Love One Another

Maundy Thursday

Lord, today as we gather apart, we pray for those who gather around tables at home. As we enjoy a meal, we know that in houses across the nation, families gather. Help us to feel your presence this evening, remembering the last meal you shared with your disciples. As we hear reminders to wash our hands, help us to always remember the night when you knelt at the feet of the disciples and washed their feet. Amen

Scripture: John 13:1-17, 34-35

13 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,[a] 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,[b] but is entirely clean And you[c] 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[d] 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.

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.”

Message: Love One Another …

The hymn we would have sung together had we met begins with these words: Jesu, Jesu, fill us with your love, show us how to serve, the neighbors we have from you. For John, that is what the last supper was about.

As you gather at your dinner table tonight I invite you to remember this scene from the last supper. In fact, it is the scene from which we get the word, “Maundy” or Commandment. This is the day on which we usually gather to remember the final supper Jesus had with his disciples. Yes, we serve communion, remembering the scenes that others chose to share, but this is the thing John found most important to talk about. The Passover meal, the breaking of the bread and the drinking of the wine is not mentioned.

What mattered to him was that Jesus washed their feet. Kneeling on the floor, he took their feet in his hands and washed them. It isn’t as if they had been wearing shoes and socks. These were feet that had walked on paths behind donkeys and goats. Over the last few weeks we have been reminded from too many sources. Wash your hands. You pick up germs everywhere. And if our hands have germs, think of what is on our feet. And yet, with not a bottle of hand sanitizer in sight, Jesus knelt down and picked up their dirty feet. Then he called us to do the same.

This is a day to be reminded of our own sins and our own need of washing. This is a day to be reminded that you have people in your life with whom you have grievances that need to be mended. This is a day to be reminded that the final act of Jesus with his disciples was to encourage them (and us) to love one another as He has loved us.