off the protective
covering which shields the ugliness of our lives – the sin, pain, and
vulnerability – from others’ view. We don’t want to hang our “dirty
laundry” (our weaknesses) out where others might see.
Yet this may be exactly what Jesus is asking his disciples to do by
washing their feet: asking them to not only expose their dirty feet but
also their dirty lives. Jesus – out of his great love for them – will
wash both of them clean. I believe the foot washing exemplifies the
promise of a full relationship with God and Jesus. In this act, Jesus
enters into a relationship of unbelievable intimacy with the disciples –
like the intimacy of his relationship to God. It’s this intimacy that
makes Peter, and most of us, so uncomfortable. The very essence of the
foot washing is Jesus’ offer of himself in love… revealing Jesus’
unconditional love for the disciples, a love that holds the promise of
new life for them, and, ultimately, for us.
I have great compassion for these disciples… this rag-tag band of folks
who followed a traveling rabbi… a man who healed some and seemed
threatening to others, a leader who brought some back to life and all
too soon would lose his own. What a rollercoaster of emotions these
disciples must have experienced this week… from Jesus’ exciting entry
into Jerusalem, to his arrest and crucifixion… and back out of the
depths of their despair to the hope for which they, and we, hunger. We
have the benefit of 2,000 years of history, of his story upon which to
build our faith. But on this night in the disciples’ lives, our Lord
knows they need something to hold onto.
So Jesus, Lord and Teacher, challenges them to enter into relationship
with him on his terms – allowing their relationship with him to be
defined by God’s love and God’s love alone. The poignant act of foot
washing removes any possibility of distance between Jesus and his
followers… their hearts beat as one as he brings them face to face with
the love of God.
Let there be no mistake. While the foot washing is certainly about
service… it is even more about love. “For I have set you an example,
that you also should do as I have done to you.” When we are able to love
one another as God loves us it cannot help but be an intimate
experience. It is an experience of caring for one another… each person
in the family of man, not just our friends and family. It is caring for
one another by offering the same self-giving love we experience in this
gospel passage – like the experience my friends and I had when a 6-year
old sat at our tired, cracked, worn feet and offered the healing gift
his love.
When we are able to love one another as God loves us, that is the love
that holds the promise of a new life for us. At the feet of those whom
God has entrusted to us, doing the work of simple service to others, we
are following the example our Lord set for us. As Sam Portaro, in his
book, Daysprings, tells us: when it happens that our eyes meet those of
the people we serve, may they see what is written on our hearts –how
deeply grateful to God we are, and how thankful for them we are. “That,”
we are told, “is when the eucharist begins: not when the bread is
broken, but when we are.”
In a few moments, we’ll have the opportunity to share in this intimate
ritual. Some of you have participated in this in years past – and may do
so again. For others who have participated previously, it may have been
so powerful that you may choose to simply sit and rest in the memory of
it. Others may come forward for the first time. We will have stations
for foot-washing and a standing station for hand-washing, so choose the
station that feels right for you. For those of you who choose to come
forward tonight, I pray you will hold yourselves open to fully
experience the joy of serving and being served, loving and being loved…
indeed, hold yourselves open to the joy of loving one another as Jesus
loves us. AMEN.