Maundy Thursday , 04/13/2017

Sermon on John 13:1-17, 31b-35, by Richard O. 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. 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."

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.

"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)

I don’t 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—verses that seem to have some power, some mystery that goes beyond just their meaning. The opening verse of tonight’s gospel lesson is one of those for me: “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.”

I think it is that last phrase that enchants me. “He loved them to the end.” What do you think it means? On the one hand, of course, it means that Jesus’ 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 “the end” to mean the purpose of something—as when we say, “To what end are you taking that action?” We mean “What’s your purpose?” And that’s what the phrase here can mean, too. John tells us that Jesus loved his disciples in a way that fulfilled and completed his purpose.

We will hear the story in detail in just a moment; on Maundy Thursday in the Lutheran Book of Worship liturgy the sermon comes first, before the readings. It may seem a little odd, but one result is that the preacher can alert you to what to listen for as you hear the story. So how does this idea of Jesus loving his disciples to fulfill or complete his purpose play out in the story?

Just as I have loved you

Well, as you will hear, what Jesus will do in this story is to wash 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’s job. You will hear in the story the disciples’ astonishment at what Jesus is doing—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’s feet, it should be one of them.

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: “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. . . . I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.”

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—what it means that God loves us, and what it means, then, that we are to love one another.

God loves us

And first, what it means that God loves us. It means, above all else, that God humbles himself. We heard that last Sunday in a reading from Philippians 2: Christ “emptied himself, taking—notice!—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 — even death on a cross.”

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr., the father of the famous jurist, was the dean of Harvard Medical School, but sometimes he tried his hand at hymn writing. He wasn’t that good, but occasionally he penned a memorable phrase. One hymn he wrote begins “O Love Divine, that stooped to share our sharpest pang, our bitterest tear.” “O loved divine that stooped.” That’s what God’s did in Jesus Christ, you see; out of great love for us wretched human beings, he stooped—like 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 “love divine that stooped.”

We love one another

And then the other part—what it means that we love one another. That’s what Jesus says, isn’t it: “Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.” And oh, that’s the harder part. That’s 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’t really want to serve others. Oh, maybe that’s 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’s not how a slave serves. A slave serves when and how the master commands. A slave doesn’t get to say, “Well, I might be willing to do that, but I’ll have to think about it. And I can’t do it right now. How about next Tuesday?” A slave is always ready to serve, and to do it now.

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—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. It doesn’t 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’s 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.

Washing feet

But I said there’s 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’ve been in situations where there has been a ritual of foot washing, where people are invited to experience both washing another’s feet, and having another wash their feet. Almost without exception, when the question is asked afterwards, 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.

That’s what’s happening in the story here, isn’t it? Simon Peter is resistant. “You will never wash my feet!” he says to Jesus. Yes, it is tough. We just don’t want to admit that we need the love and the kindness and the service of others.

But that is what love means. It means being willing to serve, but also to be served. That’s the meaning of this foot washing. It is the meaning, too, of the Eucharist. The institution of the Lord’s Supper is not told in John’s gospel, but we hear it tonight in Paul’s letter to the Corinthians. It is Jesus, giving himself to the disciples, to us. Our need is to receive—to open our hands and our hearts, and receive what Christ gives. We don’t offer anything in payment, really. We cannot. Love is not negotiated, and it does not balance the books. It is completely giving—and completely willing to receive.

Traditionally Christian theologians have talked about the seven deadly sins, but also the seven virtues: courage, justice, temperance, wisdom, faith, hope—and love. Paul puts it this way: “the greatest of these is love.” The greatest. It is this virtue that Jesus demonstrates this night in the upper room. It is this virtue of which he says: “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Pr. Richard O. Johnson
Grass Valley, CA
E-Mail: roj@nccn.net

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