Maundy Thursday/Foot-Washing

 

Maundy Thursday/Foot-Washing

 

John 13:1-8, NIV - It was just before the Passover Festival. Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.

The evening meal was in progress, and the devil had already prompted Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus. Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God;  so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.

He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?”

Jesus replied, “You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.”

“No,” said Peter, “you shall never wash my feet.”

Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.”

 

                The gospel of John is the only place we find an account to Jesus washing the disciples feet.  In John’s narrative, this surprising event takes place on the night before Jesus’s crucifixion.  Today, millions of Christians remember that night with various Maundy Thursday observances.  In many traditions, a foot-washing service is a part.  It’s been many years since I personally have participated or led in such a service and I won’t be doing such a thing today.  However,  I think this story is important for us to consider and can teach us an essential element of the gospel we proclaim today.  Let’s highlight a couple of things from this story.

                First, John introduces the story with the following sentence:

                “Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.”

What Jesus is about to do is an expression of Jesus’s love for His people.  It isn’t to teach them an object lesson.  He washes their dirty, nasty feet to show them the very nature of God’s love.  God’s love is not above getting down on the knees and cleaning the filth out from between our toes.

                The last time I remember participating in a foot-washing service, I, as the Pastor washed the feet of my Lay Leader, a man in his eighties.  His feet were not all that dirty, but what I remember was how bad they smelled.  He had yellow toenails and they badly needed to be clipped.  That experience might be the reason that I haven’t suggested foot-washing since then.  I’m only half-kidding. The idea of doing that again doesn’t sit well with me.

                Our faith tells us that entering into that kind of messiness is not something that sits well with God either.  But God does it anyway because of Love.  Love, as defined by God, is not unwilling to deal with the undesirable funk of our humanity.  I know I’m using visceral language that might make some uncomfortable. It makes me uncomfortable to write it.  But that leads to the other detail in this story for which we should take notice:

                “No,” said Peter, “you shall never wash my feet.”

Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.”

                It wasn’t the fact that Jesus was doing “servant’s work” by washing Peter’s feet that made Peter uncomfortable.  It was that it was extremely unnerving to have the Son of God dealing with Peter’s “dirt.”  Peter had to allow Jesus to clean up Peter’s messiness.  Can you imagine Jesus proposing to do the same with you?

                I don’t want anybody washing my feet.  I sure anyone in the more serious mess of my life.  But the message from Jesus that I, and perhaps you, need to hear today is we “have no part in [Jesus}” is we do not allow God into our mess, no matter how uncomfortable it makes us.  The Great Physician cannot heal us if we don’t allow access to the mess. 

 

Question:  Can we allow God into the most embarrassing aspects of our humanity?

 

Prayer:  God, I admit that I identify with Peter’s objection to you washing his feet.  Help me let go of any pride I have and allow you into the most embarrassing aspects of my life so that your can heal it with Your Love.  Amen.

 

Prayer Focus:  Pray for millions of refugees that have been driven from their homes

 

Song:  Lord I Come (Wash my feet) – David Brackenbury

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9a9MBuJLGo

When Offenses Occur. . .

When Offenses Occur. . .

January 18, 2022

Matthew 18:15-18, CEB - “If your brother or sister sins against you, go and correct them when you are alone together. If they listen to you, then you’ve won over your brother or sister.  But if they won’t listen, take with you one or two others so that every word may be established by the mouth of two or three witnesses.  But if they still won’t pay attention, report it to the church. If they won’t pay attention even to the church, treat them as you would a Gentile and tax collector.  I assure you that whatever you fasten on earth will be fastened in heaven. And whatever you loosen on earth will be loosened in heaven.

 

                This is a very short, but concentrated passage that offers sound guidance for how to handle offenses within the community of faith.  “Within the community of faith” is key here, because the process Jesus outlines here assumes a healthy community where communication is good and there is an overall commitment to unity.  Where this kind of commitment and care is missing, this process does not work.  With that caveat, let’s walk through the process.

                When an offense occurs between community members, it’s best to try and address it one on one first.  Immediately enlisting allies to go and confront someone almost ensures that the one being confronted will become defensive.  This is easy to envision by thinking about a time when you felt “ganged up on.”  The reality is that even one-on-one, defensiveness still often occurs, but there is a better chance of avoiding that between just two people. 

                Note what Jesus says is the goal in this encounter.  It’s not to shame or convict the offender.  When it works well, Jesus says that the result is that “you’ve won over your brother or sister.”  Restoration of relationship is the goal.  When we have this goal in mind, our approach to correcting the offense is to lovingly point it out in order to create an invitation to come back into relationship.  This is an art and it takes practice, but when it is done well, it is reminder of how redemptive and life-giving community can be. 

                I do feel compelled to say that we live in a time where we are quickly moving away from this kind of corrective action when an offense occurs.  Offenses are often not confronted and many times, when they are, it is done without love and care.  The result is that the offense is multiplied and magnified.  Community is lost.  This is the importance of Jesus’s teaching here.  Offenses will occur in our relationships, so we must determine that we will handle them with love before they happen.  Otherwise, anger and tit-for-tat will prevail.

                When step one is consistently done well, step two would be rare.  But when necessary, step two is one that retains the goal of restoration of relationship, not embarrassment, shame or condemnation.   When the one being approached about an offense will not listen one-on-one, a second and possibly a third person is brought into the process.  The idea here is to convey to the one who has caused harm that the issue is important enough to involve other people.  It is not just one relationship that has been damaged, but there is a danger of damage to the relational fabric of the whole community.  The addition of others also guards against the matter being obscured by a “he-said-she-said” kind of confrontation where the facts give way to exaggerations and needless escalation.  The purpose here is still to create a path back to restored relationship and healthy community. 

                If step two should be rare, step three should almost never happen.  It is at this point that the leaders of the community try to make plain to the offender that the offense has now become a whole community matter.  The offender is given one last chance to turn back toward the community.  If there is still no repentance, then the offender is to be treated as an outsider.  However, that doesn’t mean they are to be publicly shunned.  The community Jesus teaches is a community marked by winsome love and care for the outsider.  The shift that is made here is that the offender is no longer allowed to be engaged in that mission.  Instead, they have now become one of those for which the mission is aimed. 

                This outline for handling community offenses takes a lot of hard work and willingness to handle matters in a way that is foreign to our intensely individualistic culture.  I have tried to practice and foster this kind of process for many years. Still, I have to confess that I am still very bad at it.   But on a few occasions, I have experienced how powerful it can be.  I have seen enemies become allies again.  I have seen community-wide healing occur in a situation where that seemed impossible.  But mostly, I have been able to see how a relatively minor offense can be dealt with effectively and redemptively with love and resolved intention to deal with it before it becomes a much bigger problem.  I unfortunately have also seen way too many small matters quickly escalate into a situation where communities are torn apart.    Jesus is trying to show us how to avoid such tragedy. 

 

Questions:  How would you imagine being effectively and lovingly confronted about something you had done that caused harm? 

 

Prayer:  God, forgive us the offense our sins have caused whether the offense is yours or has hurt others.  Give us the humility to be open to loving correction and the ability to lovingly and effectively communicate with those who have hurt us.  Help us build your beloved community.

 

Prayer Focus:  Pray for God to bless at least three people that you don’t like today.

 

Song:  What If I Stumble? DC Talk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kg6HedZ4xGs