To Love and To Serve
March 24, 2005 (Maundy Thursday)
by
The Rev. Linda Yeager,
Deacon
(From The Lectionary Page)
A good friend and loyal parishioner of the Cathedral died three years ago on Maundy Thursday. Bob was with his friends at Men's Bible Study the morning he died. Many of us remember him with warmth and love on this special day. After Bob died, we looked at his folder -- his file -- in the church office to see if he had made any plans for his funeral. And he had. In fact, Bob left instructions on music, scripture, and other parts of the burial liturgy. These pieces of information were greatly appreciated, and we were comforted that we were able to honor his wishes.
Others, also, decide before they die, to leave instructions for those who remain. Sometimes they even leave information for their obituaries, how they want to be remembered and, of course, people make wills signifying to whom they are leaving their most honored possessions.
Tonight, we are privileged to receive Jesus' instructions -- his wishes -- his will -- for us, given to us before he died. The events of this night reveal to us, in a very clear fashion, how Jesus wants to be remembered and how we can honor his life. Of course, Jesus had been telling the disciples and others all along just how they should live their lives; his instructions can pretty well be summed up: love God and one another with all your heart, mind, and strength. But tonight we get the specifics, and we get them in two parts.
In the reading from First Corinthians, we observe Jesus taking bread and wine, giving thanks and instructing the disciples. He tells the disciples to offer these elements in his memory and adds that by eating and drinking this bread and wine, they are proclaiming his death until he comes again. By sharing the bread and the cup, they become part of the body of Christ, partakers of his body and blood. And so do we.
The Outline of Faith in our Book of Common Prayer has this to say about the rewards we receive in the Holy Eucharist: "The benefits we receive are the forgiveness of our sins, the strengthening of our union with Christ and one another, and the foretaste of the heavenly banquet which is our nourishment in eternal life." On this night Christ revealed to us how he wants to be remembered and opened to us the way to forgiveness, union, and eternity.
Next , in the gospel passage, Jesus shows the disciples how he wants us to live our lives for him and through him and with him. He poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet. Jesus knew what was going to transpire; he knew that he was approaching his own death. And yet, at the time that most of us would be focused on our own needs, he turned his love and attention to those who would be left after he died. He thought about others more than he worried about himself. This attitude of Jesus is seen sometimes in those who are very close to God as they die. I once stood at the bedside of a teenager who was dying; some of his last words to us were, "Tell Mom and Dad that I am fine." And then he asked us to take care of his parents after he died. Jesus cared about his disciples and about the world, and he wanted to leave his friends an example of how they should live. "If I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you." Jesus wants us to take care of one another.
Often the emphasis of the washing of feet falls on the one who is doing the washing, the one acting as a servant of others. But this is only part of that example that Jesus left for us. The other emphasis is on the ones whose feet are being washed. Peter protested when Jesus wanted to wash his feet. "You will never wash my feet." Peter felt unworthy of this treatment. Peter is like many of us who are more than willing to wash the feet of others, to serve others, to meet the needs of others. But when someone tries to minister to us, we object. "No, no," we say, "that's not necessary. Please, I'm fine. I don't need you to pamper me, to spend time on my account." We are uncomfortable when others reach out to us, for we are surely unworthy of that kind of attention. Peter changed his mind when Jesus told him that unless he allowed Jesus to wash his feet, he would not be part of Jesus' life and ministry. And what if we are so involved in reaching out to others that we forget to let others have a ministry, too. For Jesus' message was one of loving one another, loving one another enough that we are willing to both give and accept love, that we are able to love others enough to allow them into our lives, our hearts, our "space."
We will all have the opportunity to have our feet washed this evening, and we will also have the chance to wash the feet of others. I have a feeling that, for many of us, washing another person's feet will fill that need we have to serve and will make us feel completed somehow. The tenderness with which we kneel in front of another and let Christ's love flow through us and from us is satisfying in a truly spiritual way. But when we sit in the chair and let someone else wash our feet, we begin to squirm, to worry about how our feet smell, or how they look, or how unsightly our nails are. Tonight, I encourage each of us to sit in the chair and imagine that the hands of Jesus are washing our feet, that he treasures each foot, each toe, each callous and blister, that loves and serves him. Feel the gentleness of the hands that are washing your feet; and let that person and Jesus love you.
How blessed we are to have Jesus' instructions given to us while he was still walking this earth as a man. How truly honored we are to have the words of the Eucharist directly from him, the words that we hear every time we participate in this sacrament. How incredible that Jesus told us exactly how to live, that he exemplified his wishes in the washing of his disciples' feet. We have been given his directions; we know how he wants us to live and how we can honor him. On this night, as Jesus approaches his death, we share in his body and blood, we serve one another in love, we listen to him, and we understand.