Maundy Thursday
Jn
13:1-15
4/6/23
Jesus’ hour
had come. Repeatedly in the Gospel of
John we have heard earlier occasions when it was not yet Jesus’ hour. We
heard it in the miracle at Cana when Jesus told Mary, “Woman, what does
this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.” On several occasions Jesus’ opponents wanted
to seize him. However, they were unable
to do so because we are told, “his hour had not yet come.”
However, now
Jesus’ hour had come – the hour for his death.
In the previous chapter Jesus had said, “The
hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Truly, truly, I say to
you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains
alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.”
Jesus understood all
that this would entail. He knew the suffering that awaited him. Just after this he added, “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 had a purpose. He had a mission to carry out. He had come to
defeat the devil. He went on to say, “Now is
the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast
out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all
people to myself.” Then John tells us, “He said this to show by what kind
of death he was going to die.”
Jesus had indicated
that he was going to die. He had spoken
of being lifted up. But this action
would not be end. Instead, his death
would lead to resurrection and ascension.
Jesus had come from the Father to carry out his saving mission. And this mission would take him back to the
Father.
Our text begins by
stating, “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 loved his disciples to
the end. He loved them all the way. That is what the next day would be about as
he died on the cross.
Jesus understood all that was about to
take place. Our text says that Jesus
knew God had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from
God and was going back to God. Yet
his going back to God was a way that would go through the cross. It would go
through the cross, but would lead to glory in the resurrection and ascension.
The disciples couldn’t understand yet what
Jesus was about to do. They had to experience it, and then only in meeting the
risen Lord would they finally understand.
Yet in order to give them something that would teach them – and us -
Jesus did something unexpected.
It was typical that feet were washed before
a meal. The dusty roads of Palestine left residue that needed to be cleaned
off. Naturally, this menial task was
carried out by a servant or slave. It
was not something that people would consider doing for one another. That action
was too far beneath them.
However, while they were eating, Jesus
rose from supper. He 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.
Jesus was washing the
disciples’ feet. He was carrying out the
work of a servant. The action prompted Peter to ask the incredulous question: “Lord,
do you wash my feet?” It made no sense. If the disciples would not wash one another’s
feet, certainly they never expected Jesus their Lord and teacher to wash
theirs.
But Jesus answered
him, “What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you
will understand.” They did not the understand the action at the time. We have already seen that Jesus had announced
what his hour meant for him. And in the
language about Jesus’ washing actions we find an allusion to Jesus’ previous
words – words that explain what the actions meant.
We are told that
Jesus “laid aside” his outer garments.
In chapter ten, Jesus had used the exact same word to describe what he
does for his sheep. He had said, “I am
the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the
sheep.”
Jesus washed his disciples’ feet at the
Last Supper in order to illustrate what he was about to do by his death on the
cross. In an act of humble service, he
washed their feet. By an even more humble
act of service, he was about to subject himself to the suffering and death of
the cross. This is what Jesus did the for the disciples. This is what Jesus did
for you.
John the Baptist had declared about Jesus,
“Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” Jesus had been sent by the Father to take
away your sin. Every Sunday we speak the words from John’s first epistle: “If
we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” We would prefer to deceive ourselves. We
don’t want to admit the ways that we put God second. We don’t want to face the
ways that we harm our neighbor. But
confronted by God’s Word, we also know that we must confess what is true. We are indeed sinners.
Yet we are the sinners for whom Jesus was
lifted up. We are the sinners for whom
Jesus laid down his life. We are the sinners for whom Jesus offered the humble
service of sacrifice on the cross. Jesus
had described himself as the bread that came down from God. Then he added, “I am the living
bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will
live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world
is my flesh.”
Jesus’ hour had come. Jesus knew the hour was one of death on the
cross. That is why he washed his disciples’ feet. He did it in order to illustrate the humble
service he was about to offer to win our salvation. But Jesus also knew that this would not be
the end. Earlier he said, “For this reason the Father loves me, because I
lay down my life that I may take it up again.
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.”
The Lord who offered
the humble service of death on the cross did not remain dead. Instead, in his resurrection he defeated
death. His act of humility arced down
into the grave, but then his saving work emerged back up out of the tomb as the
living Lord returned to the Father in the ascension. He is now the ascended Lord who had promised
that he will return on the Last Day. In
him we already have life. And in him we
have the hope of resurrection. Jesus
said, “For
this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son
and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up
on the last day.”
John’s Gospel is unique in that as he
describes the Last Supper he does not include an account of Jesus instituting
the Sacrament of the Altar. Writing after
the other evangelists, he does not cover the exact same ground. Instead, he tells us something new, as we
learn about the washing of the disciples’ feet.
Though he does not include Jesus’ words
instituting the Sacrament, Johns’ Gospel does have words that immediately make
us think about it. After feeding the
five thousand Jesus said, “Truly, truly, I say
to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood,
you have no life in you. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has
eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.” We recognize that these words find their
ultimate fulfillment in what Jesus instituted on this night.
In the Sacrament of
the Altar, Jesus gives us the benefits of what he won on the cross. He uses bread and wine to give us his true
body and blood. He gives us the very
price he paid to win forgiveness for us. As we eat his body and drink his blood
we receive forgiveness, and so have eternal life. The risen Lord places his body and blood into
our bodies as he gives us the pledge and guarantee that we will share in his
resurrection on the Last Day.
Jesus does this to
strengthen us in faith. He does this so
that we can learn from his washing of the disciples’ feet and put it into
practice. We learn in our text that when our Lord had washed their feet, he put
on his outer garments and resumed his place. Then he 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.”
Jesus willingly gave
himself into death in service for us.
Now, he calls us to serve one another.
The Christian life is one of humble service given to others. It is, because this is what Jesus has done
for us. This is how he saved us. This is
the reason he has saved us, so that we can render loving service to others.
After the supper,
Jesus said, “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.”
We are reminded that especially, this loving service is directed towards
those who share faith in Christ. This love is what should identify us to
others. We are the disciples of the Lord
who washed his disciples’ feet. We are
the disciples of the risen Lord who died on the cross for us.
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