Maundy Thursday - John 13

John 13.1-17, 31b-35 Maundy Thursday

The gospel stories of Holy Week are so familiar that we are in danger of losing the impact and shock which they originally held. Perhaps if we recover some of that impact it will help us clarify some of the priorities of the Church today.

The footwashing was such a shocking memory for the writer of John’s gospel that it overshadowed the words of institution of Holy Communion, which he does not record.

• KNOWING THAT HIS HOUR HAD COME – that all the preliminaries were over, the signs and discourses, journeys, conflicts, misunderstandings and so on. Knowing that he had very little time left with his disciples, time in which to explain the meaning of his approaching death and resurrection and their future responsibilities – Jesus began by CARRYING OUT THE SLAVE’s DUTY and washing his disciples’ feet.

• Things had not gone as the disciples had hoped. Their Master’s rejection by the religious leaders had been a setback, but to see him demeaning himself in this way was unbearable.

• Peter points out the inappropriateness. For Judas it is the final straw. The so-called Messiah of whom he had such high hopes, kneeling before him with water and towel, making himself unclean and devoid of dignity by washing the sweat and sand and soil from their feet.

But Jesus knew exactly what he was doing and was completely in control, as John emphasises throughout his gospel. So why did he do this?

• He knew the power of a visual aid – long before the days of powerpoint! He knew that actions speak louder than words and so he began his final discourse by washing the disciples’ feet.

• Knowing that God had given all things into his hands Jesus did not choose the crown and throne but the towel and bowl of a slave. Had he no self respect? “Lord, you will never wash my feet – never!”

• Yet it was more than a visual aid. Jesus was not “dressing up” as a slave in order to make a point about humility. He was taking off his outer clothing and revealing himself as he really is. Jesus kneeling in the dust washing feet, Jesus hanging on a cross dying a criminal’s death. Jesus, having loved his own who were in the world, loved them to the utmost; he showed them the full extent of his love.

As with much of John, there are various layers of meaning. Here are a few of them:-

• Before leaving his disciples, Jesus wanted to assure them of his complete, extreme and unsurpassable love. This love of course does not just apply to the first disciples but also to the whole world, as we read elsewhere in John (For God so loved the world, etc). Jesus washed the disciples’ feet to show everyone the full extent of his love without limit.

• Jesus wanted to symbolise the spiritual cleansing which the disciples and subsequent believers would receive through his victory over death and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. As he said to Peter, “unless I wash you, you have no part in me.” The Church has always recognised the power and validity of this imagery of being washed by Jesus, and we preserve this idea in our baptism liturgy.

• Thirdly Jesus tells the disciples he has set them an example of how to behave towards each other – see verses 14 and 15. If humble service is good enough for the Master, it is good enough for the servant. If it is the mark of the one who sends, it is also the mark of the “apostle”, the one who is sent.

• Jesus ends this first part of our reading by saying “if you know these things, you are blessed if you do them.” These last four words are very important when we are thinking about discipleship. Our knowledge of Jesus and his love has to be put into practice.
Our set reading then jumps past the episode of Judas being identified as the traitor and the dramatic moment when he leaves the room, to verses 31-35, in which Jesus announces his glorification through and beyond his suffering on the cross. The NEW COMMANDMENT follows naturally and logically…

“Love one another, even as I have loved you.”

• The unselfish love which the disciples are to show, beginning with each other, is a sign to the world that they are followers of Jesus. So Christian unity is important - a priority Jesus comes back to time and again during the farewell discourse (John 13-17).
So how does all of this apply to the Church today? How can we pull it together?

• Jesus’s awareness that his hour had come might challenge us. Knowing that his hour had come, he acted bravely, decisively and obediently. Much of what he did was of course once and for all BUT in terms of taking the good news of salvation and of the kingdom of God to the world, much remains to be done. Jesus handed on the baton to the apostles aand they handed it on to the Church.

• Perhaps the Church’s HOUR HAS NOW COME? And it should also act bravely, decisively and obediently. Many people think the Church has already had its hour, had its day and is now just an empty relic tied to the age of ignorance. Many in the Church concur and are happy to just shut the door and die quietly. But I don’t think that is what God is saying. I think he is saying to the Church – “Your hour has come. Now is the time!”

• Now is the time for what? For showing the full extent of God’s love to “those he has given us out of the world”. Who? People who are already Church members? Yet God is a missionary God who longs for every lost sheep to be carried home, and has called us to do the seeking and carrying.

• We live amongst the most broken, bewildered, lost and confused generation of all time. A generation desperately in need of hope, of salvation.

• And they won’t come to us. We need to go to them, humbly, taking off our outer garment – all the tat and privilege and rich trappings which hide what Christianity is all about. We need to put a towel round our waist and WASH THE FEET OF THE WORLD. Even those who hate us. Jesus has set the example for us to follow (even washing Judas’s feet) and it is only after following this example that we earn the opportunity to ask “do you understand what I have done for you?”

• KNOWING THAT the hour of the Church has come, we are to show the full extent of God’s love to the world.

• We are to do so in unity (verse 35) and with authenticity. We live in a world which is sick of hollow images and empty promises. A world which looks with suspicion at the Church, our profession of love and asks “is it real, is it authentic?”

• May we follow our Lord and Saviour and show real unity and real humble love as we take his good news to the world.