+ In Nomine Jesu +
Grace and peace to you, from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
This evening’s message is based on the Gospel reading you heard a few moments ago from John 13. It is actually the chapter of John’s Gospel from which we get the observance of Maundy Thursday. The word Maundy is the from the Latin, meaning “command.” Towards the end of chapter 13 of John’s Gospel, Jesus says, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
“A new command I give unto you.” Maundy Thursday. We’re focusing this evening though on the earlier part of John 13, the first 17 verses, in fact. I’d like to begin, as I often do, with a question. I wonder, what would you do if you knew you were going to die tomorrow? I mean, besides of course, going 2.7 seconds on a bull named Fu manchu. For you country and western music fans, I’m sure you get the reference. For those of you who aren’t fans of country and western music, rest assured I have not had a stroke, nor am I suffering a senior moment. What would you do if you knew you were going to die tomorrow?
On Maundy Thursday, the night of the Passover celebration, Jesus’ knew He was going to die the next day. The Gospel reading for this evening begins with these words; “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, Jesus now showed them the full extent of His love. The evening meal was being served, and the devil had already prompted Judas Iscariot, the 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.”
It’s seems an odd thing for Jesus to do on such a somber occasion, don’t you think? With all that next 24 hours held in store, Jesus washed the feet of His disciples. Even though He knew He was going to die the next day, He took time to serve others, in what was actually, a very necessary but demeaning task.
Years ago someone told me about a church that had a custom of taking one Sunday a month off from worship. It wasn’t that they went off and did their own thing. They still gathered together on Sunday, but instead of gathering for worship, they went out into the community to do service projects. Even though the custom was well intended, I found it troubling. God calls us here week after week to gather around His word and to receive His body and blood, for forgiveness, life and salvation. Which means, we don’t come here on Sunday morning primarily to serve Him. Rather, we come here to be served by Him. After all, Jesus Himself said, “I did not come to be served, but to serve and to give My life as a ransom for many.”
“The Son obeyed his Father's will,
was born of virgin mother,
and, God's good pleasure to fulfill,
he came to be my brother.
No garb of pomp or pow'r he wore;
a servant's form like mine he bore
to lead the devil captive.”
Peter balked at Jesus’ desire to serve His disciples in such a way. His intercession, at least on the surface, seemed noble, even selfless. But in effect, Peter was saying, “Jesus, I’ll pick and choose how I relate to You!” We might say that Peter was a strong willed individualist, a good-hearted strong willed individualist, but still someone who wanted his will and not God’s will to be done. You may recall at another time Peter tried to prevent Jesus from going to the cross. Jesus told His disciples about His coming death and resurrection, and Peter said, “never, Lord, will it happen to you! I’ll defend you! I’ll protect you!” To which Jesus said, “get behind Me, Satan, for you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.” Here, in John 13, Jesus challenged Peter’s judgment again, saying, “what I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand. If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.” Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!”
Tonight, Jesus challenges you and me in a similar way. Do you choose how you will relate to Jesus? In this country we tend to think of churches as voluntary associations of autonomous individuals. Individuals come together as a church, if they want, and they do what they want. It’s interesting that our modern understanding of the individual is relatively recent in the scope of history, going back only to the 19th century. American individualism says you can do what suits your best interests and you can express yourself in any way you want. You are free to find the true you! But Jesus goes against this kind of do-your-own-thing individualism. “Unless I wash you (He says), you have no part with Me.” Frankly, our life together as the church is not a voluntary association of independent individuals. Rather, we are the body of Christ, those whom Jesus has come to serve with such mercy and compassion.
Peter backed off…”Then Lord, not just my feet but my hands and my head as well! Jesus answered, ‘A person who has had a bath needs only to wash his feet; his whole body is clean.’” In washing His disciples feet Jesus gave them a sign. They were cleansed…we are cleansed…by His coming, by His passion, by His death for us, by His resurrection and going back to the Father, and by the cleansing work of the Holy Spirit in our lives we have been cleansed.
“No one, Jesus said, can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit.” This word you are hearing tonight cleanses you. “My words, Jesus said, are Spirit and they are life.” The meal you will receive shortly cleanses you. “I am the Bread of Life (Jesus said). He who comes to Me will never go hungry, and he who believes in Me will never be thirsty.”
Maundy Thursday, in a sense, helps us find ourselves. What God does this evening is show us again who we are. Our sitting together to hear Jesus’ words, our gathering at His table, is a visible sign that our life together is not as autonomous individuals who voluntarily came to church, but we are made one body, washed by our servant Savior, Jesus Christ.
“When He had finished washing their feet, Jesus 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 this is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet.This Maundy Thursday God helps us find ourselves once again. We are people who have been washed, people who have been loved, and a community with no greater aspiration than to follow Jesus in loving care and service to others.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen .
The peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus unto life everlasting. Amen.
+ Soli Deo Gloria +