Holy Thursday-2012
Commentary by Rev. Thomas L. Truby
Gospel lesson for Holy Thursday John 13:1-17 and 31b-35
(Lay reader reads scripture, pastor reads commentary)
13Now before the festival of the Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart from this world and go to the Father.
Somehow Jesus connected the Passover festival with the necessity of his crucifixion. And so he said that the time had come to depart since the festival had begun.
How many of you have been to a Passover. What is the Festival of the Passover? (The origin of the festival of Passover is described in Exodus 12. Loosely tell the story of God passing over the first born because the door posts were marked with blood.)
Do you think the God of Jesus would kill children and babies just because they were first born and there was no blood on the door? I don’t think so either, but this is how the story got told and this is what the people thought and were celebrating.
In line with this story, Jesus allows himself to become the Lamb sacrificed for the rescue of many. To whomwas he sacrificed? For me this is the key question. In the Exodus story, the lamb is a sacrifice to God because the people think God distant and dangerous and needing blood to be appeased. This reminds me of an article in Monday’s Oregonian with the heading, “8 in Mexico suspected in ritual killings.” Two children and a woman were sacrificed to “Saint Death” because “They thought that by offering the blood, they would be protected for some time.”
But Jesus doesn’t see his Abba that way. He knows God doesn’t need blood but he knows we humans do. We humans are the violent ones, not God. To show us the true character of God, Jesus allows himself to get caught up in our violence and then, representing God, forgives us from the cross. So Jesus is the sacrificial lamb, but he is sacrificed to our violence, not God’s, and it is humans who do it. This is the radical shift at the heart of Holy Week.
Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.
Even though his disciples didn’t get what he was doing, and never do get it until after his resurrection, Jesus loved them and remained loyal to them to the end. This is why the text says Jesus loved his own who were in the world. “In the world” means they couldn’t see what he was trying to teach them. There is a promise there for us I think. We are loved even when we don’t understand what Jesus is trying to say to us.
2The devil had already put it into the heart of Judas son of Simon Iscariot to betray him.
You might be interested in knowing that “Iscariot” means “the dagger carrier”. They were a radical group who attempted to bring political change though assassinating people they didn’t like. So Judas is the son of “the dagger carrier.”
When it says the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas to betray him, I think it means that rivalry with Jesus had formed in Judas and Judas was about to act on it. In John’s gospel, the devil is the accuser and Judas was about to publically accuse Jesus of betraying God. Judas betrayed Jesus because he thought Jesus had betrayed God. Probably he thought Jesus ought to be more violent in his approach to regime change and Judas had a better plan.
And 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.
What does John’s gospel mean when it says that Jesus knew that the Father had given all things into his hands? I think it means that Jesus knew he was totally and completely representing God in showing the disciples the importance of humility and service.
In Jesus’ time, when some one came to your home for a visit, one of the first things you did was wash their feet. Now you yourself didn’t do this, but whoever had lowest ranking in your house did it. It was a practical thing. Roads were dusty and people wore sandals, like my Birkenstocks. Plus they walked long distances and the weather was usually hot so they would sweat and gather dust on their feet. So, one of the first courtesies was to wash their feet when they arrived.
How do we now serve in a way that is equivalent—now that we have paved roads, travel by car, wear shoes that are hard to get off and for women on formal occasions, wear hose. We struggled with this in the worship committee and I confessed to never liking foot washing services even though I felt guilty about that.
So instead of a foot washing service I would like to offer a cultural equivalent—or at least as near to an equivalent as we can get. Let’s say it is a warm summer afternoon and you have been out working in the yard and your host does the following things. (Who wants to be a volunteer?) (Clean our hands with a hand sanitizer and offer another to the person I will serve. Pour a cold glass of water or soda with ice and a lemon on the edge. Hand it to them with a napkin. Have a table set up with all these ingredients handy and present someone with refreshments.) It is still not quite the same but I don’t know how to get any closer. If we put this in its original cultural context you can see it is not about self-negation. It is about caring for the other person in a way in which they feel cared for.
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!”
Does Peter get it? No, Peter goes overboard and misses the entire point. He thinks it is about cleansing and being made clean; not service. All of Jewish culture was about purity. Who was pure and who was not, who was in and who was out, who God loved and who God does not--supposedly. It is not about being clean. It is about serving. It is about being humble enough to serve others rather than thinking you are above that.
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.”
Jesus gently sets Peter straight. We are just talking about the service of washing the dust off of a traveler’s feet; we know the rest of the body is clean. But then Jesus changes the subject. Who was Jesus thinking about when he said, though not all of you are clean? Judas! What made Judas unclean? I think it was rivalry with Jesus. Rivalry is what makes the betrayer unclean and it is the attitude that will smudge any relationship. Judas is sullied with the smudge of envy.
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. 16Very truly, I tell you, servants are not greater than their master, nor are messengers greater than the one who sent them. 17If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them.
One of the words I get into trouble for using is the word “mimesis.” It means imitate. We humans imitate all the time and can’t help it. It’s what we do and if we didn’t do it, we wouldn’t be human and we would also be awfully dumb. The problem is that we imitate each other in our rebelliousness and that gets us into all kinds of trouble. Jesus was not in rebellion and he offers us another model to imitate rather than each other in our rebelliousness. He says imitate me as I serve you. You say you want to follow me; then follow me by serving each other as I am serving you. Jesus offers himself as a positive model to the whole world. Jesus is an example of “positive mimesis.” Jesus says we will be blessed if we do this. Wow! Isn’t that the truth!
Now a question: Did Jesus wash Judas’ feet? Let’s flag that and watch.
31When he had gone out, (Judas, that is) Jesus said, “Now the Son of Man has been glorified, and God has been glorified in him. 32If God has been glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself and will glorify him at once.
A part of Jesus’ glory is washing the feet of Judas. Jesus actually serves the man who is about to betray him. Talk about loving your enemies and Jesus knew what was about to happen.
And what does glorification mean in St. John’s gospel? We have said it means being lifted up on a cross and Judas has left to initiate that sequence of events! By being lifted up on a cross Jesus glorifies God’s name by showing the whole world God’s character as passionate lover and profound forgiver. This incredible act of intervention into our violence and modeling of forgiveness as the way out, breaks the cycle of violence that begets more violence.
33Little children, I am with you only a little longer. You will look for me; and as I said to the Jews so now I say to you, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come.’ 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.”
At this point Jesus becomes very tender and intimate. He refers to his disciples as little children and knows they will be emotionally lost when he is gone. They can’t follow where he is going but they can recreate his presence if they will implement his new commandment. His new commandment asks them to love one another as Jesus has loved them. It they will do this, this one thing; everyone will know that they follow Jesus. It will show in their faces and in how they relate to each other. People will sense that there is no rivalry between them and the air is clean of pollutants and filled with the oxygen of love. Amen.