Dirty Jobs

This is the message at the Maundy Thursday service in Gettysburg.  The Bible verses used are John 13:1-17, 31b-35.

Imagine you're one of the disciples. You're eating the Passover meal. As far as we can tell, it was just Jesus and the twelve there. It's possible that there were others—the Bible does not specifically say—but if there were, they are not mentioned. So it looks like it's just the twelve of you and Jesus, sharing the Passover the way religious Jews did.

In the middle of the meal, Jesus suddenly gets up. He takes off his outer clothes. He wraps a towel around himself. You think, “What's Jesus doing? What's he up to?” You know better than to say anything, though. You've seen Jesus do strange things before, and he always does it to make some kind of a point. You've seen people question him before, too. In fact, you've done it yourself. And any time anyone does, they always end up looking stupid. You don't want to look stupid, so you sit there, watching Jesus, hoping you'll figure out what's going on.

Jesus takes some water. He pours it into a basin. Then, he starts going around and washing the disciples' feet. The dirty, smelly feet that have been walking in the dirt and the mud and whatever else was on the ground over the last few days. Jesus is washing those feet. It's about the dirtiest job a person could have.

You think, “I'm sure glad he did not start with me.” You watch the reactions of the others as Jesus washes their feet. You can see they're kind of uncomfortable. They don't really think this is right, that Jesus should be washing their feet. But, like you, they're afraid to say anything. So, they sit there and let Jesus wash their feet and dry them with the towel around his waist.

Jesus is getting closer. You wonder what you should do. Should you say something? Should you do something? But what should you say? What should you do? Nothing comes to mind, nothing that seems like a good idea, anyway. Jesus is almost there. It's just Peter left, and then you.

And Peter says something. Well, of course he does. If anyone was going to say anything, it'd be Peter. I mean, Peter's a good guy and everything. There's nobody more dedicated to Jesus than Peter. But if there's one thing about Peter it's that he never knows when to keep his mouth shut. Peter says to Jesus, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?”

And you think, well, duh, what do you think is going on here? Jesus does not say that, though. Jesus is nice about it. He tells Peter, “You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.”

And you think, “Good. I'm not supposed to understand it right now.” You relax a little. Peter won't leave it alone, though. Peter tells Jesus no. Can you believe that? Peter actually tells Jesus no. He tells Jesus he's not going to let Jesus wash his feet.

It does not work, though. Telling Jesus “no” never seems to work. Jesus says to Peter, “unless I wash you, you have no part with me.”

You'd think that'd put Peter in his place, but not Peter. He tells Jesus, “Then, Lord, not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!”

Jesus just kind of smiles and tells him no, all he needs to do is wash his feet. Then he comes to you. You sit there, allowing the Savior, the Messiah, the Son of God, to wash your feet. You feel, well, strange. You feel all kinds of things. You feel unworthy. In another way, you feel honored. Most of all, though, you're still confused as to why Jesus is doing this. There's obviously a reason. It's obviously an important reason. But what is it?

Jesus finishes up. He puts his clothes back on. He asks, “Do you understand what I have done for you?”

Well, of course, nobody does. But no one says anything. Even Peter stays quiet for a change.

Jesus has some more to say, though. He says, “Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another's feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. Very truly I tell you, servants are not greater than their master, nor are messengers greater than the one who sent them. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.”

You start to realize what this was all about. Not totally—you never quite totally get what Jesus is talking about—but some. It's about service. We're supposed to serve other people. We're supposed to do the dirty jobs, the stuff that the so-called “good” people are too good to do.

Well, that's not the best news you ever heard. You'd really kind of been hoping that Jesus was going to establish a kingdom on earth. You'd been hoping you'd get one of the plum jobs when he did. Now, it sounds like the best you can hope for is chief foot-washer. You've got to do this dirty, smelly, unpleasant job that nobody else wants to do.

It does not make a lot of sense. Still, Jesus said it. So, you figure, I guess I'll have to do it. I don't understand it, and I don't like it much, but if Jesus says to do it, I guess I will.

You finish the Passover meal. Jesus starts talking again. He says he's leaving, and you cannot go with him. You have no idea what that means. But then he says, “A new command I give you: love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

Now it makes sense. When Jesus washed your feet, when Jesus washed those dirty, smelly, ugly feet, he was saying, “I love you.” And you feel a love and a gratitude and a closeness to God that you've never felt before.

That's what love is, really. Jesus would not have had to wash the disciples' feet. No one was expecting him to. No one thought he should. That's what made it an act of love. Love is when we do things for people that we don't have to do, that we're not expected to do. Love is when we do things for people not because we think we should do them, but just because we want to.

If there's one message, more than any other, than comes from the story of Jesus' life and death, it's that God loves us. God the Father would not have had to send Jesus, God the Son, to the earth as a human being. Jesus would not have had to come as an ordinary person, rather than as a King or a Pharisee. Jesus would not have had to teach us. Jesus certainly would not have had to die for us. And Jesus would not have had to conquer death and offer eternal life with God to us.

God was not under any obligation to do any of that. People were not expecting God to do it. God did it as an act of love.

And that's what we, as believers in Jesus Christ, are asked to do, too. When Jesus gave us that new command to love each other, that's what he meant. The religious leaders of Jesus' time, the Pharisees and the Sadducees and the Scribes and all those people, they thought the way to live was by following the rules. They thought the way to live was to fulfill your obligations and your duties and to do the things you're supposed to do.

That's not love. Now, don't get me wrong. Fulfilling our obligations and our duties and doing the things we're supposed to do is important. Jesus never said not to do that. What Jesus said is that it's not enough. If we really mean it when we say we follow Jesus, then we'll do what Jesus did. We'll go beyond the things we have to do, the things we're expected to do, the things we should do. We'll do more. And we'll do it because we want to. We'll do it because we love Jesus, and we want to show that love by loving the people Jesus loved and living the way Jesus lived.

That means, sometimes, doing the dirty jobs. That means, sometimes, doing things that “good” people are too good to do. That means, sometimes, doing the dirty, smelly, unpleasant jobs that nobody else wants to do.

But if we love Jesus, those jobs won't seem like a punishment. They won't seem like a chore. If we love Jesus, we'll do those jobs willingly, out of love for others.

There will be times when people don't understand what we're doing. There will be times when people think what we're doing is really strange. Sometimes they'll feel honored by what we're doing. Sometimes they'll feel unworthy. Sometimes they'll be confused. It's okay.

Eventually, they'll realize what we're doing. Maybe not all of them, but some of them. They'll realize that we're saying “I love you”. And they'll feel a love and a gratitude and a closeness to God they've never felt before.

And you know what? So will we.