Maundy Thursday
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It was just before the Passover Festival. Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.
2 The evening meal was in progress, and the devil had already prompted Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus. 3 Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; 4 so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. 5 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.
6 He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?”
7 Jesus replied, “You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.”
8 “No,” said Peter, “you shall never wash my feet.”
Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.”
9 “Then, Lord,” Simon Peter replied, “not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!”
10 Jesus answered, “Those who have had a bath need only to wash their feet; their whole body is clean. And you are clean, though not every one of you.” 11 For he knew who was going to betray him, and that was why he said not every one was clean.
12 When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. “Do you understand what I have done for you?” he asked them. 13 “You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. 14 Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. 15 I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. 16 Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. 17 Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.
We come together this Maundy Thursday to recall what happened on the Thursday before Good Friday - the last week in the life of our Lord.
In John’s Gospel, one-third of all the events that we have about Jesus' life occurred during this week: that’s how important his last days were. The disciples have gathered in an upper room in a home. They are sharing a Seder meal, now called the ‘Last Supper’- a highlight of Passover week.
The Passover festival commemorated a time when the Jews were in bondage in Egypt and the final plague before the Exodus was that God sent a death throughout Egypt, but miraculously, by the blood of a lamb this death passed over the homes of the Jews. Hence - Passover.
The meal itself was a symbolic one reminding the Jews of the sufferings of their forefathers and the power of God's deliverance. The foods that were eaten were symbols to remind the Jews of their captivity in Egypt. Apple sauce was eaten to remind them of brick mortar and the fact that they were forced to make bricks with no straw. A bitter herb is eaten to remind them of the bitterness of their captivity.
It was the Seder Meal, now called the last supper, that the disciples were sharing that night in the upper room.
It was at the conclusion of that meal that Jesus himself added two more symbols. He took a loaf and broke it and gave it to his disciples saying: Take eat, this is my body which is broken for you, do this in remembrance of me. Then he took a cup of wine. He drank from it and gave it to his disciples saying, "Drink ye all of this, for this is my blood which is shed for you and for many for the forgiveness of sin." Thus was born our sacrament of the Lord's Supper, out of the experience of an ancient Jewish custom.
Leonardo da Vinci’s painting depicts the moment when Jesus announces his impending betrayal. The disciples look at one another in shock, except for Judas, who refuses to look Jesus in the face and clutches his money to his chest. I wonder as we look at those disciples around the table if we can see ourselves. For me they represent all that is good and bad about our humanity. Maybe we can see ourselves in some of the disciples, Matthew, Peter, Andrew, John, Judas...Let us look at some of the disciples sitting around the Passover Meal and how we can see our own frailties and sinfulness reflected in them.
By the end of the 11th Chapter of John we have a record of three years of Jesus' life.
Then, from John Chapters 12-17, five chapters we have the detail of the last week of Jesus' life.
John 12:27ff and John 13:1 We read that Jesus was aware that his time as Messiah had come.
We learned on Palm Sunday how Jesus rode into Jerusalem to wild acclaim and he received their praise, acknowledging that he is the Christ.
‘Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.’
This tells us we need to read this passage in the light of the cross that follows in 15 hours time. When we end our Maundy Thursday service with Tenebrae we are dramatizing the end of this Seder meal when the disciples left and the darkness of Good Friday & Easter Saturday fell.
In v2 the meal is in progress. No one's feet have been washed after a day of walking on dusty tracks in open sandals. None of the disciples offered to stoop to do it, they were too busy arguing about who was most important.
In a deliberate act of servitude, and humility Jesus v4,5 got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing and wrapped a towel around his waist. 5 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.
John records this detail in slow motion, every detail of this particular act in a long evening.
When we read this in the shadow of the cross. We see there are two lessons and one truth.
Two Lessons
One Deeper Truth
Lesson one
If you want to be active in the Kingdom of God you have to have a servant’s heart, and serve others. There is a focus on humility and serving, putting others before self.
Lesson two
Just as we are called to serve we can express humility by being served. One of the tough lessons I have learned. In being humble enough to receive gifts and servitude. By allowing others to flourish, affirming their ministry to you and others. It is difficult not to be self-sufficient. Self-made people can manage without others - can manage without Christ.’ Jesus is teaching two lessons in humility here both as relevant and important as the other.
A Deeper Truth
What about the deeper truth? On a deeper level Jesus is sharing something far more important – He is dramatizing the reality of Salvation. He the author of creation, becomes the servant of his creatures. This is not a Hand and foot hygiene policy for 1st-century disciples. Is Jesus really telling them, if they have had a shower in the morning, they only needed to wash their feet when they go for a meal in the evening? No, his hour has come, he is soon to leave and go into the darkness of the Kidron Valley. Here Jesus is pointing forward to the once and for all cleansing that he provides – Salvation, adopted in God’s family, only by grace.
Only by grace can we enter,
only by grace can we stand;
not by our human endeavour
but by the blood of the Lamb.
We are totally dependent on what Jesus has done for us. Nothing we can do of ourselves can cleanse us. Once saved we cannot be unsaved but we do need to come on a regular, daily basis by confessing our sins to receive his forgiveness – that’s the foot-washing this servant king does for each one of us. The big word for that is sanctification. Oswald Chambers ‘By sanctification God places us in the light that He is in.’
Two lessons and a truth, we are called to serve, we must in humility allow others to serve us and the Truth that sets us free – when we first come to Christ as Lord and Saviour we are transformed from the inside out by his total cleansing. As Jn 13:1 says ‘Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.’ Let us ponder that verse as we prepare for Holy Communion
