Maundy Thursday

Humility

Here we are at Jesus last meal – He knows it but they don’t. But there are important things he needs his disciples to understand

A line in a hymn goes: Lord you make the common holy. And he did, and he does.

Footwashing. The roads were dusty. people wore sandals. Unwashed feet were unpleasant and socially unacceptable.

Feet should be washed as you arrive. But here’s the rub - the washing was done by the lowly. Later tradition had it that even a Jewish slave would not be asked to do this task - it had to be an ultra-low ranking gentile.

None of those at this meal.

Sometimes it was someone else – maybe a child to a parent, a disciple to their master. It was an act of devoted submission.

Who was going to do it here? Who would pick the path of the least? In a bunch of disciples who argued which was the greatest it doesn’t look like any of them were up for it. So ok then, dirty feet it is. Better to be improper than inferior.

The meal starts. And Jesus turns this awkward issue into a profoundly holy teaching moment. The other 3 gospels focus on the symbolism of the bread and the wine. John highlights how a different ordinary but also extraordinary moment in the evening is made holy.

Jesus gets up from the meal. Lays aside his robe – as the Good Shepherd lays down his life - and picks up the towel – just as a slave might wear.

And he washes their feet. Everyone seems too stunned to say anything.

Finally, Peter speaks up - What are you doing Lord? This is just so wrong.

Except it wasn’t. It was making the common holy.

· This was love in action.

· This was pointing to something they would not understand yet - the active taking up, the decision to walk, the path of humility and shame that was the cross, a path that brought cleansing to Peter and to us all.

· This was also the model for the fundamental necessity of humility – that antithesis, that complete opposite, of pride and self-importance – the fundamental necessity of humility in our relationships with each other.  

If I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you should do the same for each other.