Wash Feet, If Necessary Use Water - A Sermon for Maundy Thursday 2023

GOSPEL: John 13:1-17, 31b-35

The holy gospel according to John.

Glory to you, O Lord.

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

The gospel of the Lord.

Praise to you, O Christ.

Jesus said to them,

“Do you know what I have done to you?”

The night before Jesus’ death,

Jesus has a private audience with his disciples.

They’ve heard Jesus teach -

1 or 3 years -

they are dedicated to Jesus,

leaving their old lives behind

to be a disciple of the Rabbi.

Jesus is not done teaching.

Even the night before his inevitable death,

something incredible awaits the disciples.

Jesus washes their feet.

It is radical hospitality,

radical service,

radical love,

radical devotion.

It is radical for the master to serve the servant.

It is even more radical for

God Almighty in the flesh

to serve normal people,

to be utterly devoted to normal people.

But that’s who our God is,

that’s who Jesus is.

Washing feet in ancient times was about hospitality -

something the servants would do

for dignified guests.

The master does not wash feet.

Washing feet was about cultural hierarchy.

something children would do

for their parents,

or wives for their husbands.

Jesus reverses these roles.

Christ serves us.

As the apostle Paul tells us,

there is neither male nor female,

slave nor free,

Greek nor Jew -

all are one in Christ.

This is one way that Christ shows us we are one.

These kind of cultural hierarchies

don’t vanish overnight.

We continue to live in and amid

various prejudices today -

race, gender, ability, class, sexual orientation.

Christians and non-Christians alike

continue to treat people

as second-class citizens,

to treat people differently

because of

skin colour

or gender,

or age,

or sexual orientation

or any kind of difference.

but Jesus shows us another way:

radical hospitality,

radical service,

radical love,

radical devotion.

That’s Christ's way.

We have trouble with Christ's way -

it challenges us and our culture still today.

Christ’s way says that, sometimes

we have to change,

and we don't like change.

Jesus says to Peter, to all the disciples

“Do you know what I have done to you?

Now that I, your Teacher and Lord,

have washed your feet,

you also should wash one another’s feet.

I have set an example

that you should do as I have done for you.”

We want to follow Jesus,

and most of the time we want to do

what Jesus calls us to do -

and thankfully in this day and age of

brand name sneakers and affordable socks,

we no longer need to keep

wash basins in our living rooms.

We don't take this command to wash feet literally.

Except maybe on Maundy Thursday.

Yet we are called to wash feet.

One way we can wash feet is by taking part

in another teaching:

Jesus says “ I tell you the truth,

no servant is greater than his master,

nor is a messenger greater

than the one who sends him.”

When we think we are better than someone else,

greater than someone else,

more important than them,

that's when we need to grab a towel

and some water

and wash feet.

When we think someone does not belong

in the Kingdom of God -

grab a towel and some water,

wash feet.

When we think that we are in and someone is out,

grab a towel and some water.

wash feet.

and when we think we’ve got this faith thing all figured out -

grab a towel and some water,

wash feet.

I remember a time

when I thought I had this faith thing

all figured out.

It was in the spring of 2008.

Some extended family came to visit my parents,

they were my mom’s cousins, Karin & Emil

from Schleswig-Holstein, Germany.

They spoke no English,

and my mom wasn’t always up for translating.

She did better after a beer or two.

Anyhow,

they had heard that I was attending seminary

to become a pastor.

They brought gifts for my family,

and they gave me a bible.

It features a wood cut from Albrecht Durer (Praying Hands above).

It is in German,

and I can’t read it.

I remember thinking some thoughts I’m not proud of…

I’m attending seminary,

I already have enough bibles.

and,

I can’t read this, what good will it do me?

In my own way,

I thought I was better than…

But something changed in me,

looking back, it was the Holy Spirit.

I humbled myself,

and I looked at it,

felt it,

and I listened to them explain the gift.

I couldn’t understand their words,

except “Albrecht Durer”

and “Marin Luther”

and “Die Bibel”

But I could understand their faces,

the tone of their voice.

It was love.

We had never met before,

yet in the bonds of family,

in the bonds of faith,

we were one,

and they were devoted to me.

Jesus says, “Do you know what I have done to you?”

and I can see,

15 years later,

Emil & Karin,

my family from overseas

washed my feet.

Interesting tidbit,

today is the day the church commemorates

Albrecht Durer,

whose work revealed

the mystery of salvation

and the wonder of creation.

One of his most famous pieces is the Last Supper

from 1523,

showing the cup

in a time that the cup was not shared

in Roman Catholic Churches,

a way of saying that Christ’s cup

ought to be available to all.

The painting also shifts the focus

away from the betrayer,

and onto the sharing of faith, together,

of Christ serving the Supper.

That’s what Maundy Thursday is all about,

washing feet,

unity in Christ,

radical hospitality,

radical service,

radical love,

radical devotion:

Humble service that humbles us.

One other story of washing feet…

I grew up as a child of Highwood Lutheran Church

here in Calgary, Alberta.

My parents attended worship every Sunday,

and more often than not,

my brother and I were there as well,

sometimes willingly,

often times dragged by our earlobes.

Much like this congregation,

the older members

find ways to care for the younger.

Over the years,

we would stop in on a Sunday to visit,

but those visits waned

after I became a pastor.

Turns out being a pastor makes it difficult

to pop in Sunday mornings.

We did not keep in touch with many people.

We were able to visit Highwood one Sunday

after we had our third child.

One woman, who we will call Grace,

was very happy to see my family,

and even though we hadn’t spoken

in 2 or 3 years,

she learned that we were going to visit,

so she had knitted teddy bears

for all 3 of my children.

Here’s two of them…

She washed my feet that day.

She knew I could not repay this act of kindness.

She simply wanted to shower my family

with love.

Do you know what I have done to you?

Jesus asks.

If I have washed your feet,

you also should wash one another’s feet.

So what are we waiting for?

Let’s Go!

Wash feet!

If necessary, use water.

Maybe we can use teddy bears,

and bibles,

or maybe it’s knitting

or baking

or babysitting,

or mowing lawns,

maybe it’s showing up in support,

or loving amidst hatred,

In big ways and in small ways,

God’s going to give us those opportunities

for radical hospitality,

for radical service,

for radical love,

for radical devotion.

Indeed, that’s Christ's way.

Jesus invites us to wash feet.

If necessary, use water.

We wash feet

to turn harmful hierarchies

and oppressive relationships upside down.

We wash feet to say no to systems

that perpetuate racism,

classism,

sexism,

abuse and fear.

We wash feet to show radical hospitality,

radical service,

radical love

radical devotion

Because that’s who Jesus is,

and, in Christ, that’s who we are too.

Thanks be to God. Amen.