Maundy Thursday 2005
Exodus 12:1-14
1 Corinthians 11:23-26
John 13:1-17
It is a cool Maundy Thursday this year. It is only March and there is a nip in the
air. Not a good time for sandals,
although I have seen a few flip-flops on the souls of a brave, or is that a risky, few.
So tonight, when we gather up here to wash feet, it will be
feet that have been tucked away all day in socks and shoes: keeping warm and cozy on a March eve. So it will be a little warmth and some sock
lint that gets bathed in the water tonight.
For Jesus, it was the dust of the road, the dirt between the
toes brought on by a day in sandals in hot weather. Jesus kneels with a bowl of warm water and
gently, ever so gently, washes feet.
For Jesus, this is true love.
And true justice. For true love
is caring even for a person’s dusty foot.
And true justice is, according to Simone Weil, “behaving exactly as
though there were equality when one is the stronger in an unequal
relationship…He who treats as equals those who are far below him in strength
really makes them a gift of the quality of human beings.”
Jesus kneels and washes feet as an act of love and
justice: Love and justice that cannot be
separated. For it is really God in the
room: God who has come to live among God’s own people; to walk with them and
share their food, to teach and listen
and heal and love, to rejoice at the
wedding in
God who loves the world so much…that God takes on human
love. And with love God becomes
vulnerable. Open to all that is
human….hunger, pain, grief, loss and the love that goes through it all.
And now, in this great
love, Jesus kneels at the feet of the
disciples. Washing the dirt away. Washing the feet of John and James and Peter
and even Judas.
For with great love comes the ability to suffer great
hurt. Think about it. When we are in pain, who do we tend to lash
out to? Those we love. And when we don’t want to hurt, who do we
push away? Those whom we love best. And who is capable of sticking a knife into
our most sensitive dreams or ideas?
Those we are closest to.
Judas, with clean
feet, goes out into the dark night to
cut a deal with the chief priests. I
know Jesus well, I know where you can
find him. Here, let me lead you to him.
And Jesus, knowing
this ahead of time, knowing that there
are enemies fighting against love,
rebelling against justice, still
washes Judas feet. Oh so gently, with the pain of love.
Do this. Jesus
says. Wash each others feet. Love one another as I have loved you. With a full heart, open to both joy and grief.
Be vulnerable and strong. Be at peace and courageous. Be willing to give it all away, that no one
goes without.
And risk love. True
love that is also true justice; modeled
for us by a God who kneels at our world worn feet and bathes them in the water
of life.
True love that doesn’t count the cost or turn away from the
cross. True love given for us we might
risk sharing it with others.
“By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you
have love for one another.”
Amen.