Don’t You Know Who I Am?
TCF Maundy Thursday sermon
April 13, 2006
You may have heard on the news the past few weeks about the congresswoman from Georgia, who tried to walk past Capitol security without proper identification. When the security officer tried to stop her, she struck him. Though she’s since apologized for her actions, her initial attitude about this incident is typical of the high and mighty in our culture. The high and mighty, at least in their minds, includes top business leaders, politicians, the rich, and entertainment figures.
How many times have you heard a story about some well-known public figure who gets into a situation where they expect some sort of special treatment, and say something along the line of “Don’t you know who I am?”
The idea is that they’re so special, that we’re supposed to know who they are, and treat them according to their status and/or celebrity. This particular congresswoman, admitting that she wasn’t wearing the special pin that’s supposed to identify her as a member of Congress, was quoted as saying, "The pin is not the issue. The issue is face recognition."
Tonight, as we mark Maundy Thursday, in the events leading up to Jesus crucifixion and resurrection, we see how Jesus turned the idea of this question, Don’t you know who I am? – upside down.
Though we usually read from the passages in the synoptic gospels, Matthew, Mark and Luke, about the Lord’s Supper, there’s a passage in John that I’d like to linger in for a few moments tonight, before we do as Jesus asked us to do tonight – to do this in remembrance of me.
John 13:1-17
1 It was just before the Passover Feast. Jesus knew that the time had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love. 2 The evening meal was being served, and the devil had already prompted Judas Iscariot, son of Simon, to betray Jesus. 3 Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; 4 so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. 5 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. 6 He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, "Lord, are you going to wash my feet?" 7 Jesus replied, "You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand." 8 "No," said Peter, "you shall never wash my feet." Jesus answered, "Unless I wash you, you have no part with me." 9 "Then, Lord," Simon Peter replied, "not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!" 10 Jesus answered, "A person who has had a bath needs only to wash his feet; his whole body is clean. And you are clean, though not every one of you." 11 For he knew who was going to betray him, and that was why he said not every one was clean. 12 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. 13 "You call me ’Teacher’ and ’Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. 14 Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. 15 I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. 16 I tell you the truth, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. 17 Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.
Let’s notice some key points in this passage. First of all, Jesus knew who He was. He knew His sovereign authority, He knew where He came from, and He knew what He came to do.
Three times it says “he knew” something. John made a point to tell us that. The first time is in verse 1: Jesus knew that the time had come for Him to leave this world and go to the Father.
The next time is in verse 3: Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God.
The final time in this passage is in verse 11: Jesus knew who was going to betray Him - he knew all about Judas’ plan.
He knew that He was the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. He knew that He was the Word made flesh. He knew that he was with God the Father at creation. He knew that, as the Phil Keaggy song attests,
"His holy fingers made the bough, Which grew the thorns that crowned His brow. "
He knew that: "The nails that pierced His hands were mined in secret places He designed."
So, moreso than any congresswoman, moreso than any rich person, business leader or movie star, Jesus had a right to ask the question:
Don’t you know who I am?
But He turned that idea upside down. In verse 4, immediately after noting what Jesus knew,
It says: so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. 5 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.
What an amazing, incredible contrast! What a model of humility and service!
Here’s the Maker of the Universe, stooping low, humbling himself, taking the role of a slave or servant, as he washed the dusty feet of His disciples. Jesus’ act violated the cultural norms so thoroughly that Peter couldn’t stand it. He objected, didn’t he?
Now, washing the feet is hard for us to understand, because this event is rooted in a very historical context. Feet were washed like this in Jesus’ time because they needed to be, but a servant usually did it, and if there wasn’t a servant, it was often a submissive wife or child who did it.
But the point here is not the washing of feet. The point here is humble service.
Whereas the Lord’s Supper was practiced by the early church as an ordinance, it apparently did not practice foot-washing as an ordinance in church gatherings. This passage emphasizes inner humility, not a physical rite
So, there’s nothing wrong with foot washing services to help us remember the event, to help us remember Jesus’ model of service and humility. But it might be more helpful for us to think of something lowly and humbling we do today. How about cleaning someone else’s toilet? How about changing an adult’s diaper?
These would probably be a more ready comparison to foot washing. And then to add the other element to it – that is, the one who’s doing the washing – we might make a modern day comparison like this:
Suppose the president of the United States shows up at your doorstep and says he’s here to clean your toilet?
Or, we could remember this story:
During the American Revolution a man in civilian clothes rode past a group of soldiers repairing a small defensive barrier. Their leader was shouting instructions, but making no attempt to help them. Asked why by the rider, he retorted with great dignity, "Sir, I am a corporal!" The stranger apologized, dismounted, and proceeded to help the exhausted soldiers. The job done, he turned to the corporal and said, "Mr. Corporal, next time you have a job like this and not enough men to do it, go to your commander-in-chief, and I will come and help you again." It was none other than George Washington.
Of course, we cannot make adequate comparisons to what Jesus did, because no one else is the Maker of the universe, no one else is God in the flesh like Jesus is. But you get the idea.
Here’s Jesus, modeling humble service in a way that His disciples could clearly see, and clearly remember. And of course, so much of what happened that night, so much of what Jesus said, Jesus did and said for the express purpose of His disciples remembering.
And His disciples are like us…in that we usually remember best what we see modeled. We remember best what we see as an example.
I recall being very uncomfortable in the couple of foot-washing services I’ve been a part of. Jesus made his disciples uncomfortable, too, so maybe all of us are a little uncomfortable here tonight ...not because we’re going to have a footwashing...but because Jesus’ turned expectations upside down.
And the expectations he set for his disciples this historic night have not changed for us this night. The standard of service he set for them that night is the same standard he would want us to aspire to this night. Jesus turned the standards, the norms, the expectations of the day upside down.
He showed them symbolically that head first wasn’t important, but that feet first was important.
There were four reasons for this footwashing:
1. to testify of His love for his disciples (verses 1,2)
2. to demonstrate his own voluntary humility (vv 3-5)
3. to signify a spiritual washing (vs 6-11)
4. to set an example to follow (vv12-17)
We need to remember that all this occurred just before, but at the same place, where the events we traditionally recall took place that night. Later in that same evening, Jesus took the bread, and broke it, and gave it to those same disciples whose feet He had just washed, to those same disciples who had just witnessed this incredible act of humble service to them.
And He said, this is my body, given for you. And He took the cup, and said, this is the blood of the new covenant, shed for the forgiveness of your sins. These things were all part of the same event.
So when Jesus said, do these things in remembrance of me, He was clearly referring specifically to what we tonight call The Lord’s Supper, or Holy Communion. But it’s important for us to remember that the disciples must have still recalled what Jesus had just done for them, even as He was telling them what he was about to do for them.
They had to be related in the minds of His disciples. We call this day before Good Friday "Maundy Thursday," because of the Latin phrase "dies manda’ti" which means the day of Christ’s great mandate.
That’s because a few verses later, in John 13:34, after He had washed His disciples feet, Jesus said: "A new commandment give I unto you, that you love one another."
He had shown them what love is. He would continue to model what agape love is, as He moved toward the ultimate example in the cross. Jesus made a statement in his model of washing his disciples’ feet. He made the same statement in going to the cross. He said, “I’m choosing to make your needs more important than my stature.” Isn’t that what it means to humble yourself?
That’s what we remember tonight as we come to the table.
Verse 17: Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.
When God’s promises are listed, how often do you hear this one? Here’s a paraphrase of the promise in verse 17:
“Blessed are they who stoop and obey.”
As we pray this evening, and in a few moments, come to the communion table, I’d like you to ask yourself which things you’ve considered beneath you to do...
- because you don’t understand it
- because you’re too proud
- because you’re afraid of how doing this thing might change what people think of you
Remember that washing His disciples feet, stooping to serve, doing something He wasn’t “supposed” to do, didn’t change who Jesus was and is...He’s still God.
So when we serve one another in sacrificial love, it doesn’t change who we are in Christ, it just makes us look more like Him.
