The Friday when Jesus was crucified is called Good Friday. On Good Friday we remember that Jesus offered himself as the final, complete sacrifice for our sins, freeing us from a slavery we could never have freed ourselves from.
The day before Good Friday is called Maundy Thursday. That Thursday, Jesus had a meal with his disciples in an upper room, somewhere in Jerusalem. Before the meal, he washed his disciples’ feet. Jesus had a lot to say to his disciples over that meal. It occupies about five chapters in John’s gospel. But in all that he said, there was just one thing which he actually commanded. He said, [Reader]: ‘A NEW COMMANDMENT I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another’ [John 13:34, ESV].
A long time ago, people read the Bible in Latin. In Latin, ‘a new commandment’ is ‘mandatum novum’. ‘Mandatum’ means commandment. It’s where we get the word ‘mandate’ from and where we get the ‘Maundy’ in Maundy Thursday from. So Maundy Thursday is the Thursday when Jesus gave us a new mandate, a new commandment, to love one another.
Jesus’ commandment to love one another is really important! We would assume that it’s important. We would imagine that the day before he died, Jesus would remind his disciples of his most important instructions.
Jesus had already made it clear that the greatest commandment is to love: to love God, first, and to love our neighbours as ourselves. But Jesus isn’t REMINDING his disciples of his most important instruction. He’s giving them a new one! He says, ‘A NEW COMMANDMENT I give to you’! Isn’t it a bit late for Jesus to be giving them a new commandment?! And isn’t this commandment just the same as the old commandment, to love our neighbours as ourselves? What’s different?
Listen carefully! Jesus said, [Reader]: ‘A new commandment I give to you, THAT YOU LOVE ONE ANOTHER: JUST AS I HAVE LOVED YOU, YOU ALSO ARE TO LOVE ONE ANOTHER.’
That’s what’s new. The quality of love which Jesus is asking us to show is new.
Jesus commanded his disciples, not simply to love one another, BUT TO LOVE EACH OTHER AS HE HAD LOVED THEM. It’s hard to imagine anything more challenging!
Before Jesus gave this instruction, he washed his disciples’ feet. Then he said, [Reader]: ‘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 … Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them’ [John 13:14-15, 17].
Jesus said that by washing his disciples’ feet, he was giving them an example. What exactly is the example? Was Jesus saying that love must be intimate and tactile? I’m not sure about that. Some kinds of love aren’t intimate and tactile. Was he saying that love is a form of service? That’s certainly true. Was he saying that love can be humiliating, demeaning, messy? That’s true too.
Some churches have a practice of foot-washing. As I understand, it’s often done in Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches. I’ve done it once in a service I’ve led. Perhaps next year, we’ll do it here. But the real point isn’t to wash someone’s feet in a service. It’s an illustration!
As far as we know this is the only occasion when Jesus washed his disciples’ feet. If the ultimate expression of love was LITERALLY washing people’s feet Jesus would have been doing it the whole time. The primary meaning can’t be LITERALLY washing feet. And it’s clear that this was NOT what Jesus had in mind. Jesus tells Peter, ‘Unless I wash you, you have no part with me’. That has nothing to do with Peter’s feet being literally clean or dirty. The way that Jesus really showed his love for Peter was by going to the cross for him and taking his sin.
So, the goal isn’t to wash people’s feet once a year in church. The goal is to understand Jesus’ call to demonstrate the kind of love that he has shown us, love that might be humiliating, demeaning and messy, consistently, all through the year.
This may not be the kind of love we’d like to give. But Jesus told his disciples to do the same as he had just done – and we take that to include us. And he says that we’ll be blessed if we do. I don’t know what kind of blessing we’ll get. But I think God’s blessings are very worth having!
At a deeper level, Jesus’ washing his disciples’ feet is a picture of the ultimate love he showed us in going to the cross for our sakes. Yes, Jesus tells his disciples to do as he had done; to wash each other’s feet. But washing their feet was a metaphor for a greater washing that he did, by showing the most humiliating, demeaning and messy love imaginable. And he tells us, [Reader]: ‘Just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.’
We’re not short of opportunities to show Jesus’ love. There’s a world of need around us. We can all find ways to show something of Jesus’ love. So, let’s do it! It may be humiliating, demeaning and messy. But that’s the love Jesus has shown us. And there’s blessing when we do! We won’t be washing forever: the day will come when we join Jesus at his banquet.
Prayer
Lord Jesus, we thank you so much that you were willing to be a servant to us, to take our dirt, our sin, onto yourself. You told us to follow your example of service. We want to do that. We pray that you will strengthen us in that desire, and open doors for service to us. In your name, Amen.
Talk given at Rosebery Park Baptist Church, Bournemouth, UK, Maundy Thursday, 14 April 2022
