Maundy Thursday -- April 21, 2011
John 13:1 – 15
It was just before the Passover Festival. Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.
The evening meal was in progress, and the devil had already prompted Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus. Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.
He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?”
Jesus replied, “You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.”
“No,” said Peter, “you shall never wash my feet.”
Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.”
“Then, Lord,” Simon Peter replied, “not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!”
Jesus answered, “Those who have had a bath need only to wash their feet; their whole body is clean. And you are clean, though not every one of you.” For he knew who was going to betray him, and that was why he said not every one was clean.
When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. “Do you understand what I have done for you?” he asked them. “You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.
I hear Jesus’ question to his disciples in verse 12, after he washed their feet: “Do you understand what I have done for you?”
I consider how those words stir around inside me. “What is it I don’t understand?” I find that there are moments when I “get it” pretty quickly. My capacity for understanding can be immediate . . . but only on rare occasions.
More often, though, it takes awhile. I can be overwhelmed in my self-sight, unable to see beyond my narrow existence. When I feel slighted, when I’m overcome with anger, when I feel resentful of someone else’s situation, it may take awhile before I snap to it and realize that the real issue is within me and not in the outside world.
And that includes those things that originate in God. Do I understand the workings of God in my life? Am I so sensitive to God that I never miss the promptings of the Spirit in my life? No way. I spend my life catching up with what God is doing in my life and in the world.
In fact, I waver on whether or not I should understand what Jesus is doing. There is a part of me that knows I will always play catch-up in understanding the action of God in my life. Whether Jesus is washing my feet or the Spirit is shifting circumstances in my relational world, I will always miss a significant amount of the God-work within me.
Beyond that, though, I have to acknowledge my human limitations. I’ve had enough of trying to play the role of God, trying to be perfect in order to supplant God, working hard to make myself presentable to God and to others.
God invites me into an open and free world, a world (or “kingdom”) much more expansive than anything I could possibly imagine. I can never live into the totality of that world. Things will happen continually in various parts of that world that I will not understand. I’ll simply miss them in my humanity. Somehow, as I take on the eyes of Jesus, over time I may understand more.
Never, though, will I catch all of it.
It was just before the Passover Festival. Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.
The evening meal was in progress, and the devil had already prompted Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus. Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.
He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?”
Jesus replied, “You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.”
“No,” said Peter, “you shall never wash my feet.”
Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.”
“Then, Lord,” Simon Peter replied, “not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!”
Jesus answered, “Those who have had a bath need only to wash their feet; their whole body is clean. And you are clean, though not every one of you.” For he knew who was going to betray him, and that was why he said not every one was clean.
When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. “Do you understand what I have done for you?” he asked them. “You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.
I hear Jesus’ question to his disciples in verse 12, after he washed their feet: “Do you understand what I have done for you?”
I consider how those words stir around inside me. “What is it I don’t understand?” I find that there are moments when I “get it” pretty quickly. My capacity for understanding can be immediate . . . but only on rare occasions.
More often, though, it takes awhile. I can be overwhelmed in my self-sight, unable to see beyond my narrow existence. When I feel slighted, when I’m overcome with anger, when I feel resentful of someone else’s situation, it may take awhile before I snap to it and realize that the real issue is within me and not in the outside world.
And that includes those things that originate in God. Do I understand the workings of God in my life? Am I so sensitive to God that I never miss the promptings of the Spirit in my life? No way. I spend my life catching up with what God is doing in my life and in the world.
In fact, I waver on whether or not I should understand what Jesus is doing. There is a part of me that knows I will always play catch-up in understanding the action of God in my life. Whether Jesus is washing my feet or the Spirit is shifting circumstances in my relational world, I will always miss a significant amount of the God-work within me.
Beyond that, though, I have to acknowledge my human limitations. I’ve had enough of trying to play the role of God, trying to be perfect in order to supplant God, working hard to make myself presentable to God and to others.
God invites me into an open and free world, a world (or “kingdom”) much more expansive than anything I could possibly imagine. I can never live into the totality of that world. Things will happen continually in various parts of that world that I will not understand. I’ll simply miss them in my humanity. Somehow, as I take on the eyes of Jesus, over time I may understand more.
Never, though, will I catch all of it.
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