Maundy Thursday Sermon

In the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Throughout college I worked at Saint Joseph Medical Center in Towson, MD in the Patient Transport department. My sole job description was to take patients from one place to another. But since it was a hospital they were always understaffed on all units. Many times I had to help out nurses and nurse aides with minor procedures (i.e. holding the tube or helping patients get dressed…the jobs get a lot worst and I will spare you the details). So many of these patients, before they got sick or became weak due to an illness or old age, were independent people and I know from experience that to go from 100% independent to 100% dependent is an emotional and hurtful experience. It was humbling for me to see patients cry, yell, and sometimes just pray when they could not even do a simple task like putting on socks or tying their shoes.

And when I think back on my three years of service to Saint Joe’s, I think about this text in John. I think about Jesus washing the feet of disciples every time I think about a patient. I believe this passage in John is not so much about the actions that Jesus is doing but rather what these actions meant. What did it mean to the disciples to see Jesus, on his hands and knees washing their feet? What would you have said? Would you have been like Peter and told Jesus not to wash his feet or would you have said nothing but quietly thought about what it all meant.
Then Jesus comes back to the table and asks a “Do you know what I have done to you?”
The disciples must have been scratching their heads. All the events leading up to this night had to confuse them. Jesus is welcomed into Jerusalem by people waving and laying palm branches at his path. They are shouting:
“Hosanna!
Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!
Blessed is the coming kingdom of our ancestor David!
Hosanna in the highest heaven!”
People are treating him like a king and then Jesus takes on the role of a servant, a slave, and washes their feet. They had to have been confused. But Jesus explains his actions:
You call me Teacher and Lord—and you are right, for that is what I am. So 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. Very truly, I tell you, servants are not greater than their master, nor are messengers greater than the one who sent them.
I could never begin to imagine the social implications this statement had. In this society, there were distinctions between the classes and you would dare not go down that social ladder because it was so hard to go up that ladder but Jesus is telling them to abolish these levels and look at people’s character and not at what the society says they are but who these individuals say they are.

How humbling these few sentences make us feel. At Saint Joe’s I always thought I would never be the one laying in that hospital bed but I eventually did end up in that bed. There was a point in my life that I could not put on my own socks, stand on my own, handwrite a note, or do anything else that could make me feel like a human; like me. We never think that anything so debilitating can happen to us. We never think bad things will happen to us but they always do. They might not be as serious as congestive heart failure but there are other incidents in our lives that can throw us back in our seats and make us wonder about our own humility, our own humbleness. Jesus was glorified in his humbleness towards his disciples and I am sure God will show God’s self through our humbleness in our lives because our love for one another.

In Greek, “Love” is a strange word. We just have one word to describe all the different kinds of love but the Greek language has more ways of describing love. The love Jesus is using here is called agapeo, which is love Christians share between one another. The love of assistance, the love of patience, the love we share with each and every one in this room. This love penetrates all races, nationalities, genders, congregations and denominations. This love is powerful. It is so powerful that it forces us to look at who are and how our actions affect others.

Every time we hear the story Jesus’ death we remember that love, that agapeo love, he had for us. That agepeo love he had for you and for me. This love moves us in ways we do not expect. It causes us to act with compassion on all we see. And sometimes we forget to show that love or face other obstacles in our way, such as sin, that make showing that love impossible but we must never forget share our agapeo love with one another. We must remind ourselves of that crucifixion. We must remind ourselves not just yearly of Jesus’ passion but almost daily. Remind ourselves that Jesus was crucified and died for you and me and Christ promises that he will always be with us. For our Lord was Crucified and remains for us a Crucified Lord.

My friends, the greatest act humility our world has ever seen was when a God came into our world as a poor child, grew into adult, preached, taught, and healed the outcasts of our world, washed his disciples’ feet, was betrayed and handed over to corrupt leadership of the Jewish and Roman Government, stretched out his arms, was a nailed to a cross, died for our sins, and remained the crucified Saviour bearing our sins, grieves, worries, and fears, everyday. What a beautiful Saviour. What a wonderful God. May these nails, this foot washing, and this holy sacrament of communion remind us of the one who suffered and died for our sake. Amen.