Held on Maundy Thursday 2015/04/02 @Holy Trinity Anglican Church
It was just before the Passover Festival. Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. The evening meal was in progress, and the devil had already prompted Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, 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. He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?” Jesus replied, “You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.” “No,” said Peter, “you shall never wash my feet.” Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.” “Then, Lord,” Simon Peter replied, “not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!” Jesus answered, “Those who have had a bath need only to wash their feet; their whole body is clean. And you are clean, though not every one of you.” For he knew who was going to betray him, and that was why he said not every one was clean. When he had finished washing their feet, he 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 that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them. […]
“Now the Son of Man is glorified and God is glorified in him. If God is glorified in him, God will glorify the Son in himself, and will glorify him at once. “My children, I will be with you only a little longer. You will look for me, and just as I told the Jews, so I tell you now: Where I am going, you cannot come. A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
(John 13,1-17.31b-35)
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
With todays gospel we have entered a new chapter of Jesus’ works. Still in mind we have the enthusiastic cheering of the crowd when Jesus rode into Jerusalem, as they cried “Hosanna” and “Blessed the one”. And we do already know what is going to happen next: We anticipate the the slashing of the whip, the mocking of the people and the clanging of the hammer as it drives in the nails. Between the noise of the people in the outside world and the sound of the flogging we receive an insight into a private and calm world.
Jesus has withdrawn himself with his disciples, his beloved friends. It seems as though everything was already set. There is nothing to be changed anymore. And Jesus knows his future way. Before the machinery of his fate starts its desastrous work he addresses his friends in order to prepare them for their work in the world without his physical presence. The first thing he does is setting an example as he says. An example which his disciples shall imitate. He as their teacher devotes himself and washes his students’ feet.
Actually, I have been wondering what I would think if someone urged me to let him wash my feet. At the time of Jesus it was quite common to have your feet washed or wash them yourself whenever you came as a guest. Wives washed the feet of their spouses, slaves washed the feet of their master and their master’s visitors, students washed the feet of their teachers. At least you were given a bucket of water to wash your feet yourself. The reason for that is quite simple: Usually you laid down for eating, so that your feet were in full view of everyone at the table. No one wanted to see dirty feet – and the feet usually were very dirty back then: Most people wore sandals and the streets were really dusty. You can imagine what that meant. So washing your feet was usually quite worthwile.
Having your feet washed was a flattering experience in ancient times. You were honored when someone washed your feet. I think nowadays it is a bit different. Would anyone of you feel flattered? I think, most people would tend to feel uncomfortable and so would I. Probably most of you have not prepared themselves for tonight’s footwashing by not washing their feet for a couple of days, so that it would pay off. Have you? Or not? Well, we’ll see.
Jesus washing his disciples’ feet must have been an honour beyond measure for them. One of them can’t even bear what Jesus does. Peter first refuses to have his feet washed. But Jesus answers in a very cryptic but still convincing manner: “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.” Does this sound logical to you? What does “having part with Jesus” mean? Having part with Jesus seems to be what everything at church is about, doesn’t it? This one sentence from Jesus turns Peter from being a denier into being a greedhead. Now he wants it all: Jesus shall wash his hands and his head, too. Again Jesus replies cryptically but convincingly for Peter: One “only needs to have washed their feet”; when they are already bathed, “their whole body is clean”. This is, of course, not true in terms of hygiene. But as the language of the gospel of John puts many things into riddles that can be interpreted, Jesus is actually not talking about your daily bath or shower. You probably have already figured that out.
Jesus is talking about your relationship with God. The one who is holy can only be approached by one who is clean. This has always been the same and hasn’t even changed because of Jesus Christ. The jewish priests had to wash before they could enter the sanctuary, everyone had to be ritually clean to enter the inner districts of the Jerusalem temple – being clean not only meant being washed, but sometimes also being healthy and not having any contageous infections or disabilities. It is still like that in many religious communities all over the world. But don’t we remember Jesus saying that it is most important to be clean from the inside and not from the outside? What comes from your heart is what makes you unclean before God, your words and your deeds. Water, of course, can only wash the outside and not the inside.
So, in the act of footwashing there is both: Water cleaning the outside of the one who is washed and the washer who humbles himself and by doing that shows what comes from his heart. Jesus’ love is the love that comes out of his humbleness. Neither social status, nor age, nor anything else shall hinder Jesus’ disciples from loving with the unselfish love that Jesus has shown to them. But it is not the love that makes anyone clean from the inside, but such a love can only come from someone who is already clean from the inside. Those who have had a bath and have received the baptism from Jesus, those who fully trust in their salvation, they are clean. And from this trust in the salvation – we also call that “faith” – flows the unprecedented love of which Jesus sets an example.
Such a love is hard to find and much harder to live. I think that it really isn’t easy to love humbly. I sometimes have a hard work to do shaking off some typical thoughts. For example: “Well, will my ‘love’ pay off for me? Will it at least make me feel good?” Or: “Perhaps with my love I can change that other person.” Or even: “Has a person actually earned my love?” According to my experience, these are quite common thoughts. Humans usually have objectives with the things they do. That’s just normal – to have an objective, to know what you are doing, to be able to plan and to improve and to work to reach a goal. It is something we learn from an early age. The normal procedure of cause and consequence, a principle that we have internalized. We do have the power and the will to turn consequences in a way that appeals to us, that is useful to us. It’s about “us”. And much too often we might find that our love towards others turns out to serve our own ambitions. Quite some complicated form of love, isn’t it?
Jesus washing his disciples’ feet shows another form of love. Not only a humble, but a simple love. He doesn’t wash the feet so that others can say: Oh, look how good he is! There is no media around, no cameras for an image campaign, nothing of what he does he does for himself. What he does is: He sets an example. He shows his love so the love will be spread among his disciples, among people all over the world. The only objective of the love he shows is: to multiply that love. He also wants his disciples to become multipliers of love. A love which multiplies is a plain love without any hidden agenda. That’s also the command Jesus gives them at the end: As I have loved you, so you must love one another. The love which Jesus commands is not anything that humans have invented. It is not a useful or purposeful form of love. Jesus shows to his disciples a love which deserves to be called love in the eyes of God.
The humble and simple and unselfish love of Jesus shall not only be lived and acted out by his disciples, but – very important – be multiplied by his disciples. As Jesus has set an example, his disciples have become examples of Jesus’ love. Because they have experienced his love, they can let others experience his love also. That’s why they “have part with him”, as Jesus says. The washing of the feet anticipates Jesus dying on the cross, the ultimate proof of his love. By being baptized in his death we now also have part with Jesus in our present days. Therefore it is upon us to set examples and to be examples of the love of Jesus. So let it be multiplied! On Maundy Thursday we are reminded of that by following Jesus’ command to do as he has done for his disciples – symbolically by washing each others feet. Jesus’ love is not a means to an end. His love is the end. There is nothing more to it but the glory of God.
And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will keep your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.