Sermon 2019.04.18
Washed Up
(John 13:1,3-15,34-35; Holy/Maundy Thursday year C, cleansing & confession service)

1. In remembrance of Jesus.  Our bible has four gospels – four Good News accounts of the life of Jesus. Each of these brings its own emphasis, its own details, to the history. 

Three of the gospels – Matthew, Mark and Luke – are what scholars call the synoptic gospels, a term which means “with one eye.” For the most part, these three share one view of Jesus’ life and ministry, from his baptism by John the Baptist to his crucifixion and resurrection. Matthew, Mark, and Luke all report that at the last supper, Jesus reinterpreted the traditional Hebrew blessing and said “this bread is my body, broken for you… and this cup of wine is my blood, shed for you and for many, for the forgiveness of sin… do these things in remembrance of me” (Matthew 26:26-28; Mark 14:22-24; Luke 22:19-20; see also 1 Corinthians 11:23-26).

I can imagine this pretty much blew the disciples’ minds! This cup of wine is Jesus’ blood? What is he talking about? And, also… yuck!

But Jesus’ words took on new meaning when he was killed on the eve of Passover. Passover is the great Jewish holiday that remembers when God freed the Hebrew people from slavery in Egypt and claimed them for God’s own. On that night long ago, Moses told the Hebrews to paint their doorjambs with the blood of a sacrificial lamb. Death passed over those doors marked with blood, but took the firstborn children of all the Egyptians.

After that last supper with the disciples, Jesus was killed. He lay dead through Passover, before springing to life the morning after. And suddenly his followers realized: Jesus is the Lamb of God! It is through the blood of Jesus, marked on the doorposts of our souls, that judgement and death pass over us and we also are promised resurrection and eternal life. 

So yes, we remember and celebrate this every time we celebrate communion!

2. The odd gospel.  But the name for this night, when we specifically remember Jesus’ last supper with the disciples before his arrest and crucifixion, comes from the other gospel, the odd gospel, the gospel of John. Maundy Thursday takes its name from the Latin mandatum, in John 13:34, where Jesus says, “A new commandment (mandatum) I give you, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.”

John’s gospel is the odd one because it very definitely is not synoptic. John brings his own eye for details and his own very unique emphasis to recounting the life of Jesus. John especially emphasizes that (a) Jesus is God, love and light embodied in human flesh; and (b) if we follow Jesus, we must also live lives embodying love and light.

And so, when John describes the last supper, he does not mention Jesus’ blessing and reinterpretation of the bread and wine! Instead John emphasizes how Jesus washes the disciples’ feet. After finishing this task, Jesus says, “if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet” (John 13:14). In other words, this is how I show my humble love for you – do this in remembrance of me. 

3. Awkward moments.  The disciples are no less freaked out by Jesus washing their feet than they are by him talking about the bread and wine as his flesh and blood. Awkward! This is not the Passover party celebration they expected!

It isn’t that washing feet wasn’t a good idea in the ancient near east. Roads were dusty and muddy and filled with animal waste. In many cities, the streets doubled as the sewers. Walking around in sandals all day led to tired, filthy, disgusting feet. Since people did not use chairs, but reclined at a low table together, somebody’s feet were not far from your head while you were eating. Yuck!

And so a good host would offer water for the washing of feet, and in wealthier homes this icky, humiliating task would fall to the least important person – often a servant or slave. 

What was awkward was not to have a servant, but to have Jesus – their Master, their rabbi, and maybe (some suspected) God’s chosen one – humble himself and wash their filthy feet! This is weird, uncomfortable… awkward. This is scandalous. This is just… wrong. It is no wonder Peter says, “You will never wash my feet!” (John 13:8)

4. Washed up.  Jesus’ reply is stern: “Unless I wash you, you have no part of me.” Then Peter blurts out, “Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!” Jesus gently answers, “One who has bathed does not need to wash, except for the feet, but is entirely clean. And you are clean” (John 13:9-10).

To me, this little Last Supper exchange reminds me that salvation is a moment’s work, but also a lifetime’s journey. God accepts and claims us when we are baptized, and our sins are washed away in a moment. But life is long road. We step in some messes here and there, and we get our feet dirty. We sin, and we forget that God has already claimed us in our baptism.

But just when we think we are irredeemably dirty, along comes Jesus to remind us that we are loved and forgiven. In church, we sometimes leave the baptismal font open so that we can touch the waters and remember our own baptism. It isn’t that we are all washed up, game over and go to hell… but that we are getting washed up, cleaned up, prepared for the great heavenly feast with Jesus Christ.

When Jesus washes his disciples’ feet, he is rinsing away the dirt and reminding them they are his beloved disciples. When we remember our baptism, we remember that we too have been washed clean. In the love of Christ, the sin and dirt of the world will not stick to us.

5. Coming clean.  John, the author of our gospel reading, also wrote in one of his letters, “If we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). 

Tonight is our night to come clean. As we remember Jesus’ Last Supper with his followers before his crucifixion and death, we have to confess that we have fallen short of the love of God proclaimed at our baptism. We have to confess that we have not always loved one another as Jesus has loved us. 

Along life’s journey, there are many opportunities to fall short. There are many temptations. There are many mud puddles. Frankly, there’s a lot of crap. We have to confess that instead of walking on by, sometimes we go and put our foot right into it.

We have to confess that we have sinned, and our sin separates us from God. Our sin keeps us from knowing and enjoying the full love of God in Jesus Christ.

Friends, tonight we are going to have a long, quiet moment for reflection and confession. We are going to look deep into our hearts and souls and recognize that we have mud on our feet and dirt on our hands. Like all people, we have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. 

This is the time for us to come clean, to confess our sins quietly before God. And then, as a reminder that the blood of Jesus Christ washes us spotless, especially on this night, you are invited to come forward for a ritual cleansing. Our Stephen Ministers can wash you, or if you want to wash a family member or friend they will assist.

Whether you choose to have your forehead washed, or to wash your hands, or to have your feet washed as Jesus washed his disciples’ feet, this is a sacramental reminder of your baptism. As Jesus says, “you are clean.”

6. Touched by Jesus.  To encourage you this evening, I want to share my own God Moments. Some of the most remarkable experiences I’ve had in ministry have been during foot washing services. This awkward, uncomfortable night can be a source of great comfort, if we let Jesus touch us and wash us and forgive us.

Fourteen years ago, I led my first Maundy Thursday service in a tiny country church in Indiana. We washed feet. Back then I was so new and nervous about ministry that I carefully scripted everything. Everything was planned, and everything was going according to plan. About a dozen folks showed up. One by one, they came to sit in the front pew and I washed their feet. Then the elderly pastor who had called me into ministry sat before me. As I washed him, he leaned forward and whispered in my ear: “Now I want to wash your feet.” 

This wasn’t my plan. It would take too long to switch places. I didn’t want him to get down on his 80-year-old knees. It was my job as the pastor to wash feet. So I shook my head, “no.”

He laid a hand on my shoulder and whispered again. It wasn’t a request: “I’m going to wash your feet.” And suddenly I realized I was having a Peter moment: “You’ll never wash my feet, master!” I was getting in the way of Jesus doing a beautiful thing through this old man. We switched places, and he washed my feet, and it was like a passing of the mantle of ministry from him to me. It was an anointing for ministry. It was beautiful.

Another church, another Maundy Thursday – this time in North Carolina. One of the elderly saints of the church, Mary, came to have her feet washed. Mary suffered with rheumatoid arthritis – her joints were gnarled and her body hurt. She was one of many people whose feet we washed that night. Weeks later Mary called me up and said, “You know pastor, since you washed my feet Maundy Thursday, they haven’t hurt at all.” A healing miracle during a foot washing. Jesus worked through my touch, and I didn’t even realize it at the time. Humbling.

7. Comfort in the uncomfortable.  Tonight might be uncomfortable for you. It is not comfortable to confront and confess our sins and shortcomings. We’d rather try to hide our spiritual stains, our darkened hearts, from God. But confession is good for the soul. 

Tonight might be uncomfortable for you. It is not comfortable to serve others, nor is it comfortable to let ourselves be touched, washed, served by others. We don’t want anyone to see our warts and calluses, to smell our stinky feet. But it is good for us to humble ourselves, to experience a loving human touch, and in the process to be touched by Christ.

This is an awkward night… and it should be. This is an uncomfortable night… and it should be. This is a humbling night… and it should be. This is the night that Jesus begins his journey to the cross. Jesus will die for us, so that we can live eternally. By the blood of Christ, the Lamb of God, death will pass over us. And with Easter morning, we have the promise of resurrection and eternal life.

Tonight might be uncomfortable for you. But tonight you can also find divine comfort. Humble yourself. Confess your sins. Remember your baptism. Let yourself be touched and healed by Christ. 

Remember his commandment – “Love one another, as I have loved you” – and be comforted.

Amen.