School was really cool on
Tuesday, January 28, 1986, because in the last class before lunch, Health and
PE, we were doing neither Health, nor PE.
We were watching television, at school. It was ‘totally awesome’ as we liked to
say in the ‘80’s. We watched the triumph
of American ingenuity. The Space Shuttle
Challenger took flight, and our hope in America went with it, and we watched as
it exploded 73 seconds into the flight.
A million moments pass
through our lifetimes, but one or two sit fixed, because they are possessed by
meaning-making power. The Fall of the
Berlin wall, November 9, 1989; terrorists attacks on September 11, 2001; these
and other moments define how we see the world.
Perhaps January 6, 2021 will achieve such dubious immortality, the assault
on the U.S. capitol.
In the Bible through
sign-acts, prophets speaking and acting out God’s word instigated such
moments. On this day, Jesus, in one of
the many roles he filled, the prophetic role, defined his church in two sign-acts
performed at last supper.
Examples
of these sign-acts are found throughout the Bible. To show that Judah would have a future, even
after exile, Jeremiah bought a field, when Jerusalem was on the verges of
collapse in the face of the Babylonian onslaught. To demonstrate the way God loved a people who
in turn were unfaithful to him, God compelled the prophet Hosea to marry an
unfaithful woman and then to give the children born to that union specific
names that depicted the unfaithfulness of God’s chosen people. These are but a few of the many sign-acts
we encounter in the Bible. Each
memorable display called attention to the prophet’s message.
The first of Jesus’
sign-acts is recorded in John 13:1-17.
John 13:1-17, 34-35
13 Now before the
festival of the Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart from this
world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he
loved them to the end. 2 The devil had already put
it into the heart of Judas son of Simon Iscariot to betray him. And during
supper 3 Jesus, knowing that the Father had given
all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going to
God, 4 got up from the table,[a] took off
his outer robe, and tied a towel around himself. 5 Then
he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe
them with the towel that was tied around him. 6 He
came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my
feet?” 7 Jesus answered, “You do not know now what
I am doing, but later you will understand.” 8 Peter
said to him, “You will never wash my feet.” Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you,
you have no share with me.” 9 Simon Peter said to
him, “Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!” 10 Jesus
said to him, “One who has bathed does not need to wash, except for the feet,[b] but is
entirely clean. And you[c] are clean,
though not all of you.” 11 For he knew who was to
betray him; for this reason he said, “Not all of you are clean.”
12 After he had
washed their feet, had put on his robe, and had returned to the table, he said
to them, “Do you know what I have done to you? 13 You
call me Teacher and Lord—and you are right, for that is what I am. 14 So
if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one
another’s feet. 15 For I have set you an example,
that you also should do as I have done to you. 16 Very
truly, I tell you, servants[d] are not
greater than their master, nor are messengers greater than the one who sent
them. 17 If you know these things, you are blessed
if you do them.
34 I give you a new
commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also
should love one another. 35 By this everyone will
know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
John’s gospel explains that when Jesus got up from the
table with a towel and a basin of water, he did so “Knowing that the
Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and
was going to God.” Departure was on his
mind as he bent before each of the 12 disciples, face to feet level. Their feet were as dirty as yours or mine
would be if we walked everywhere only on dirt roads wearing only sandals. Washing their feet, Jesus performed a needed
service, usually performed by a household servant, not the revered rabbi. Defying convention was intentional.
Jesus meant to show what life in the
kingdom of God is like. Knowing he
wouldn’t be with them bodily after the resurrection, he wanted them to
remember. In his kingdom, leaders serve. Leaders meet the lowliest of people at their
level and raise them up. The disciples
were to follow their teacher’s example and serve one another, and also the poor
and lowly of the world, and everyone in the world.
In Christianity Today magazine,
Michael Horton writes, “Jesus enacts a performance parable about power. … Taking off his outer garment, he wraps a
towel around his waist and begins to wash his disciples’ feet.”[i] Horton refers back to John 10 where Jesus
asserted that there is no power that takes life from him. Rather, he lays his life down
(10:17-18).
Horton then points out
that the kingdom of God is founded in blood, but not the blood of the people,
but rather the shed blood of the king who defined his reign with compassion and
sacrifice. Contrast this stance with
that of American politicians who claim the name Jesus, but then grasp
desperately for earthly power that is divisive, destructive, and
temporary. “When Christian leaders are
drawn to breath-taking expression of ungodly power, it raises questions about
which kingdom and which sort of king they find most appealing.”[ii]
Peter felt the weight of
what Jesus was doing. He wanted to exalt
Jesus, so he at first refused to see his master kneel at his feet. Peter was ashamed to be over Jesus. Jesus corrected him. Then Peter, who badly wanted everything Jesus
had to give, went from rejecting Jesus’ overture to asking that Jesus wash his
entire body (v.9).
Jesus told him he was
clean. Peter would go on to deny knowing
Jesus, misspeak when he met the resurrected Jesus, and later have a falling-out
with the Apostle Paul. Why did Jesus
tell him he was clean? The forgiveness
God gave and the atonement Jesus would achieve in his own death on the cross,
were already effective for the disciples.
I had a discussion
recently with someone unsure about baptism.
He said, “The reason I hesitate to be baptized is I know I will sin
again.” Jesus knew Peter would sin
again. He predicted Peter’s
denials. Yet, he declared Peter clean
because forgiveness and atonement would be achieved. The salvation Jesus won for Peter, and for
you, and for me, could not be undone by any mistake Peter or you or I make.
Washing the disciples’
feet was a sign-act that defined the kingdom of Jesus, the church. In the church, we show our love for God and
each other through humble service. In
verse 15, Jesus says is plainly. “For I have set
you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you.”
The foot-washing
is only recorded in John, and Jesus’ sharing of the bread and the cup is only
in Matthew, Mark, and Luke. Taken
together, as different accounts of the same meal, we see Jesus perform two
sign-acts. Foot-washing established that
the church will be a community that loves through humble service, a community
in which everyone is called to serve everyone else.
The serving of
the bread and cup, calling to mind Jesus’ broken body and shed blood,
establishes the church of Jesus as a community of sacrifice. Jesus took something familiar to the
disciples, the elements of the Passover meal, as his canvas. They knew of the blood of the Passover lamb
that atoned for sins once. The Passover
meal and sacrifice would need to be repeated again each year. That ritual was
now changed. He told them, when you take
the bread and drink the cup, remember that I was the Passover Lamb who died for
the sins of all people.
That eating the bread
and drinking the wine is a normal, regular part of our worship is a reminder of
what Jesus did for us. It is also a
defining act. The Kingdom of Jesus, the
church, which is a Kingdom in which love is expressed through service, is also
a kingdom of sacrifice. We are forgiven
and made new because our Lord died in our place.
Every time we eat
and drink, we remember. We remember our
sins are forgiven. We remember we are
children of God. We remember that Jesus
is Lord. We cannot go back to being who
we were before we began to follow Jesus.
There will be moments when we stumble in our following after him, and we
don’t look very much like disciples at all.
In those moments of failure, we repent, again come to the table, and
again eat and drink, and thus step back onto the path Jesus lays before us. Eating and drinking, we remember who he is
and we remember that because of God’s grace, we are his.
Washing the
disciples’ feet and instituting the bread and cup as His, the Lord’s, supper,
Jesus established the values of his kingdom and the way we are to relate to
each other if we want to be part of his kingdom.
In ending Our
Maundy Thursday worship by consuming the bread and cup, we receive the gift of
forgiveness and the new life God gives.
And, we step into the world of meaning Jesus creates. This world of meaning, where love is seen in
service and sacrifice, is what makes sense of our lives.
AMEN
