Stinky Feet 'N All

Maundy Thursday, April 21, 2011 (John 13:1-17, 31b-35 with Exodus 12:1-14 and I Cors. 11:23-26 in b.g.)

Main Thought – Jesus' love is beyond affection – it is for those disciples – it is for us- it is all in – and it is box destructing.

Have you ever washed anyone's feet when they were really dirty? Have you ever fed anyone a meal when they couldn't feed themselves – or cleaned up after them when they weren't in control of their bodily functions? If you haven't, I hope that you get to sometime.

 

You see we don't undertake such tasks unless we truly care about that person – unless we believe they have inherent value – and matter to us, to others, to God.

 

Jesus' disciples had gathered for a meal. It was near the end of his life, very near the end. I am not sure that they realized this – but somehow he did. In fact John tells us this: "Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end."

 

We get a glimpse of that love tonight. In Jesus' time only slaves watched other people's feet – or – the host may provide you with a basin of water so that you could wash your own. But never did a free person, a person of any free standing wash someone else's feet. I mean the feet were at most in sandals. They trekked through the grime of the streets – not just dirt, but often open sewage. And so when they came into someone's home, they needed washing. That's what slaves were for. Or, if necessary of course you could do your own obligatory washing.

 

And yet that night Jesus showed them a different way. It was really only the tip of the iceberg. Tomorrow the whole thing will be lifted up out of the water – His different way, His love that is so far beyond affection or like that sometimes we can't even begin to comprehend.

 

Peter objects. Jesus was not going to wash Peter's feet. But Jesus points even beyond the literal. If I do not wash you, if I do not give you from the totality of myself as a free and undeserved gift, you do not share in me. And Peter, God love Peter, ever so literal, ever so quick with his tongue, sometimes before his mind engaged responds, –"Not only my feet Lord, but my hands and my head."

 

Peter doesn't 'get it' – there's no such thing as a partial gift from Jesus. He gives his all. Having loved his own – he loved them to the end.

 

Do we "get it"? Can we?

 

We have our boxes don't we? Rich and poor? Fat and slim? White, Asian, European, Black! Employed, unemployed, retired, young, old, believer, unbeliever, kind, selfish, smart, stupid – first world, second world, third world. I could go on ad nauseum.  We love our boxes. So often we construct them unconsciously. We put people and often ourselves in such boxes. And we allow, sometimes we want the boxes to separate us from one another, to provide what we think we need , some kind of order, some kind of logic, structure.

 

And when we die we get put in a box of some size, shape or form.  Many think are convinced, that's the way it is, just all these boxes, including this very last one, I mentioned.

 

But, my God, Jesus comes in his self emptying love, trusting fishermen and tax collectors, men and women, rich and poor – all of us who are missing the mark that God intends. And yet in Jesus, God chooses us. To wash us, to give us himself – in order to have us open the boxes, to realize we don't need them, they can't hold us or others, to have us mentally throw them away. In that  we too might know, in the deepest sense that we are loved – by Him, this Word of God!

 

So, see him not only put that towel around his waist. But see him tonight embrace us and the world in His meal. See him tomorrow move onto die. We talk about love, we sing about love, we think we know about love. But, my God, we can only know love as we are loved by Him.

 

Let's not be afraid to love others – whether that's in the washing of feet, or the listening beyond words to tears and pain, to joy and deliverance. Let's stop thinking about others as "other", but begin to realize that we are all united as ones whom Jesus loves.  Having loved his own who were in the world he loved them to the end – not just the end as the terminus of his life – but the end as in the goal of his mission. And what a goal – that the whole world, the cosmos would be loved unconditionally and hopefully by God – so that all can be new. Boxes will be done with! In Him we are One.

 

Listen for his voice in our ears knowing that it emanates from his self emptying love for all – "By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another!"

 

Would it be so among and through us. Amen.