Servanthood

Maundy Thursday

John 13:1-17, 31b-35

Servanthood

4 rose from supper, laid aside his garments, and girded himself with a towel.

5* Then he poured water into a basin, and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel with which he was girded.

16* Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master; nor is he who is sent greater than he who sent him.

Grace and peace to you from our Lord and Savior, Jesus the Christ

We have the John’s text for the last supper.

The John’s text differs greatly from the other gospels as he does not have the words of institution, but he does have the only account of the foot washing of the disciples.

It is that act of servant hood that I would like to look at this evening.

Have you ever washed anyone else’s feet? I don’t mean as in washing them in a bath tub or washing a baby’s feet in the sink? But washing someone’s feet as they are sitting as was done in the gospel story.

I have and it is a very moving experience. I did a first person monologue for a Lenten Service many years ago, and I played the character of Peter. He had just had his feet washed by Jesus and being impulsive as Peter was, he wanted to wash someone else’s feet. So, I took my basin of water, a towel and went out into the congregation. I had not asked anyone before if they would allow me to do this, I just did it. I was trembling, shaking all over. The guy I picked, did not protest, but I could see he was very uncomfortable. I took off his boot, his sock, put his foot in the basin, poured water over it with my hand and dried it with a towel. Being on the ground, kneeling before him, I felt like a servant.

I finished, and returned to the chancel and finished the Peter monologue, then we sang a hymn, I went to the little room off the chancel, changed into my vestments from the costume I was wearing, and then finished the service.

That experience moved me throughout the rest of the service. I really could feel what it was like to be a servant, to be humble enough to wash some one’s feet.

After the service, the guy who’s feet I washed, was in tears. He felt humbled, that someone would actually do that for him. It was a moving experience for him and I think both of us could fully appreciate how Jesus might have felt.

Jesus was trying to show the disciples that he came to serve. It is interesting that in Raymond Brown’s commentary on John he says the Greek word for laid aside, or laid down, is the same Greek word used in chapter ten for laying down a life. When the text says: rose from supper, laid aside his garments

John was really trying to show that Jesus was a servant who was willing to lay down his life for the sake of humanity.

On the cross, Jesus spread out his arms and welcomed all the sins of humanity as the true servant of God.

Try spreading out your arms like that. What do you feel? Vulnerable, open, accepting. As a servant on the cross that what Jesus was. He opened himself to all the sinfulness of humanity.

And if you open your arms that way, you are also inviting. He is inviting us to come to him, to place our sins on him. That is way today is called Maundy Thursday. For Maundy, means command. He commands us to eat and drink, he commands us to come, he commands us to love as he loves us.

Jesus opened his arms on the cross as the servant for all.

But did you do the same for someone else

She sat alone in an old folks home,

Lonely and old and gray;

She wished that someone-just anyone,

Would call on her that day.

DID YOU?

He lay for days on his hospital bed,

The hours were long, and hard;

He wished someone-just anyone,

Would write him a card.

DID YOU?

Her loved one had died, just a few months ago,

All sad and lonely she sat;

She wished that someone-just anyone,

Would drop in for a chat.

DID YOU?

He was far from home on foreign soil,

Feeling sick, lonely, and blue;

He wished that someone-just anyone,

Would write him a line or two.

DID YOU?

She spent long hours, that teacher,

Giving the best she knew;

She wished that someone-just anyone,

Would say a brief "THANK YOU."

DID YOU?

That matter of Christian service

We are living it day by day;