“And Yet…”

April 21, 2011
Maundy Thursday
John 13:1-17, 31b-35

He knew, and yet, he washed.
He performed an act reserved only for servants, and act of humility, even though he knew. As he got up from the table, took of his outer robe and wrapped a towel around himself he knew, but he did it any way. He washed the twelve pairs of feet that sat with him at the table that night, twelve pairs of feet that had walked with him for three year, who had given up their lives and professions to follow him, who had sacrificed what they had…and he knew that one pair of feet was about to betray him…one pair of feet was about to deny him three times…all twelve pairs of feet that he washed were about the desert him in the garden as he was arrested, leaving him to walk the rest of the road to the cross alone, surrounded by those who would mock and beat him on the road…he knew all this about his disciples…and yet he washed their feet anyway.
At the table that night, during supper, he washed calloused feet made hard by the journey of life and of the last three years. He saw the imperfections, the misshapen toes, the scars, that these feet carried. He knew where those feet had been because his feet walked along side of their feet. He also knew where those feet were going…and, at least for the next day or so, he knew that those twelve pair of feet would be simultaneously longing to be next to his feet and, at the same time, longing to be no where near where his feet were about to go…and yet he washed their feet anyway.
He did it as an act and an example of love, an act of servant hood for those who had been the closest to him for the last three years. And yet, not all of them wanted to be washed…not all of them truly got it. Peter, the rock on which Christ was to build his church, Christ’s right hand man, resisted. “You will never wash my feet,” he said. As he was one to do, Peter was looking at things from a human perspective instead of God’s perspective. Instead of seeing an act of love and generosity, a leveling of the playing field between teacher and student, an encounter with living water and a form of baptismal grace, Peter saw his teacher and Lord committing a scandalous act by lowering himself to the level of student and slave by washing the disciple’s feet…feet that had probably already been washed when they entered the upper room before the meal had even begun…and yet he washed their feet anyway.
“Unless I wash you,” Jesus replied, “you have no share with me.” Jesus knew that this pair of feet would be the pair of feet that would deny him three times before the cock crowed and he would do it out of fear, wanting to save his own skin, and yet Jesus wanted Peter to remain in his love and his care. And, as Jesus had said to Peter at the beginning of their conversation…Peter wouldn’t understand until later…for once he heard that if Jesus didn’t wash him, he would have no share with Jesus, Peter goes overboard…not only wanting his feet washed, but the rest of him as well. Makes you wonder what the others thought in that moment. Were the other feet squirming in embarrassment as Peter, the block head, made another dumb move? Or were they scrambling to get in line so that Jesus could wash the rest of them, too, just as Peter had requested?…were the feet that were about to betray Jesus fidgeting nervously as this conversation took place?
They were his inner circle, his most trusted companions and even they didn’t get it…and yet he washed their feet anyway…he loved them anyway, in fact, he loved them to the end.
This evening, we stand as a church some two thousand years after this night and, as our Jewish brothers and sisters asked during the Passover seder this week, so we ask ourselves tonight…why is this night different from the rest? And as people who stand on the other side of the cross and the empty tomb, we know why because we know something that the disciples didn’t know as they sat at the table, shared a final meal with their teacher and watched Jesus commit a great act of love by washing their feet. Unlike the disciples, we know what is going to happen next, who is going to betray, where and why, who is going to deny and who is going to desert…and we know that this story has a happy ending…and yet it seems that even as people who on this night live on the other side of the cross and empty tomb than the disciples did on that last night with Jesus, we don’t always get it either…and sometimes we resist…but Jesus wants to wash our feet anyways.
Jesus knows that sometimes our first instinct is to see things the way that we want to see them, the way that suits us instead of taking the risk of seeing things the way that God sees them...Jesus knows that sometimes we resist being served by him because he knows that for some, letting go and being vulnerable is scary because it means giving up some of the freedom and control that we think that we have. And Jesus knows that sometimes we ignore or just simply forget the new mandatum, the new commandment that Jesus gave the disciples to love one another as he loved them. And yet, Jesus wants to wash our feet anyways…Jesus wants to give us a share with him and show his love for us as an example of the new commandment.
This night is different from all the rest because of this new commandment. Yes, we celebrate the institution of the Lord’s Supper on this night but it’s the mandatum that Jesus gives to the disciples that gives today its name. And all this new commandment requires of us is that we love…that we love with a fervor so great that it matches the love that Jesus has for us.
As broken people living in a sinful world, we have a tendency to get so caught up in the me’s and the my’s and the mine’s that sometimes we either forget about this new commandment to love…sometimes we either resist or we just don’t get it and our feet end up going the same way the disciples went…deserting, betraying and denying Jesus through our actions and our words…and yet Jesus still wants to wash our feet, to give us a share with him in hope that maybe one day our feet won’t desert or deny or betray, but will instead walk with him on the rest of the journey to the cross, showing his love to all those that we pass by.
Eventually, the words that Jesus spoke to Peter came true…eventually Peter did get what Jesus was doing for him by washing his feet. As Peter stood on the other side of the cross and empty tomb, he knew that Jesus had prepared him for what was to lie ahead for him and the other disciples. Jesus knew what was going to happen after the last supper when he was in the garden…and yet, by washing them, he prepared them for what they would face by giving them a taste of baptismal grace, an encounter with the living water which sustained them through the three days from that night until Easter morning. Tonight we will show each other a small act of love by washing one another’s feet. Don’t be ashamed if your feet aren’t pretty, or if they are scarred or if they smell…come and look for the love of Jesus coming from the person washing your feet…and if you feel so moved, let the love of Jesus flow through you as you wash someone else’s feet. Think of it as Jesus preparing us for the rest of the journey through these three Holy Days. Amen.