SERMON
Maundy Thursday
John 13.1-17, 31b-35
Sunday 24 March 2024
©Lauren Martin
During supper, our Lord and teacher takes the place of a servant – removing his outer robe, wrapping a towel around his waist, and washing our feet. How scandalous an act! That one above us should stoop so low and do something so intimate for us as wash our feet. What an act of love indeed!
An act of love that is followed by an act of betrayal. How much more bitter did this make the betrayal of Judas and the denial of Peter, after such an act of love as this.
In this act of humility, love, and service – embodied in the washing of feet – we are doing something more that indulging in nostalgia; we are being called to live, act, dream, imagine and pass on what has been passed to us.[1] To sit in that vulnerable place of unconditional love.
Foot washing was an accepted and expected act of hospitality and welcome toward guests throughout ancient Palestine. It was also used for general hygiene and cultic or religious purposes. In wealthier homes, servants were the ones to wash the feet of others. The servant would wash their master’s feet; students would wash their teacher’s – never the other way around. Foot washing put the washer in a place of vulnerability to the other. This was not a glamourous job, but a necessary one. By washing the feet of his disciples, Jesus says, “Just as I have loved you, you should love one another.”[2]
Peter’s objections to the disruptive action of Jesus washing the disciples’ feet, may have partly been caused by this apparent disregard to the standard protocol. After all, your teacher and your Lord should not be the one on his knees washing your feet. Peter’s reaction could have also been inspired by feelings of unworthiness – of not being deserving of this outpouring of love. Loving his own until the end, even with the knowledge of what Jesus would soon face. Of loving those who would betray and deny him. This physical act of caring is a literal representation of his love for his disciples.
This symbolic and physical act of washing does not guarantee that once washed one will be made clean or have a share with Jesus. That is, a share in Jesus’ work in the world, following his example of agapeic love for one another, and for the many others we encounter along the way – without seeking that agapeic love to be returned – that is unconditional love, and a choice we all must make. The physical act of washing feet, goes beyond the metaphorical, demanding not only our mind’s agreement, but also our body’s participation. A symbolic and physical act of love that does not ask to be returned. To love one another. Just as I have loved you.’
It is important to note, that this message of serving others, at some point became gendered. Women have historically been encouraged to put others first, often in harmful ways, while men have sometimes received the opposite message. This example of washing the feet of others, when used wrongly, can encourage oppressive behaviours and harmful acts of self-sacrifice and self-denial.
On the other hand, Jesus washing the disciples’ feet can help challenge our Western self-centeredness. One thing we should remember in our ritual of feet washing, is that we cannot wash the feet of another, unless we first learn to have our own feet washed. We cannot do it alone, we need one another, we must all serve and be served. Like a stone dropped into a pond, the ripples of water start small but quickly grow larger and larger, reaching all the water, so too our small acts can grow – helping us to love as Jesus loved. This can give us hope in a broken and conflicted world, challenging us to make a difference in even the most seemingly smallest ways and not be led into the realms of complacency and apathy. Even if at first, we need to learn how to truly love ourselves, and feel worthy of such love, before we can wash the feet of others and love as Jesus loved us first.
Amen.
[1] Greg Kandra, 2022, Holy Thursday, Holy-Thursday-Greg-Kandra-rev.pdf (ctu.edu)
[2] John 13.34