Maundy Thursday
Jn
13:1-15
4/13/17
One of the features of our culture
today is that it rejects hierarchy and authority. Indeed, those are almost bad words to many
people. The idea that it is good and necessary to have individuals in positions
of authority and responsibility, and in turn that those individuals should be
treated with respect is rejected by many as the oppressive tool of an archaic
past.
Instead our world often does
everything it can to undermine anything that looks this. There are different ways that this occurs. One of the most effective is the drive to be
“less formal.” Informality, we are told,
is so much better than that old fashioned past.
You see this in the way children now
often call adults by their first name.
There was a time – not that long ago – when this would have been
unthinkable. But certainly during the
lifetime of my children it has become very common for children to address
adults in this way, and for adults to consider this acceptable. And if it is not the first name alone, then
some kind of term of address introduces the first name such as, “Ms. Amy.”
It’s a “softened” version if you
will, and the same thing also happens in church. If not calling the pastor by his first name,
then the term “Pastor” is placed before the name, and you get “Pastor Mark.” This is considered by many to be a great
thing because it is, of course, “less formal.”
However, it’s only during the last
two minutes of the history of the world that anyone has ever thought in this
way. And the reason for this is that
people have always recognized that hierarchy and authority are good and
necessary. They are needed to make life
work. Since language shapes the way we
think about things, people have used language that respects individuals in
these positions.
You see this in our text tonight.
Jesus says, “You call me
Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am.” The disciples never said, “Hey Jesus.” Instead they addressed him as Teacher and
Lord because he was in a position of authority over them. This was true from a cultural standpoint
because they were gathered around him as their rabbi – their teacher. And in an even deeper way this was true from
a religious standpoint because they knew that Jesus had come from God.
Jesus’
statement, “You
call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am” provides the
necessary background for understanding what takes place in our Gospel lesson
for Maundy Thursday. John tells us about what happened at Jesus’ last supper
with his disciples on the night when he was betrayed. He begins by saying, “Now before the Feast of
the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this
world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them
to the end.”
Jesus knew
that his hour had come. In the previous
chapter, our Lord had said during Holy Week, “Now is my soul troubled. And what
shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour'? But for this purpose I have come
to this hour.’” Jesus lived his life
knowing that he had a mission – a purpose.
This mission had a timing that fulfilled the Father’s will, and during
his ministry Jesus had departed from situations when there was the potential to
disrupt this timing.
Yet now,
the hour had come and so Jesus did something to help them understand what was going
to happen during the next twenty four hours and what it meant for them. Jesus
and the disciples would have been reclining at a low table as they ate. Jesus was in the place of honor because he
was their Teacher; their Lord.
But then,
John tells us that during supper Jesus, “laid aside his outer garments, and
taking a towel, tied it around his waist. Then he poured water into a basin and
began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel that was
wrapped around him.”
This would
have been surprising and shocking for several reasons. First, foot washing normally took place before a meal began. Nobody washed feet in the middle of a
meal. More significantly, servants who were normally slaves did
this job. Yet at this meal Jesus, their
Teacher and Lord, begins to wash their feet!
It turned the normal order of things upside down, and as you can hear in
Peter’s response it made the disciples uncomfortable. This wasn’t how things were supposed to work.
When he had
finished, Jesus put on his outer garments, resumed his place, and said to them,
“Do you understand what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord, and
you are right, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your
feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet.
For
I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to
you.”
Our Lord
says that his action is meant to give them an example. It was an example that he provided at a very
particular moment – the moment when his hour had come. And when we look at the
language John has used in the Gospel it becomes clear that it is an action that
we must understand in relation to what happened the next day. John says that Jesus “laid aside” his outer
garments. It is the exact same Greek
verb that was used in chapter ten when Jesus said, “For this reason the Father
loves me, because I lay down my life
that I may take it up again.” Jesus lays
aside his outer garments to serve, just as he will soon lay down his life in
service on the cross.
Now as
sinful people, we don’t want to serve.
We don’t want to put other people ahead of ourselves. The sinfulness
that still dwells in us doesn’t turn us out toward others. Instead, it curves us back into
ourselves. Our self is selfish. We choose to ignore the needs of others if it
is going to hinder the fulfillment our desires.
That is why
it was necessary for Jesus’ hour to come.
That is why it was necessary for Jesus to serve us. Jesus offered himself on the cross as the
Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. He laid down his life on the
cross in order to take away your sin. No
one forced him to do this. Our Lord was very clear on this point. He said, “No one takes it from me, but I lay
it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority
to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.” Jesus did it out of love for the Father. He did it out of love for you.
This
sacrifice – this love – has taken away your sins. That just happened again at the beginning of
this service as Lent came to a close.
After his resurrection Jesus appeared to the disciples and said,
“Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven
them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.” In Holy Absolution
Jesus spoke that forgiveness to you. You
cannot get a more direct application of the cross to be received by faith.
And in the
Sacrament of the Altar that Jesus instituted at the Last Supper he gives you
his true body and blood given and shed for you. The Lord who was with his
disciples at that last meal continues to be bodily present with us in his meal. And through his body and blood he gives us
the forgiveness that he won on the cross.
What he won there and then, he gives to us here and now.
Jesus
action of washing the disciples’ feet explains what was about to happen on Good
Friday. But perhaps even more so, it demonstrates what the sacrifice of Jesus
means for how we live.
Jesus says
in our text, “Do you understand what I have done to you? You call me Teacher
and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher,
have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have
given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you.” Naturally, our Lord is not telling us to be
taking off each other’s shoes and socks all the time. Instead, he describes the life of loving
service.
Jesus went
on to say in this chapter, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one
another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this
all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” It is the Latin word for commandment,
“mandatum” that has given this day the name we use: Maundy Thursday.
On this
evening, our Lord went on to say in John’s Gospel, “This is my commandment,
that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than
this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.”
Holy Week
occurs only once a year. But the events
that we celebrate and remember speak to every
single day of the year. Jesus loved
us by offering himself as the sacrifice for us on the cross. His love prompts us to love one another. The Spirit of Jesus leads us to live with the
love that Jesus has loved us.
Love is a
word that our world throws around all the time. For the world, love is something
that makes you feel good. For all that the world talks about loving others,
it’s really centered on what’s in it for me.
In our
text, Jesus shows us what this love really
looks like. It is action. It is service. It often means humbling ourselves in order to
attend to the needs of others. The
objects of this loving service are already right there in your life. They are your husband and wife, son and
daughter, father and mother, brother and sister. They are your fellow
congregation members and your pastor. They are your fellow employees and your
employer. These are the people Christ
has called you to serve through his saving death on the cross. He has served you through his suffering and
death. He has freed you from sin, so that now you can serve others – so that you
can love them as he has loved you.
No comments:
Post a Comment