As many of you know, the events we
read about tonight are the events of the last night of Jesus’ life.
That’s why it’s called the Last Supper, obviously. During this
night, in the part we skipped over, Judas would go to the authorities and tell
them where Jesus was going to be. Jesus would go to the Garden of
Gethsemane, knowing they were coming for him. And Jesus would be
arrested, tried, beaten, tortured, and killed.
I asked you last Sunday to imagine
you were Jesus on that first Palm Sunday. I’d like you to do it again
tonight. Imagine you’re Jesus on the last night of your life on earth.
You know what’s going to happen. You’re probably not looking
forward to it, but you’ve accepted it and you’ve resolved to go through with
it. And you’re spending one last night with your disciples. One
last meal with all of them. Including, of course, the one who’s going to
betray you.
How do you suppose you’d feel if you
were Jesus? What do you suppose you’d do?
It’s hard to know. Would you
be scared? I would be. Even granting who Jesus was and granting
that he knew he was going to conquer death itself, I’d still be scared.
This was going to be really hard. This was going to be really
painful. No one would want to go through what Jesus knew he was going
through.
And then, too, Jesus was going to
die. I mean, yes, he rose again on Easter Sunday, but between Good Friday
and Easter Sunday he was, we assume, dead. We don’t know what happened to
him during that time, but something must have. Some versions of the
Apostles’ Creed say that Jesus went to hell. Some say he broke open the
gates of hell and set free all the righteous who were there. Whatever
Jesus did, it probably was not easy. After all, very few things about
Jesus’ life and death were easy. He may have been scared about that, too.
But while we don’t know how Jesus
felt on his last night, we know what he did. And from his actions, it
looks like Jesus was not all that concerned about himself. Instead, his
concern was all for his disciples. Jesus used his last night on earth to
teach the disciples one last time. He knew this was his last chance to
tell the disciples what his coming to earth had been all about, his last chance
to tell them what they were supposed to do and how they were supposed to live
until he came back again.
The first thing Jesus did was wash
the disciples’ feet. But listen to the way this is written. For
some reason, as I was reading this over, these three verses really struck me.
It says: “Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his
power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; so he got up
from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist.
After that he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’
feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.”
What struck me about that is not just the Jesus washed the
disciples’ feet. That’s important, and we’ll come to it in a minute.
But what really struck me about it, and I don’t think I’d ever thought
about this before, is how John, in his gospel, goes out of his way to tell us
that at this time, Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his
power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God.
In other words, John wants us to
know that Jesus knew exactly who he was and where he was going when he did
this. And then, after telling us that Jesus knew all this, John says, “so”
he got up and washed the disciples’ feet. In other words, it was
precisely because Jesus knew who he was and where he was going that Jesus
decided to wash their feet.
Now remember what foot-washing was
back then. It was about the dirtiest job there was. People did not
have shoes and socks like we do. They might have a pair of sandals, or
they might not. They were in the desert. It was dirty. It was
dusty. There was animal waste all over. People did not necessarily
trim their toenails. Their feet would be calloused at best, misshapen at
worst. Washing someone’s feet was the worst job there was. If you
had servants, the lowest servant you had would be assigned the job of washing
feet.
So, here’s what we have. We
have Jesus, knowing full well who he was, knowing that he had power over
everything on earth and that he would soon return to God the Father in heaven,
voluntarily taking on the worst job there was at that time.
Now, I would have to think that made
an impression on the disciples. And then, just to make sure they got the
point--because after all, these were the disciples, and there were lots of
times Jesus did things and they missed the point--Jesus says to them, look,
I’ve set an example for you. This is what you’re supposed to do for each
other. You are supposed to serve each other by doing the smallest,
lowest, menial tasks there are. After all, you call me Lord, so you know
that you’re not better than I am. If I’m willing to do this, you’d better
be willing to do it, too.
And then, a little while later,
Jesus tells them why they’re supposed to do it. He tells them, “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.”
That’s what this was all about.
That’s why Jesus washed the disciples’ feet. It was all out of
love.
That’s why this day is called Maundy Thursday. The word
“Maundy” is a Latin word. It has the same root as the word “mandate”.
It’s an order. It’s a command. On that first Maundy Thursday,
somewhere around two thousand years ago, Jesus gave his disciples a new
command. Jesus spent his last night alive on this earth showing his
disciples, and telling his disciples, that they were to love each other.
Everything they did was supposed to be out of love. He said that’s
how people would know that they were, in fact, his disciples, by the love they
had for each other.
That’s still how people are supposed
to be able to tell who Jesus’ followers are. Everything we do is supposed
to be out of love, too. We talked last night about how, if we call
ourselves Christians, that means we’re supposed to do what Jesus did and go
where Jesus went. That means we need to be willing to do the smallest,
the lowest, the most menial tasks there are. And we’re not supposed to
complain about it, either. We’re supposed to do these things willingly,
out of love for each other, just like Jesus did.
That’s a tough standard, you know.
I don’t usually live up to it. Maybe once in a while, but not very
often. Some of you probably do better than I do, but I suspect we all
fall short of that standard. In fact, I suspect there were times the disciples
fell short of that standard, too.
But we need to keep trying.
Even though we fail, we need to keep trying. Because this was not a
suggestion from Jesus. This was not something Jesus thought might be a
good idea. Jesus said this is a command. Jesus said that showing
love for each other is the most important thing we can do. He said that’s
how people will be able to tell that we really are his followers. Earlier
in his ministry, Jesus had said that the two most important commandments are
that we love God and that we love each other, and he said those two things are
alike. If we truly love God, if we really understand what loving God
means, we will love each other.
The fact that we are here tonight
shows that we have a desire to do this. Otherwise, we’d have all stayed
home. But we need to have this desire not just tonight. We need to
have this desire tomorrow, and the day after that, and the day after that.
And when we fail, we need to ask for God’s forgiveness and come back with
an even stronger desire to get it right the next time. If we want to
truly be Jesus’ followers, and if we want people to know we’re Jesus’
followers, everything we do needs to be done out of love.
In a little while, we will share in
Holy Communion. Communion is known as one of God’s means of grace.
It’s a way that God puts the Holy Spirit, God’s Spirit, into our hearts.
As we share in Holy Communion tonight, let’s really think about our love
for God and about our love for others. Let’s open our hearts, so that
God’s Spirit can come in. And then let’s have a new determination to have
our every thought and action be out of love. And then, everyone will know
that we are, in fact, followers of Jesus Christ.
No comments:
Post a Comment