Maundy Thursday
John 13:1-17, 31b-35
Spirit of the living God, Fall afresh on me. Melt me, mold me, fill me, use me. Spirit of the living God, Fall afresh on me. Amen.
When I think of images of love, foot washing is not what comes to mind. I think about a hug or kiss. Maybe a heart or even chocolate and flowers.
On his last night, Jesus shows us that washing feet is in fact a symbol of tremendous love. Jesus shows us, throughout his life but especially in his last days, what concrete expressions of love can look like.
Maundy Thursday holds a lot in our tradition. We think of the Last Supper and with it the sacrament of Eucharist. We remember Jesus washing the feet of his disciples and Jesus giving the disciples a new commandment. “Love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.” Our observation of Maundy Thursday is a living memory of the Last Supper—we engage the foot washing and the Eucharist and walk with Jesus in his final days.
In the first letter to the Corinthians, Paul recounts the words of institution that we now hear in our celebrations of the Eucharist. We remember those words Jesus teaches us. “Do this in remembrance of me.” This feast of Jesus’ body and blood is both a connection to the reality of death and a celebration of the life and love Jesus offers us, a love so full that Jesus offered himself as a holy and living sacrifice for us.
In John’s gospel we hear about Jesus washing the disciples’ feet. In a tender expression of care, Jesus lowers himself both in a literal physical way and in a metaphorical and symbolic way. The act of washing another’s feet requires us to lower ourselves toward the ground, to bow, to reverence the person before us. Jesus, who is God, who is teacher, who is ruler of all, lowered himself before these perfectly normal and average people.
Jesus’ entire life centers on this lowering of self for the sake of humanity. Is God coming to earth not the same sort of lowering, reverence, and love? Our God came down to earth before us perfectly average people. Jesus came to teach, heal, and even dine among humans. Jesus lowered himself to wash the feet of his followers. In his actions, Jesus reminds us of the ways we are loved by God and the ways we should love one another.
I have a complicated relationship with Maundy Thursday. It is both one of my favorite days in the church year and a day that holds some difficult memories. I think this complicated relationship is particularly appropriate on a day like this.
The disciples would have come to dinner hearing Jesus’ reminders that he was to be betrayed and that he would die. They likely held onto an anticipatory grief and uneasiness. They likely showed up clinging to their friend and teacher and hoping to relish each moment in his presence. They arrived hurting in all those entirely normal and human ways.
That dinner is the same night when they receive a concrete expression of Jesus’ love, when they are reminded how much Jesus loved them, and encouraged to share that same love in the world. In a moment when their ability to trust and to love may have been strained and tested, they were reminded of their deep belovedness. When the challenges of their human existence were particularly present, they were reminded how much Jesus, and thus God, loves them.
My own experience of Maundy Thursday is hard and holy in ways that feel resonant with the disciples. Maybe this will resonate with you as well. I have showed up to this service over the years bringing my whole and fully human self. I bring my hurt, my grief, my worry. And in those moments, I am reminded how deeply loved I am. Perhaps more than any other day in the liturgical year, Maundy Thursday is a day when I allow myself to be broken open in the face of Jesus. I allow my full humanity to be on display as another washes my feet and as we dine at the feet of our Lord.
For reasons I cannot really know or explain, Maundy Thursday seems to come in moments when I have wondered whether I am deserving of love. In moments when I wonder what I have in common with Judas and question whether I have betrayed Jesus in my own life. I question my love of myself, whether people around me love me, and even whether God loves me.
Before Judas betrays Jesus, before Peter denies Jesus, they both dine with him. They both have their feet washed. They are both held by the love of Jesus.
No matter what we bring today, we come together and are washed clean. We are loved by another person in the washing of feet. We are joined together in the same meal that Jesus shared with his disciples. We are held in that same love.
As we are loved, we are called to show love. The word “maundy” comes from mandatum novum or new commandment. At the Last Supper, the disciples are given a new commandment, to love as Jesus has loved them. His parting gift is this reminder to share love in the world.
The gift of God’s love is so large it cannot be contained. It is to be shared. We are loved and get to restore the world through love. The love we receive and the love we give are instruments of healing, connection, and salvation.
All that you are, all that you are holding, all of your hurt and worry and grief, every sliver of your identity, even those things you do not like about yourself. All of that is welcome. All of you is beloved and held by our Lord Jesus.
All parts of ourselves help to share God’s love in the world. We are loved to share love. Much like a mirror or prism, we reflect and refract God’s love of us into the world. When we feel the truth of our belovedness, we can offer that gift to the people around us as we remind them that they too are loved and cared for. When we question our belovedness, the people around us reflect God’s love for us. We are surrounded by the light of God’s love being bounced around and reflected throughout the world.
Rest in the love of Jesus as we journey with him and his disciples this week. Rest in the love of this community. Love one another as we ourselves are loved. Know that you are beloved. You are worthy of concrete expressions of love. You are worthy of this meal with God. You are made clean and made whole in God’s love. Amen.
© 2022 The Rev. Adelyn Tyler
St. Paul’s Episcopal Church – Fayetteville, Arkansas