N<\/em>ow before the festival of the Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart from this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. The devil had already put it into the heart of Judas son of Simon Iscariot to betray him. And during supper Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going to God, 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. He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, „Lord, are you going to wash my feet?“ Jesus answered, „You do not know now what I am doing, but later you will understand.“ Peter said to him, „You will never wash my feet.“ Jesus answered, „Unless I 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!“ Jesus said to him, „One who has bathed does not need to wash, except for the feet, but is entirely clean. And you are clean, though not all of you.“ For he knew who was to betray him; for this reason he said, „Not all of you are clean.“<\/em><\/p>\n 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. Very truly, I tell you, servants are not greater than their master, nor are messengers greater than the one who sent them. If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them.<\/em><\/p>\n „Now the Son of Man has been glorified, and God has been glorified in him. If God has been glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself and will glorify him at once. Little children, I am with you only a little longer. You will look for me; and as I said to the Jews so now I say to you, `Where I am going, you cannot come.‘ I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.“ (John 13.1-17, 31b-35 NRSV)<\/em><\/p>\n I don\u2019t know about you, but for me there are certain verses in the Bible that strike me in a way that it is difficult to describe \u2014 verses that seem to have some power, some mystery that goes beyond just their meaning. The opening verse of tonight\u2019s gospel lesson is one of those for me: \u201cJesus knew that his hour had come to depart from this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.\u201d<\/p>\n It is that last phrase that enchants me. \u201cHe loved them to the end.\u201d What do you think it means? On the one hand, of course, it means that Jesus\u2019 earthly life is about to come to an end, and here, right on the verge of his death, he demonstrates his love to his disciples. But the Greek words here have another meaning, perhaps a deeper one. It actually lies here in the English as well, though not as clearly. We sometimes use the phrase \u201cthe end\u201d to mean the purpose of something \u2014 as when we say, \u201cTo what end are you taking that action?\u201d We mean \u201cWhat\u2019s your purpose?\u201d And that\u2019s what the phrase here can mean, too. John tells us that Jesus loved his disciples in a way that fulfilled and completed his purpose.<\/p>\n I suppose the most striking evidence of this love is Jesus washing the feet of his disciples. It is a gesture that was very common in the ancient world, a sign of welcome and hospitality for guests who had traveled along a dusty road. But it was something that only a slave would do. The master or mistress of the house, or the host at a meal, would never think of doing this. It was a servant\u2019s job. The disciples, of course, are astonished at what Jesus is doing \u2014 taking the role of a slave, kneeling before them in humility and doing what a slave should be doing. They are flabbergasted because this is not what is supposed to happen. If anyone is to get down and wash the other\u2019s feet, it should be one of them.<\/p>\n Jesus, however, pays them no mind. He quietly continues to do what he had begun, gently washing their feet. And then in the end he explains it: \u201cIf I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another\u2019s feet. For I have set you an example. . . . I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.\u201d<\/p>\n Love that stooped<\/strong><\/p>\n So there we have his purpose, the reason for this way of showing his love for his disciples, the reason for this action of humility. It is to demonstrate what it means to love \u2014 what it means that God loves us, and what it means, then, that we are to love one another.<\/p>\n And first, what it means that God loves us. It means, above all else, that God humbles himself. We heard that last Sunday, didn\u2019t we, in a reading from Philippians 2: Christ \u201cemptied himself, taking \u2014 notice! \u2014 the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death \u2014 even death on a cross.\u201d<\/p>\n Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr., the father of the famous jurist, was the dean of Harvard Medical School, but sometimes he tried his hand at writing hymns. He wasn\u2019t that good, but occasionally he penned a memorable phrase. One hymn he wrote begins \u201cO Love Divine, that stooped to share our sharpest pang, our bitterest tear.\u201d \u201cO Love Divine that stooped.\u201d That\u2019s what God did in Jesus Christ, you see; out of great love for us wretched human beings, he stooped\u2014like Jesus kneeling before the disciples. In Christ, God humbled himself. He became a servant, a slave. The gospel story tonight is the very picture of that \u201cLove Divine that stooped.\u201d<\/p>\n And then the other part \u2014 what it means that we love one another. That\u2019s what Jesus says, isn\u2019t it: \u201cJust as I have loved you, you also should love one another.\u201d And oh, that\u2019s the harder part. That\u2019s the part that rubs against the grain! And it really rubs against the grain in two rather contradictory ways. The first way is obvious: we often don\u2019t really want to serve others. Oh, maybe that\u2019s not quite fair; I look out on this congregation, and there are so many people who serve in so many ways! And yet the thing of it is, we are happy to serve, and to serve generously, when it is convenient, and when it is on our terms. But that\u2019s not how a slave serves. A slave serves when and how the master commands. A slave doesn\u2019t get to say, \u201cWell, I might be willing to do that, but I\u2019ll have to think about it. And I can\u2019t do it right now. How about next Tuesday?\u201d A slave is always ready to serve, and to do it now.<\/p>\n And if the concept of slavery is too foreign to you and to your experience, think instead about the loving service of a mother. Think about your own mother, or about yourself, if you are a mother. When a child needs something, its mother is there \u2014 ready to help, ready to serve, without questions or resistance or resentment. Ready to offer food, ready to dry a tear, ready to run an errand. That doesn\u2019t stop when a baby starts to walk, or when a child graduates from college, or when a child marries and starts a family of his or her own. A mother is always ready to serve. And all because that\u2019s just what it means to be a mother. It is to serve your child simply out of love. And that, Jesus says and Jesus demonstrates, is how we are to love one another.<\/p>\n Washing feet<\/strong><\/p>\n But I said there\u2019s another way this idea of serving one another rubs against the grain, and it is this: so often we are unwilling to allow others to serve us. Over the years a number of times I\u2019ve been in situations where there has been a ritual of foot washing, where people are invited to experience both washing another\u2019s feet and having another wash their feet. Almost without exception, I\u2019ve found people will say that it was more difficult for them to be the one whose feet were washed. We are often willing to serve others, but it is more difficult to be served. We are willing to minister to others, but it is more difficult to be ministered to.<\/p>\n That\u2019s what\u2019s happening in the story here, isn\u2019t it? Simon Peter is resistant. \u201cYou will never<\/em> wash my feet!\u201d he says to Jesus. Yes, it is tough. We just don\u2019t want to admit that we need<\/em> the love and the kindness and the service of others.<\/p>\n But that is what love means. It means being willing to serve, but also to be served. That\u2019s the meaning of this foot washing. It is the meaning, too, of the Eucharist. The institution of the Eucharist is not told in John\u2019s gospel, but we hear it tonight in Paul\u2019s letter to the Corinthians. It is Jesus, giving himself to the disciples, to us.<\/p>\n One year when I was teaching an early church history class, I asked the students to read and discuss a portion of a 4th<\/sup> century sermon by Cyril of Jerusalem about the Eucharist. This was a sermon Cyril gave to those about to be baptized, explaining the meaning of the Sacrament. Most of these students come from evangelical Protestant backgrounds, where the Eucharist is not as central as it is for us. One of the questions I asked the students was to consider how what they read compared with their experience in their own church. I listened to them for a while, and then I made an observation. \u201cI notice,\u201d I said, \u201cthat each of you is talking about what it means to \u2018take communion\u2019 in your church. I find that very interesting. In my tradition, one would be more likely to speak of \u2018receiving communion.\u2019 What do you think it might mean to think about the Eucharist as something we receive <\/em>rather than something we take<\/em>?\u201d I could see the wheels turning around the circle, as they began to ponder in a new way what it means that the body and blood of Christ are given <\/em>for us.<\/p>\n And when something is given, <\/em>our part is to receive. <\/em>Our need is to receive\u00a0<\/em>\u2014 to open our hands and our hearts, and receive what Christ gives. We have no right to take it. We don\u2019t offer anything in payment, really. We cannot. Love is not negotiated, and it does not balance the books. It is not only completely willing to give; it is also completely willing to receive.<\/p>\n Faith, hope and love, Paul says, but \u201cthe greatest of these is love.\u201d The greatest. It is love that Jesus demonstrates this night in the upper room. It is love of which he says: \u201cBy this everyone will know that you are my disciples.\u201d It is the love which stoops, taking the role of a servant; it is the love which receives with gratitude. It is the love that Christ offers and commands.<\/p>\n ___<\/p>\n Pastor Richard Johnson<\/p>\n Webster, NY<\/p>\n roj@nccn.net<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Maundy Thursday 2022 | John 13.1-17, 31b-35 | May 14, 2022 | Pastor Richard Johnson | Now before the festival of the Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart from this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. 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