Maundy Thursday 2007The Episcopal Church I grew up in did not wash feet on Maundy Thursday. Instead, each year we had a warm, wonderful celebration of Holy Communion. Our altar and hangings were draped in white.

The climax of the night was hearing Jesus’ words of institution...

"This is my body... take and eat... in remembrance of me."

"This is my blood... drink this for the remission of sins."

It wasn’t until I married, moved, became a mother and began attending church here in the Lehigh Valley at Trinity Easton that I experienced foot washing. That sacramental act made me a disciple.

Jesus got up from the table, took off his outer robe, and tied a towel around himself. He poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples feet.

"I wash you and you have a share in me."

"I set you an example, that you also should do as I have done."

That night did not mark the Last Supper for me.

It was my FIRST SUPPER.

In powerful ways God was calling me and changing me.

I began to see my work for the State of New Jersey as a social worker as ministry. My roles as spouse, parent, neighbor, co-worker and sibling had new depth. Like Peter, I wanted to stand up and be washed all over–

hands, face, feet.

I was changed.

But I remember the approach-avoidance I felt that night over 20 years ago. Maybe some of you have that same tension...

At the surface level, you may think it is about your feet. They ground you and carry you were you need to go each day. They are your balance and propulsion. But they are beat up. Maybe you think they look funny. Maybe you worry that they are dirty.

Please. As Mothers, Sally West and I have seen and dealt with worse than your dirty feet!

Besides with shoes and socks and showering regularly your feet are not going to be nearly as dirty as those the disciples presented to Jesus...

The feet of big men plodding along in sandals on hot, dusty, unpaved roads.

But you know, maybe you are correct to be anxious...

Maybe you are picking up the anxiety floating in the cosmos, tumbling down from the DNA of the disciples,.

Maybe you are sensing the atmosphere the gospel writers suggest was present on that night almost 2000 years ago.

Something was not right that night.

There was a coldness, a tension in the air in the Upper Room that night.

Something was wrong. Very wrong.

Part of it was the strange things Jesus had been saying lately– he was going to Jerusalem to be arrested, turned over to the authorities, and killed on a cross. Peter had tried to object. But Jesus silenced him.

And part of it was surely the traitorous thoughts of Judas as he sat at table, breaking bread and sharing wine. The chill deepened when Jesus said, "One of you will betray me."

Why did Jesus say that? To let Judas know the he knew what was in his heart? Or to try to change Judas’ heart? To push Judas into action? Or to try to turn Judas from the path he had chosen?

But there is more. Something else was wrong that night. John hints at it in his gospel. Luke is more direct and writes:

An argument broke out among the disciples as to which one of them should be thought of as the greatest. (Luke 22:24)

This is not the first time for this discussion. James and John may have started the whole thing when they asked Jesus if they could sit one on his left and the other on his right when he came into his kingdom and what? Set up his round table? His cabinet?

Can you picture it?

This is the last night of Jesus’ earthly life and ministry.

He’s on his way to the Cross and humiliation.

And what’s on the minds of his disciples?

Their honor, their position, their reward.

Jesus is ready to give all he has, his life for the world.

And what’s on the minds of his disciples?

What they can get.

The disciples entered the Upper Room that night full of jealousy and rivalry. Full of themselves.

Scholars who point out that the disciples had no slaves, no servants, no wives to wash their feet as was the common custom of the day before reclining to dine. The disciples had probably been doing this for one another as they traveled with Jesus from town to town. But not tonight. They were angry with one another on this night. Each one is determined not to lose face by going first.

So what does Jesus do?

He does not stand on ceremony.

He takes off his outer robe. He stoops.

He acts like a slave, a servant.

He washes their feet.

I wonder, what did the disciples think and feel at that moment?

They had been wrapped up in self-interest.

They had been arguing who was the greatest among them.

Jesus acts selflessly.

Jesus acts as slave and servant.

It is not beneath him to serve.

When Jesus washes the disciples feet is one act, one more attempt, to show them who he is and who he is calling them to be.

Personal glory doesn’t matter.

Being praised doesn’t matter.

Getting credit doesn’t matter.

All that matter is that we become Christ as the Early Church Fathers said.

All that matters is that we faithfully, humbly stoop to serve our Lord Jesus Christ and one another whenever...wherever...however we can!

This prayer was crafted by the late Leslie Weatherhead who was an author, theologian and one of England’s finest preachers:

When a foul egotism arises up within me,

bidding me assert myself, serve my own interest,

and look out for number one — then, O... Lord

as I listen down the corridors of the years...

May I hear the gentle sloshing of water in a basin and

see the SON OF GOD washing his disciples feet. AMEN.