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Revised Common Lectionary 4-1-2021: Holy Thursday or Maundy Thursday

GOSPEL

John 13:1–17, 31b–35

13 Now before the festival of the Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart from this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. 2 The devil had already put it into the heart of Judas son of Simon Iscariot to betray him. And during supper 3 Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going to God, 4 got up from the table, took off his outer robe, and tied a towel around himself. 5 Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was tied around him. 6 He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?” 7 Jesus answered, “You do not know now what I am doing, but later you will understand.” 8 Peter said to him, “You will never wash my feet.” Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no share with me.” 9 Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!” 10 Jesus said to him, “One who has bathed does not need to wash, except for the feet, but is entirely clean. And you are clean, though not all of you.” 11 For he knew who was to betray him; for this reason he said, “Not all of you are clean.”

12 After he had washed their feet, had put on his robe, and had returned to the table, he said to them, “Do you know what I have done to you? 13 You call me Teacher and Lord—and you are right, for that is what I am. 14 So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. 15 For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you. 16 Very truly, I tell you, servants are not greater than their master, nor are messengers greater than the one who sent them. 17 If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them.

31 When he had gone out, Jesus said, “Now the Son of Man has been glorified, and God has been glorified in him. 32 If God has been glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself and will glorify him at once. 33 Little children, I am with you only a little longer. You will look for me; and as I said to the Jews so now I say to you, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come.’ 34 I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Introduction: I love night services

There are only a few in the Church calendar.

Christmas Eve, obviously.

Ash Wednesday

And tonight, Maundy Thursday.

There’s something about the lights being low, the quiet hush that comes with night time, and things being just a little bit out of the ordinary.

It is almost like it’s just different enough to get us to pay attention.

Explain Maundy Thursday

Now, I am still a great lover of all things dad joke.

Which is why it shouldn’t surprise anyone that every time I think about observing Maundy Thursday, I sing the Mamas and the Papas in my head.

“Maundy Thursday!”

But this is a vital and important observance in our Holy Week celebrations.

The word Maundy comes from the Latin word mandatum, or mandate, or commandment.

So tonight, with things just a little bit different, our perspectives shifted just a bit, I wonder what kinds of commandments we might hear tonight?

Bible Breakdown

Jesus and the disciples are having a night service.

Passover

Passover is the Jewish celebration of their liberation from slavery in Egypt.

They remember how God had them sacrifice the spotless lamb.

Blood would have been painted on the doorposts of each Jewish house.

The angel of death literally passed over anyone who had the blood on their door.

It’s quite a big deal in the Jewish tradition!

It’s kind of like if we somehow combined our fourth of July and Thanksgiving holidays.

You would spend it with family and friends.

There would be huge feasts set at elaborate banquet tables.

This is a big celebration!

Jesus surely knows that this is the end

Setting aside the “He’s the son of God so he knows everything argument...”

This has been a tough week.

Turning over the tables at the temple.

Healing people he shouldn’t have been healing.

Teaching against the religious leaders of his day.

Coming so close to insurrection that he has to leave the city of Jerusalem every night and hide out in Bethany, which is a town just next to the Holy City.

Plus, this Judas guy has been acting squirely.

I think one of the best exercises we can engage in during Holy Week is trying to place ourselves in Jesus’ sandals.

What was he thinking?

What was he feeling?

How did he respond to what was going on around him?

The first line of this story fills in everything that is to come.

Having loved his own who are in the world, he loved them to the end.

It’s important to remember too that John was a disciple, likely sitting at this very table and watching all of this unfold.

These disciples and Jesus have been together for what must have felt like a very long time.

Three years of teaching.

Three years of healing.

Three years of daily life together, like fishing and fires and laundry day.

There was no where that Jesus went that this band of 12 disciples did not go.

You have to imagine that this got to feeling a little bit like a family after a while.

I don’t know that you can spend that much time with a tight knit group of people and not start to fall in love.

But this isn’t just a throwaway line in this story!

John is a master writer.

He uses this line to prompt us through what comes next.

If Jesus loved his own until the very end, how did he show that love?

He got down on his knees, and washed their feet.

Another classic example of Peter not getting it.

Now, I know I’ve made my love for Peter very clear.

This is a great Peter story, because he whiffs on what Jesus is trying to teach not once, but twice.

No way. Don’t wash my feet!

Peter is so in love with Jesus, carries so much respect for him, that this idea of Jesus washing Peter’s feet is offensive to him.

This is a job that they don’t even give the servants in wealthy houses!

It is below the servants, it is below the disciples, it is below Jesus to be sure.

So Peter tries to stop Jesus.

It is worth pausing here to reflect and wonder if we’ve ever done this.

When Jesus is at work in our lives, do we reject the work he’s doing?

Can we become offended that Jesus would stoop so low as to work with us?

Do we think that we are either above or below being helped by Jesus, and so try to stop him?

But Jesus explains that while Peter doesn’t understand what’s going on (he never does), this is something that has to happen.

This foot washing has something to do with being a part of Jesus’ crew.

And so Peter, fresh off wrong idea number one, moves on to try again.

Oh! Well then give me a whole bath!

Peter pretty quickly get’s over Jesus washing his feet, and moves straight on to bath time.

I can’t fathom how quickly he’s moved on from a moderately embarrassing idea in Jesus washing his feet to a totally embarrassing idea in Jesus washing him down.

And yet, this gives us another marker to reflect on.

If error one is our nagging tendency to ask Jesus to stop doing anything for us, there is a counter punch in assuming that Jesus will do everything for us.

Particularly when we get in trouble!

Jesus says something that’s particularly interesting here:

You are already clean.

Have a little bit of faith in yourself, Peter!

Follow the example of Jesus.

When he stands up at the end of this foot washing exercise, Jesus does what we so often wish he would:

He very plainly tells the disciples what he was up to.

This was less about what the disciples recieved from Jesus in terms of the actual footwashing.

It was way more about the example that Jesus set for the disciples.

This is the way you are to behave!

You are never to think of yourself as too good.

Too good to help.

Too good to serve.

Too good bow down.

Too good for others.

Jesus is giving the disciples an example to follow, and we should take that up as well.

Who can we serve?

Who can we help?

Who can we set above us?

Who can we elevate in these days?

Love at the bookends

Our lectionary skips around a little bit for brevity, and because they really want us to get to this last piece of the story before the pastor passes out from reading too much!

Verse 34 and 35 create a kind of bookend for this story.

“I give you a new commandment (mandatum), that you love one another.”

Now, if we stopped here, or we didn’t have the whole story that preceeded it, this would be an easy commandment to get fuzzy on.

What do we mean by love?

Couldn’t we get away with whatever we call tough love?

If I just think happy thoughts about other people, is that ok?

Jesus won’t let us stay there.

“Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.”

Not our own invented kinds of love:

Not just a kind of co-exist kind of love.

Not just a tolerate other people kind of love.

Not just a be nice to people while they’re around and then talk about them behind their back kind of love.

But a love that washes feet.

A love that is willing to get up from the table of privledge.

A love that is willing to wrap a towel around our waist.

A love that might engage in activities that we or others think are beneath us.

A love that serves like Jesus serves.

And then Jesus has something interesting to say about what this kind of love will do in the world:

By this everyone will now that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Hear this church:

People will not know that you are disciples of Jesus if you have a big church will lots of cool programs.

People will not know that you are a disciple of Jesus if you have a hip and cool pastor with engaging sermons.

People will not know that you are a disciple of Jesus if you occasionally post inspiring images to your Facebook page.

People will not know that you are a disciple of Jesus by your bumper stickers.

People will know that you are a disciple of Christ by the way you love.

I’ve heard it put this way before: If you were put on trial for being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict?

To be clear, John put this as a bookend idea on purpose.

We have to be filled with the love of Jesus before we can ever possibly allow ourselves to love others.

There are lots of symbols and images that go with this season of the church life:

The cross.

The paraments.

The empty tomb.

Jesus wants us to add one image to our arsenal, and in fact he wants us to start with this one:

A towel.

Application

Let Yourself Be Loved

So often as we approach the events of Holy Week, we carry a somber and mournful attitude.

And surely that’s an appropriate posture!

But I wonder if we don’t occasionally let ourselves drift into Peter territory.

When we gaze upon the cross,

When we think about the sacrifice Jesus makes on our behalf,

When we contemplate the pain and sacrifice that Jesus made on our behalf.

Do we tend to want to feel unworthy of what Jesus is about to do?

So here’s my first encouragement for us as we enter the silence of Good Friday and Holy Saturday: Let yourself be loved.

Take a look at the cross, not as a sign of shame but as a sign of love.

Listen in the silence of the weekend to what whispers of truth the Spirit wants to speak to you.

When you ponder what Jesus was willing to do, remember that he was willing to do it for you.

This is why it’s so vital that we gather around the table tonight.

We gather here at this table where we don’t deserve to sit, to eat a meal that we don’t deserve to share, and remind ourselves that in spite of it all, Jesus feeds us anyway.

We gather around this table to be filled with the love of Jesus so that we can reach out and love others.

Follow the Example of Jesus

Jesus wants so much to be more than our get out of jail free card.

There are some Christians who are content to accept all the love that we receive at the Table, to welcome the grace of Jesus Christ, without doing anything with it.

We are not cul-de-sacs of God’s blessing. God’s grace doesn’t end with us.

Instead, Jesus is asking us to follow in his example.

Jesus is asking us to poor that love we have recieved from God out in to the world.

Jesus is inviting us to pick up the towel, whatever that might look like, and serve our brothers and sisters.

Jesus is inviting us to not place ourselves above anyone in the story, but to take on the role of a servant.

And in fact, he’s not asking. He’s commanding.

These next few days, the world kind of takes a deep breath.

Good Friday is a time for folks to sit in the stillness and quiet.

Holy Saturday isn’t often observed, but it too is meant to be a time of reflection and contemplation.

I wonder if we could come back here on Sunday morning, when we celebrate resurrection, and share how we were of service to the world around us?

I wonder if we could fill our breakfast tables with stories of taking up the towel?

I hope so!

Let the World See Love

Because let’s be real, the world is far too full of other things right now.

The world is far too full of cynicism.

The world is far too full of greed.

The world is far too full of anger.

The world is far too full of fear.

Jesus has made it abundantly clear: The world will know the disciples by our love.

Let’s fill our homes with love this Easter season.

Let’s fill our work places with love.

Let’s fill our social media feeds with love.

Let’s fill the whole world with the love Christ.

This is the commandment we were given tonight.

To let ourselves be loved by Christ.

To take up the towel in the role of a servant.

And to spread love across the whole world.