John 13:1-35

John 13 :1 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. 2 The devil had already put it into the heart of Judas son of Simon Iscariot to betray him. And during supper 3 Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going to God, 4 got up from the table, took off his outer robe, and tied a towel around himself. 5 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. 6 He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, „Lord, are you going to wash my feet?“ 7 Jesus answered, „You do not know now what I am doing, but later you will understand.“ 8 Peter said to him, „You will never wash my feet.“ Jesus answered, „Unless I wash you, you have no share with me.“ 9 Simon Peter said to him, „Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!“ 10 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.“ 11 For he knew who was to betray him; for this reason he said, „Not all of you are clean.“ 12 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? 13 You call me Teacher and Lord– and you are right, for that is what I am. 14 So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. 15 For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you. 16 Very truly, I tell you, servants are not greater than their master, nor are messengers greater than the one who sent them. 17 If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them…. 31b Now the Son of Man has been glorified, and God has been glorified in him. 32 If God has been glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself and will glorify him at once. 33 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.‘ 34 I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.“

Thankless Tasks

It was about 2:30 a.m. The fifteen pre-teen youth group members had been put to sleep on the floor with boys on one side of the room, girls on the other and adults in their sleeping bags forming a line of demarcation between the two groups. The young youth minister was sleeping fitfully when he noticed the shadowy figure of one of the kids rise like a ghost from her sleeping bag. It had all the signs of a routine midnight bathroom run, until she started to make a bit of noise. It was the sound of someone suppressing a gag, trying not to throw up.

The young leader looked around, desperately seeing if another adult had seen or heard what was about to happen, but no one else stirred. He sprang swiftly into action, quickly ushering the young lady toward a trash can as the retching commenced. The event was swift and devastating. But by pure chance, the wreckage avoided spilling onto any of the other kids, only the floor and the trash can were impacted.

After the young lady was escorted to the bathroom door, the youth leader, unable to contain himself, rushed into the men’s restroom and quickly washed his face and hands, hoping to quell the queasy sensation willing up inside himself. It had always been this way for him. Even when he was in elementary school, someone else’s upset stomach would cause him to follow in sympathetic effect. He avoided doing the same in this moment only narrowly.

But there was a mess to clean in the other room, a child to comfort, a parent to call for midnight pick-up. The latter two he could do. The first he could not face. So he gently woke the mom of one of the other kids who had agreed to chaperone the group for the night. He informed her, with some embarrassment, of the situation and asked her if she could possibly handle the clean up without waking too many of the sleeping kids. Meanwhile he would call parents and help the sick child gather up her belongings to go home. The mom cleaned up the mess swiftly and without the slightest hint that she herself was going to be sick. Once the child was packed off, the youth leader and the mom sat and chatted.

“Thanks for taking care of that mess. How can you clean that stuff up without getting sick?” he asked her. Her reply was quick and unrehearsed.

“It wasn’t always that way. I was as bad off as you are until I had my own children. Even the first time they threw up, I suddenly found that I didn’t get sick anymore. For whatever reason, I guess maybe it is for the love of them, I could do what needed to be done, knowing there would be no ‘thank you’ or any other recognition. I knew that I had to do this for them because they were mine to care for. I imagine you will find out someday,” she added.

A New Commandment

In the ancient world the ritual of washing feet was reserved for those of lower status. In a culture of sandals and dirt roads; in a culture without antifungal soap and disinfectants such a thing was likely nasty business. It was not a job you volunteered for.

So when Jesus removes his outer tunic, ties up his inner robes and takes towel and basin in hand, the disciples are shocked to say the least. Leave it to Peter to challenge what Jesus is doing as inappropriate. In other Gospel accounts, as well as in John, Peter is both assertive and clueless at the same time. He does not want a teacher who debases himself. Peter is embarrassed by such a thing. But he is humiliated by Jesus, who states clearly that he not only intends to wash Peter’s feet, but that he stands ready to exclude Peter from the circle if Peter continues to refuse.

It is interesting that John makes this event, the washing of feet, the pivotal event in the upper room on this Thursday night. It is not surprising that John is out of step with the Synoptic Gospels at this point. It is surprising that the one who made so much sacramental connection out of Jesus’ feeding of the thousands, would fail even to mention the giving of himself in the Passover meal. But this event carries more import. So much so that the evening on which we gather to celebrate the founding of this feast is named not for communion, but the commandment that Jesus gives by way of explaining the significance of the washing of feet.

“Just as I have loved you, so you also ought to love one another.”

It is a love that gives of the self that Jesus shares in this simple act of washing feet. It is a love that expects nothing in return, other than that it be passed along to others in the circle. It is a love that cares not for status, place, dignity, and maybe not even for health and safety. It is a love that knows not even the boundary of death. It is a love that traverses the height, depth, width, and breadth of existence to hold the cosmos in its embrace. “For God so loved the cosmos…”

Who have been declared saints over the centuries? From Stephen to Francis to Theresa of Calcutta, they have been those unafraid to go and feed the widow and orphan, to embrace the leper, to wash the feet of the poor, following the example of Christ. They embody who and how we have gone about the business of loving and washing feet; of doing the thankless serving jobs for one another from which we cannot hope to gain. It is not always such striking figures in history who do this. They are done simply by people all over the world each day. Perhaps they are even done by mothers cleaning up after children not their own at a church sleep over. Perhaps they are done by you and by me.

Following Jesus

But we follow Christ, and by our action point to him. For in his simple act of giving he has turned the world upside down. He has shown that the great among us are not those with wealth and power, with prestige and position. He has shown that in God’s gentle and just reign, it is the servants who are most like their sovereign. It is the ones who take up their towels; it is the ones who take up their crosses and bear them into the world serving; it is the ones who follow Jesus’ act of love who are truly disciples.

As we journey this week to the garden, trial, cross and finally the empty tomb, let us keep in mind that the victory of death is hollow if the world does not come to know the love so deep that it would stoop to wash another’s feet, or clean up after a child has been sick. It is this serving love that we watch being crucified. It is this very love that is raised on Easter Sunday, never to die again. But that is the love that God bears for his children. He washes us in Baptismal waters, daily forgiving us and sending us in to the world anew. He feeds us at his table. He gives his life for us.

Like Peter we may not want the gift that God gives. But God knows we need it. We face the streets of the world with our souls ill shodden and unprepared for the dust and the dirt and the sharp edged stones and the infection in our wounds. And God tenderly, carefully, lays us bare and washes us clean, at his own expense. From one perspective this is quite un-Godlike. But from another, it is just what you would expect a loving parent to do for the children.

Can we follow? That is the question. Can we see the kinship we have with one another in Christ Jesus enough to wash one another without turning our stomachs at the sight and smell of our own humanity? Can we find that the poor and the needy are both nearby and a matter for our care and concern? Can we give our lives? Maybe not. But Jesus did. For those whose feet are cleansed by him, disciples then and now, that makes all the difference in the world.

Rev. Dr. Luke Bouman
Peace Lutheran Church
Austin , Texas
luke_bouman@sbcglobal.net