John 13:1-15 & 20
Sermon Series: Lent 2009
A REFLECTION FOR MAUNDY THURSDAY: We contemplate Jesus’ act of humble service, and his desire that all his disciples do likewise as we live out our lives of faith as an example of loving service to others.
Journeying with Jesus through Lent #7 ‘By the way of Humble Service’
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Jesus said: “So if I, your lord and teacher, have washed your feet, you ought also to wash one-another’s feet. For I have set you an example, that you should do as I have done to you.” (John 13:14-15).
This evening, we join with Jesus and those who had been his closest companions, there in the Upper Room, that fateful evening as the atmosphere of tension mounts – and the disciples’ confusion and anxiety grows by the minute. Jesus knew that his time had come. He knew that, soon, he would be betrayed by one of his closest followers, and that he would be handed over to his enemies to be passed between the Jewish Court of the High Priest, to the Roman HQ. He knew that he would suffer mockery and pain and torture at the hands of his captors, before finally being led out to death on a cross.
But in this atmosphere of mounting tension, Jesus has an important lesson to teach his friends. Not long before, that same evening, Jesus and that group of confused, anxious disciples had shared in the Passover meal – which would be their Last Supper together. That meal would never have the same meaning for them ever again – it would take-on a new significance, a new meaning from that evening on through all time. For the Broken Bread now became, for them, the broken body of Jesus – their beloved brother, teacher and guide. The Poured-out Wine became, for them, the poured-our blood of their Lord and Saviour. In their sharing of this meal, and what it stood for, Jesus had instituted that which symbolised for them (and for all people of faith) the possibility of a new relationship with God – only possible in reality through the death of Jesus as he bore the burdens of the sin of the world – the sin of the world by which the initial covenant relationship with God had been broken.
That Last Supper with Jesus had brought them together as one body in Jesus’ name – one in community, one in faith, one in their doubts – as they shared together in the pain and suffering that was the way of Christ. The pain and suffering that, as bad as it would be, would be transformed by New Life in all its fullness, but which the disciples could not yet understand the nature of.
Together as a body with one-another, in all their shared doubts and confusion, Jesus now gives a vivid example of what it means to live-out their faith – what it really means to follow him, to be his disciples. Jesus takes off his robe and ties a towel around his waist. And having poured water into a bowl, he kneels down in front of his disciples and begins washing their feet.
The utter sense of shock at this action of Jesus’ must have stunned them into silence and stillness. For, while it was considered the utmost insult not to welcome a guest into your house by providing a bowl of water for them to wash their own feet, not even the lowliest of slaves would be expected to wash the feet of another person. But here he is, Jesus, kneeling down on the floor, gently placing the feet of his friends in the water, then wiping them dry with the towel tied around his waist.
Amid that atmosphere of tension and uneasiness, the disciples are now shocked and dismayed! Shock and dismay that is only voiced by Simon Peter, in his characteristically plainspoken way. He says to Jesus, “You will never wash MY feet!” Jesus responds by gently telling him that, unless he washes his feet, Peter cannot share with him – be part of the new community of believers who live-out their faith in their lives. Again, characteristically, Peter explodes with emotion as he exclaims, “Then not my feet only, but my hands and my head too!” Peter does not understand what Jesus is doing (nor do the other disciples), nor do they understand what Jesus is ‘SAYING’ by his example. So Jesus explains.
To live a life of faith, in its truest sense, means to act and to live in faith – complete trust in God. It means to be able to see, and to respond to, the needs of others, no matter what worries and distress they – as disciples and servants of God – are experiencing. To grow in faith and to act on God’s will in their lives, they must learn to SEE AND ACT UPON the light of God’s guiding Spirit, even through the darkness of their own experience. They must trust God’s spirit to guide them in ways of service, putting even their own needs second to that of others.
In other words, Jesus knew his hour had come. He knew all the physical pain and emotional suffering he would encounter as he endured torture, humiliation, and the pain of separation from those he loved. Yet he saw through all HIS own personal suffering to the needs of others – his disciples – in their need. He saw their distress, doubts and inner pain, and he sought to respond to their needs – even as he suffered. Yes, Jesus knew that it would get worse as Peter – the one who swore that he would remain loyal to the death – would deny even knowing that he even KNEW his Lord and Master. Jesus knew that his friends would be frozen with fear once he had gone from them, and that he would find them – on that Third Day – cowering behind locked doors for their own safety.
So it is that, as Jesus endured his own inner suffering, he saw – and sought to respond to – the disciples’ needs. Jesus saw they needed assurance and comfort, and the only way they were going to attain this (especially as they walked the way AWAY from Jesus over the hours to come)by acting-out their own faith by serving others – each other.
Yes, even in Jesus’ own present situation (as he sees what will happen to him) he is not blind to the needs of those around about him. Jesus’ teaching the disciples through washing their feet was to give real example of servanthood: even Jesus, their Teacher and Lord, did that which not even a slave would be asked to do. They must do likewise. And as they emulate him, so THEIR example of servanthood would teach and instruct others in the way of true, humble service – the way of LIVING life in faith – trusting to God’s guidance, even in the bleakest of times.
As Jesus washed the feet of his friends, they must have been reminded of the way in which Mary, sister to Lazarus and Martha (all close friends of Jesus) had anointed the feet of Jesus with that costly perfume not so long ago (John 12:1-8). Mary could see what was going to happen to Jesus, yet she could also see through her own pain to respond to Jesus’ needs. She knelt at Jesus’ feet and, in the role of humble servant, anointed his feet with that fragrant oil, and wiped them with her hair. This was in preparation for his death.
Yet the disciples must have remembered also that there was anger in that household that night. That perfume was extremely expensive and could have been sold for a huge amount of money – which could have been given to help the poor. Judas was enraged by (what he saw as) this act of expensive self-indulgence. Yet he couldn’t see beyond the ‘waste’, beyond his own anger, to Jesus’ need – and to the act of humble service Mary was providing. Yet, as John tells us, everyone present in that house that evening felt the impact of her service in a very profound way: the whole house was filled with the fragrance of that costly perfume – no-one could escape its aroma.
This was certainly an example of true, humble servanthood, as Mary’s act of selfless generosity pervades the lives of everybody present. Her example shows that serving one person in the hour of their need in fact influences others in their own lives of faith. Those who can see beyond their own need – no matter how great that need might be – to serve others in THEIR need, truly perform acts of LOVING humble service, and live out their faith as examples to all, in Jesus’ name. Thanks be to God. Amen
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Disclaimer: I have been privileged to share with God’s people, for more than ten years since my Ordination, many, many sermons and Bible studies. As so often, preachers ‘absorb’ words and other insights without knowing or remembering their original source. If any of the above seems somehow ‘familiar’, please accept my humble apologies – I have not wittingly reproduced any writing as my own that should be otherwise acknowledged.
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