A towel, a bowl, and a gesture

Maundy Thursday

Exodus 12:1-4, 11-14
Psalm 116:1, 10-17
John 13:1-17, 31b-35

Sermon by Rev. Deb Lockhart, Deacon

We are nearing the end of Lent. Over the past almost 40 days, we’ve been preparing ourselves with personal reflection and the opportunity to get closer to God. Though Lent may involve fasting, it doesn’t have to, the same goes for giving money to do something good for another. Giving money to the poor, as St. Francis directed, is always good, but again charity needn’t be monetary. It can be sharing of yourself, making dinner for a shut-in or serving at a food pantry. We also focus on our prayer life during Lent.  Asking for God’s forgiveness and receiving God’s love and mercy in return. 

In the Episcopal church, you can almost drown in the dozens of online Lenten meditations that attempt to deepen our relationship with God. Here at Trinity and St. Mary’s we had our own practices with Drive-in prayer and daily reflections with St. Francis of Assisi as he modeled for us how to become more Christ-like in our lives.

Regardless of how you approached Lent, there never is a wrong way. Even if you threw up your hands on a day 2 and grumbled that this is all too much, God is a patient God.  We are loved as someone created in his image and therefore loved through all our shortcomings…Lenten practices included. 

We’ve arrived at Maundy Thursday, as we transition ourselves to experience Jesus’ final days for a first time or for our lifetime. We know how this story will end and through John’s scripture readings, we know that Jesus does too. He is picking  up the pace of his messaging , almost desperate to make his follows understand. From his disciples, however, confusion and denial reign. How could they possibly know? 

As they gather for this last supper, suddenly their Rabbi, their beloved teacher removes his outer garment, wraps himself with a towel around his waist, and drops to his knees to begin washing their feet. 

A towel, a bowl, a gesture of profound, unconditional love. Tonight will not be one of foot washing but of hand washing, an act just as symbolic and hopefully as meaningful.

As a deacon, the symbols of my Order are the towel and bowl. I wear a stole across my left shoulder, a symbolic reference to the days when these stoles were large and cumbersome and when work needed to be done, were thrown over the left shoulder in order to free the right hand, the clean hand, to do the work or the liturgical duties. I am a servant of the church and have taken vows to make Christ’s redemptive love known to the poor, the weak, the sick and the lonely (straight out of the BCP, p 543). 

Jesus, our original role model, showed all us through his teachings and his crawling around with foot washing, exactly how it is to look. He didn’t care at all about hierarchy or status—where those below serve those above.  Jesus served out of love, not obligation and broke down the social constructs of his day. We cannot forget that Jesus washed Judas’ feet even knowing what Judas was about to do. On this Maundy Thursday, it all comes full circle when Jesus washes twelve pair of feet and then commands that the disciples follow his example in washing one another’s feet. 

Jesus first wants them (and us) to experience what it is to be on the receiving end of service. And look what happens when Jesus approaches Peter. Peter resists perhaps out of embarrassment, reluctant to be served by this highly respected person. While we may think this is Peter’s modesty, as in not being worthy, ultimately it is not modesty but pride! Think of our own resistance to removing our shoes and socks and having  someone we don’t know well looking at our feet—that modesty is pride and fear of judgment. 

It is so hard to receive but unless we recognize our own vulnerability, our care for others will lack compassion and may come across as condescending. We must give up control—sometimes we will be the servant and sometimes we will be  the ones served.  

Being humbled by the towel and bowl is the necessary first step. 

On this Maundy Thursday, Jesus left us with the new commandment in which he said, Love one another. “Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Let us take a moment of silence as we prepare our hearts to receive the love and grace being offered in accordance to Jesus’ commandment.