04142022 – John 13. 1-17, 31b-35 Maundy Thursday
One by one, Jesus kneels on the floor in front of each disciple. You can picture it. You can see it in your mind’s eye. It is more than just a parable acted out in real time.
It is a teaching. A teaching meant to hit home. A teaching meant to stay with us throughout all eternity. A teaching to be embraced. A teaching to be lived out, daily.
One by one, the water of his love washes over the feet of each disciple.
No one is left out. NOT Judas. NOT Doubting Thomas. NOT old Denying Peter. NO ONE! The ones who say nothing at all. And who blankly stares like they do not understand WHAT is happening to them or WHY.
ALL are washed. ALL are loved. There are NO EXCEPTIONS.
We preach about IT. We say IT constantly. ALL means ALL.
And still people DO NOT grasp hold of the concept…or its meaning.
Tonight’s liturgy holds before us a CHOICE like no other liturgy in the church year.
You CAN BE a SERVANT like Jesus. Or, You can choose to serve only YOURSELF.
He chose to serve ALL. EVERYONE. Leaving out NO ONE. Including everyone…NO EXCEPTIONS.
That choice is about vulnerability, intimacy, and love.
It is a call for EACH and EVERYONE of us to SERVANTHOOD. And not just when it is convenient or easy. Not just tonight, but throughout ALL of our lives. Throughout our days, ALL of them…
It is, in many ways, more challenging, more real, than many of us are comfortable with.
A servant to ALL. Even to those we DO NOT like. Maybe especially TO THOSE we DO NOT LIKE.
Most days it is pretty easy to come to worship, to come to a liturgy. We sing, we pray, we receive communion, then we go out to eat with family and friends. Or, we simply return back home again. Or maybe we do our grocery shopping or stop at TARGET. Who knows…WHAT WE DO?
We can too easily FORGET the challenge, the risk, the vulnerability, and the intimacy of eating the body and blood of Jesus and go about our lives…As if, NOTHING AT ALL HAS HAPPENED. Nothing has CHANGED.
We did our weekly thing, and now that is over and done with.
But tonight is different. There is an added dimension. There will be BODY and BLOOD but there will also be FEET. And there will be the historic and the traditional stripping…of the church. MOVING, SHIFTING, CARRYING, HAULING, LIFTING, TRANSPORTING, CHANGING…SERVING…
Maybe tonight, however, IS NOT as different as we think.
The risk, vulnerability, and intimacy of eating his body and blood are the same risk, vulnerability, and intimacy of washing feet: humble, self-giving love.
Tonight Jesus offers his life in BREAD, WINE, and WASHING, and CONTINUED SERVICE…
And that SERVICE, that SERVANTHOOD happens THROUGH YOU!
You have to see it. You have to understand it, this is SERVANTHOOD at its best. He gave it all. He gave 100 %. There was nothing else to give. You have to see it IN THE LITURGY.
It happens, it plays out, in real time.
His body. His voice says, given for you. His blood. His voice says, shed for you. His knees do the bending. He himself CRAWLS around on the floor like a SERVANT, like a common household SLAVE, in front of you. His hands do the WASHING. His hands do the WIPING. His hands do the DRYING. His hands give the final BLESSING and PRONOUNCEMENT.
And we are to do THE SAME.
SERVING IN THE WORLD. Being SERVANTS to the world.
Deep intimate love is what servanthood is all about. Jesus chose the WAY OF LOVE. Jesus chose the WAY OF SERVICE. Jesus chose to give it all away. Jesus chose to give 100%.
That is the CHOICE before us. We cannot choose to love only those whom WE LIKE, whom WE DEEM DESERVING, for whom we have good feelings about, those who LOOK, THINK, or ACT like us. It is ALL or NOTHING. It always has been. ALL means ALL.
If we do not love ALL, we love NONE. Love, for Jesus, is NOT about feelings and emotions but about A CHOICE.
In Jesus’ teaching if you have FEET you get washed, regardless of where those feet have been or where they are going to take you.
IF you have a heartbeat, you get LOVED. It is servanthood and love for ALL.
And not just those on the INSIDE.
But especially FOR those on the OUTSIDE of these walls…for the UNLOVEABLE and the UNLIKEABLE!
Go, be a SERVANT and LOVE.
Amen.