“Costly action”
By Rev. Michael Stonhouse
Meditation – Thursday, March 28, 2024
John 13:1-17, 31b-35 (Forward, p. 59) CEV p. 1119
Jesus is a tough ‘act to follow’, for very few of us would ever be willing to go as far as He did, whether in humbling Himself or in stooping to serve us helplessly needy and fallible human beings. I’m constantly amazed at how much He was willing to ‘put up with’ from His often clueless and befuddling disciples. For instance, just moments after Jesus had predicted His shameful arrest, trial, and death, two of the disciples, James and John, came forward asking for the chief places in Jesus’ kingdom (see Mark 10:35-45). And this wasn’t the first time, or the last, that the disciples were found to be arguing over who was greatest in God’s kingdom. So, one has to wonder, where had they been when Jesus had explained all this to them? Had they been deaf, or had they been wrapped up totally in themselves and in their dreams of power and glory? And even at the Last Supper itself, they launched forth into this same debate (see Luke 22:24-27). And these aren’t the only times, not by far, when He ‘had’ to put up with them, with their doubts and unbelief, their thick-headedness or their skewed values. All of them either betrayed, denied, or deserted Him. And even the resolute and stalwart Peter, the erstwhile spokesperson for the group, was terribly wrong just moments after getting it right about who Jesus was, such that Jesus had to reprove him by saying, “Get behind me, Satan. You are in my way, for you are thinking like everyone else and not like God” (Matthew 16:23).
And likewise, here at the Last Supper, the memorial meal that Jesus had inaugurated, He stoops to performing a task normally relegated to the lowest, most menial of servants, namely washing the feet of His guests. We, in a modern, wonderfully hygienic world really have no idea of what those feet might have been like: muddy or dusty at their best, they could also have been caked with excrement or even puss or blood from sores. Not a pleasant task at all.
Just bids us imitate Him in this, but I have to wonder: is He really meaning that we should simply wash each other’s feet (once a year, symbolically)? Or is He saying that we should put this dynamic into action in other ways? By giving up ‘our rights’ for instance, or our sense of power (or desire for power and influence), or our own agendas and priorities, hidden or
otherwise, or our own comforts, well-being or pleasures? I dare say that the church is full of people who do nothing of the sort, who cling to these things as if their lives depended on it, people who, in painful reality, are not willing to follow Jesus’ example and wash other people’s feet, whether literally or in other ways. And Jesus does this, simply because He loves them—and us. It is a sign of His love, and it should be a sign of our love for Him and each other as well. It's a costly action, this action of Jesus, a hard road to follow, but it is one that He enjoins upon us if we truly love Him and each other (see John 13:34-35). Fortunately, He also gives us the will, and the ability, to do just that. Amen.
Forward notes: “Jesus answered, ‘You do not know now what I am doing, but later you will understand” (verse 7).
Commemoration: Maundy Thursday
“The foot washing rituals of Maundy Thursday invite us to contemplate how Jesus is commanding us to love one another. When we struggle to comprehend this message, we might remember that the disciples too were unsure about why Jesus was washing their feet. But later, when they were sent out to all parts of the known world, they began to understand this powerful act of love.
“Life is a mixture of joys and woes. Part of the journey is spent wrestling with God. Our inner thoughts mislead us, convincing us that God is judging us when we think negative thoughts. We travel a dangerous spiritual road when we believe God judges us as we judge ourselves. It is precisely in these moments that we are invited to picture Jesus washing feet—our feet. No matter what life brings, Jesus meets us on our journey with love, and he washed our feet, setting us on a firm foundation. There is no judgement. There is no condemnation. There is only love.”
Moving Forward: “Attend a foot washing service, and remember Jesus loves you. Always.”
A concluding note: I’m not sure that I can totally agree with today’s author in saying that with Jesus there is no judgment and no condemnation. Sometimes, simply because He loves us, there has to be both. As one person said, “Jesus loves you just as you are—and loves you too much to leave you that way.” As Father Brown, in the series bearing his name, was
wont to say, ‘the only way to freedom and peace is by admitting your wrong and letting God take care of it.’ By doing that, we are freed from all judgment and all condemnation.