The Rev. Kathi Johnson
Maundy Thursday – 2 April 2015
Text: John 13:1-17, 31b-35
Our Redeemer Lutheran Church, Grand Prairie, Texas
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Jesus knows he is leaving. He knows
he is leaving, and so as he gathers with his friends for a meal, he humbles himself
to the lowest place in the household. He humbles himself to the place of the
slave who washes people’s feet, and begins to wash the feet of those who have
journeyed so far with him throughout his years of public ministry.
Feet get dirty. Walking on dusty
roads, it is hard to keep one’s feet clean and so one of the greatest signs of
a hospitable home in Jesus’ time was a host providing a foot bath for guests.
But it was slaves who did the washing – so why is Jesus the one bathing their
feet, and then drying their feet with the same towel he has tied around his
waist? No wonder Peter is so confused!
Jesus finishes his task and returns
to the meal, talking all the while about the example he has set for them in
performing this menial task. Though we don’t hear it all today/tonight, he
talks, too, about betrayal. And he shares bread with his betrayer.
Judas has the words of Jesus
ringing in his ears: “Do quickly what you are going to do.”[1]
The betrayer leaves the meal, leaves his friends, leaves Jesus. He goes into
the darkness, walking quickly on the clean feet that Jesus has just washed.
And then comes the new commandment
from Jesus: “Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.”[2]
It stands in opposition to all the
hatred we hear about – all the hatred that is spewed forth in Jesus’ name - hatred
that fills up our news cycles and poisons our hearts and minds. It can seem
like hatred – not love – has become one of the marks of discipleship.
It was the hatred found in racism –
contrasted with love found only through God - that Martin Luther King, Jr. was
speaking to when he said these words:
I have also decided to stick with love, for
I know that love is ultimately the only answer to mankind's problems. And I'm
going to talk about it everywhere I go. I know it isn't popular to talk about
it in some circles today. And I'm not talking about emotional bosh when I talk
about love; I'm talking about a strong, demanding love. For I have seen too
much hate…and I say to myself that hate is too great a burden to bear. I have
decided to love. [3]
Maundy Thursday reminds us again
that we have these loving actions of Jesus done not only for those who will
stay by his side. Jesus washes the feet of the one who will betray him, and he
washes the feet of the others who will abandon him. And we have these loving
words of Jesus spoken right before he is betrayed and handed over to the
authorities: “Love one another.”
He ups the ante, then, by telling
us that people are watching: “By this everyone will know that you are my
disciples, if you have love for one another.”[4]
People are watching – this phenomenon has not changed. People are watching to
see how we love one another in Jesus’ name.
I pray for the day when the
followers of Jesus will be known for our love – and not for our hatred. Just as
Jesus loved others, may we also love. Amen.
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[1] John 13:27
[2] John 13:34
Delivered at the 11th Annual SCLC
Convention Atlanta, GA. Found at
http://mlk-kpp01.stanford.edu/index.php/encyclopedia/documentsentry/where_do_we_go_from_here_delivered_at_the_11th_annual_sclc_convention/
[4] John 13:35
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