The Shepherd’s Voice

Reading for Maundy Thursday, April 9^th
Ex 12:1–4, 11–14
Ps 116:1–2, 12–19
1Cor 11:23–26
Jn 13:1–17, 31b–35

Do you know when you plan to breathe your last breath? Jesus knew that his hour had come. Jesus was going to leave this world for another domain. Our Gospel says He loved his disciples to the end.

Some days I find it hard to love all people, especially certain people, but Jesus said to his disciples they needed to learn how to do that. It’s not easy for us to learn this. We tend to be resistant to learning anything new. In fact, we fight it. We are afraid of it. At time we think we are too old to change now, the die has been cast.

Jesus, through one act of servanthood was trying to teach his disciples how to love one another.

There is an old story about a fellow being guided through a town. There was a large pot of stew, large enough to feed everyone in town, and the smell was delicious, but around the pot sat desperate, starving people. They all had spoons with very long handles which reached into the pot, but because the spoons were longer than their arms they couldn’t get the stew into their mouths. So they went hungry.

Then the man visited another town, just like the first one, again with a pot of stew big enough to feed everyone. The people had the same long–handled spoons, but they were all well nourished, talking away, and very content. The fellow was confused. How could this be?

”It was actually very simple,” said his guide, ”for they have learned how to feed one another”

Well in our case Jesus got up from the table, wrapped a towel around his waist, poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciple’s feet. How many people here have feet?

Feet aren’t all that pretty, sometimes they smell, and they are usually dirty. In Jesus’ culture and time feet were always getting dirty. In fact often servants would be setup to wash peoples feet when they came to your house for a visit.

Notice I said servants were setup to do this so for Jesus to do it put him in a position as a servant. He was their Rabbi, he was their leader, but he took on the role of a servant.

For many of us taking on the role of a servant is hard. A woman took her husband to the doctor’s office. After his checkup, the doctor said, “Your husband is suffering from a very serious infection.” The husband, who was hard of hearing said, “What did he say?”
His wife said, “He says your sick”.

The doctor went on. “But there is hope. You just need to reduce his stress. Each morning, give him a healthy breakfast. Be pleasant, nice, and kind. For lunch and dinner make him his favorite meal. Don’t discuss your problems with him; it will only make his stress worse. Don’t yell at him or argue with him. And most importantly…just cater to your husband’s every whim. If you can do this for your husband for the next 6 months to a year, I think your husband will have a complete recovery.”
The husband said, “What did he say?”
His wife said, “He says, you’re going to die”.

Jesus was teaching his disciples how to wash one another’s feet. In fact Jesus ask them, “Do you know what I have done?” In the Greek the term to know is Γινώσκετε or ginōskete. This word has a sense of “to verify.” For the Greeks the eye was a more reliable witness than the ear and for the Jews sight was ranked above hearing as being an objective and reliable way of understanding something. Jesus washed the disciple’s feet so they would know without a doubt what was expected of a follower of Christ.

If you want to call yourself a follower of Christ notice, I did not say Christian, you have to learn how to wash feet. For me this is hard. It means I need to bow in respect to my brothers and sisters in the way I act, the way I talk and the way I support them. The major point here is that Jesus shows us through an act of service what it means to be a follower of the way.

Jesus was endeavoring to show the disciples that he came to serve. A famous Lutheran pastor and theologian Deitrich Bonhoeffer said, “When Christ calls a man (person), he bids him come and die.”

When I read this story, when I put myself in Peter’s place, when I contemplate what Jesus did, I have to ask am I ready to die for the truth of Jesus Christ.

Was it easy, no? In learning how to be a servant we must become willing to share our life, our gifts, our talents, our money, and most of all our time with God and others.

Jesus said you call me teacher and Lord and you are right so if I wash your feet you also ought to wash one another’s feet. Jesus used an example, a visual aid so to speak to get the point across.

In my past life, when I owned my own business, sometimes I taught computer classes. I tried to teach people how to use the mortgage banking software that we had created for them. In some classes I could see when people’s eyes were glazing over and what I was teaching them was just not getting through.

When I first started teaching these classes I often tried to explain on a dry erase board and with hand waving what they were to do when using the software. This was not successful. Not until each person had a computer and they did the work for themselves did they fully comprehend and understand what I was trying to communicate. Jesus showed the disciples by example, but what I’m suggesting to you is that we cannot learn what it means to wash feet, until we start doing it for ourselves.

Jesus said, “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another.” When we do this Jesus says, when we lean how to wash one another’s feet, people will know that we are a disciple.

The world looks at all of us as examples of what a follower of Christ looks like. So what does it mean or what does it look like to learn how to wash feet at work, at school, at home, at a little league game, at Knott’s Berry Farm, at a restaurant.
When we learn how to wash our neighbor’s feet it means we treat them with respect. It means we don’t steal time from our boss, we honor our mate, our children or our family, we play fair in a baseball game, we show love to our kids, we respect waiters, waitresses, and anyone with whom we work.

Jesus said people will know us by our love. Do people know that about us, about Good Shepherd Lutheran Church? I want you to stay with this thought for a moment. Our completion of our Lenten journey ends this week. Celebration of Lent according to Martin Luther was important because it allows us to be self-reflective. It allows us to assess our own mortality, our own short comings.

In John chapter 13 a few verses after our current Gospel text Jesus confronts Peter about being a deserter, a denier. Peter boldly says no way, it will never happen I will support you no matter what. Jesus says before the cock crows you, Peter will deny me three times.

I’m afraid I’ve been a Peter at times, out of pride, out of thinking I can do it on my own steam, how about you?

Tonight is a time for confession, further reflection, it’s time to survey where we are and where we think God is about to take us. Are we people of hope or do we feel hopeless?

Pour yourself into our next hymn. When you survey the cross, what is God telling you?

Learning how to wash feet is hard. Loving one another is hard, but Jesus commanded us as followers to love one another.

What did the doctor say – you’re going to die. Yes, we will all surely die someday, but as we learn how to wash one another’s feet we can connect with the God of hope and build our relationships with one another.

Amen