The Fellowship of Humility and Love
John 13:3-15, 35,35
April 17, 2003
Jesus Washes the Disciples’ Feet
John 13
during supper 3Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going to God, 4got up from the table,£ took off his outer robe, and tied a towel around himself. 5Then 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. 6He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?” 7Jesus answered, “You do not know now what I am doing, but later you will understand.” 8Peter said to him, “You will never wash my feet.” Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no share with me.” 9Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!” 10Jesus 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.” 11For he knew who was to betray him; for this reason he said, “Not all of you are clean.”
12After 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? 13You call me Teacher and Lord—and you are right, for that is what I am. 14So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. 15For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you.”
34I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. 35By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
Jesus' final week of life also must have been one of the busiest weeks of his life. From Palm Sunday Parades, to conflicts and disputes at the Temple, to teaching his disciples and preaching to the gathered masses. From the garden of Gethsemane, to being arrested, standing before the Pharisees, before Pilate and before a hate-filled mob, ultimately to Crucifixion, death and an Easter Day that begins with an empty tomb and ends with Jesus appearing to his shocked disciples. It all occurred during Holy Week.
The Holy Week portions of New Testament take up a huge percentage of each of the Gospels. A fifth of the Gospel of Luke, a quarter of the gospel of Mark, a third of the Gospel of Matthew and forty percent of the Gospel of John deal with this short period of time.
There is no more poignant or powerful moment in that week's events than the last meal that Jesus and the Disciples share together in a quiet, secluded upper room.
There, Jesus tells his friends that he will be betrayed, denied as a friend and turned over for execution each by individuals with whom he ate that night.
With a heart perhaps full with as much sadness as gladness, he tells them at that meal that despite their betrayal, he will be going to prepare a place for each of them in the house of his Father in heaven.
He gives them the sacrament of communion as a gift to them and to all the church from that time forward. The sacrament is a way for them not only to remember him, but also to enter into communion with him, in effect, transporting them back to that table, back to that upper room, back to their fellowship and to their companionship.
In those few hours in that room of fellowship. Jesus shared with his closest friends one other ritual. That ritual, like the Sacrament of Communion, also has passed down through the centuries, for some as a sacrament and for others, a very special practice that emulates and remembers Jesus.
Peculiar as it is, foot washing is a practice that many communities around the world celebrate on Maundy Thursday of Holy Week.
Through it, Jesus demonstrates his humility, impresses on his disciples his own commitment to them and teaches them that he expects from them also a fellowship of sacrifice and service.
At busy times in the life of our church, it can be difficult to hear again and again about service and sacrifice. We are all so busy. We each have so many things with which to occupy our time, our energies and our attention, that we wonder if we are just doing too much and should say NO! No More! Perhaps we might even feel as though our service is not even accomplishing anything in God's eyes or in the greater scheme of things.
Yet Jesus shows us that sacrifice and service are not just about production, about obedience, about getting something done or even finishing the mission of the church.
At that table around which he gathers his disciples, Jesus speaks about love. He is saddened about the fact that he will be betrayed, he gives his friends the Sacrament of Communion and the ritual of humility and service, washing each others' feet. But his greatest gift is to teach of love.
After the Passover meal is over, Jesus gets up and begins an act of ultimate humility, the washing of the feet of his own followers. As their teacher, rabbi and leader, it was a dramatic act of humble servanthood that he performed. It is in this act that Jesus claims that he has glorified the God in heaven.
It is based upon this humble act that Jesus bases his new commandment. We know the commandment well as we have heard it repeated many times. He says to his disciples, “love one another as I have loved you”. He has loved them, by showing humility, serving them and lowering himself to a status lower than theirs, despite his status as the Son of God, Sovereign of the Universe.
After he teaches them that not even he, Jesus himself is exempt from subordinating himself in sacrificial service, he tells them why it must be done.
34I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. 35By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
"Love one another," its not only the purpose and the mission of the church the message to the world and the reason for the church's mission of outreach, but it’s the way Jesus expects folks to be within the church.
A woman made frequent trips to the local post office up the street from her home. One day she came in to find a long line of people who were waiting for service from the postal clerks. This woman only needed stamps, so a helpful observer asked, "Why don't you use the stamp machine? You can get all the stamps you need and you don't need to wait in line." The woman said, "Yes I know, but the machine can't ask me about my arthritis."
Being in church, being in fellowship with Christ is hard work, it is a deep and profound sacrifice to take up our cross and follow Christ. Yet in doing so, we are not only focusing ourselves on accomplishing some particular task or another, even if it is to teach our children Christian morality and ethics, even if it is to beautify the church building or make sure it runs and operates properly, even if it is to reach out to the community beyond and feed the hungry and give aid to the wounded. We are also focused on each other and on all the people to whom we reach out and come into relationship.
34I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.
Loving one another is just as important as anything else we do in the church. It is the foundation and the ground out of which we nurture and cultivate our fellowship and the motivation and substance of all our work which gives our mission trajectory and reach.
Jesus did love his disciples. It is for this reason that he was able to wash their feet, despite his knowledge that they would soon betray him.
Jesus did love the universe and all God's creation within it. It is for this reason that he was able to face and accept his fate on the cross, endure the suffering he would find there and open a door for redemption and hope for all, despite their participation in his passion.
Tonight, we remember the humility of Jesus washing his disciples' feet and we participate in the sacrament of Holy Communion, rededicating ourselves to the fellowship of humility and love, understanding the difficulty of the sacrifice to which we commit, but also the joy and the gladness as we too inherit and receive our own share of Love that has its root in Jesus.