“Leading
Revolution Wrapped in a Towel”
John
13:1-17
First
Presbyterian Church
Rev.
Donald Ray
April
9, 2009
Maundy
Thursday
Coming to this night
in the Christian Church year, for many of us the painting by Leonardo DaVinci of
The Last Supper flashes in our mind. We
picture Jesus and the twelve disciples, dressed in robes of the day, sharing the
Passover meal together. Jesus gave a
distinct twist to the meal, identifying the bread and cup with his crucifixion.
But it was still the Passover and easily slips into the stream of traditional
religion.
Unique to John’s
Gospel is a radically different image. DaVinci
may have taken liberties in his picturing the disciples and their seating
arrangement, but he apparently did not step far enough from orthodoxy to
give us a painting of Jesus stripped to his loin clothand , wrapped in a towel,
washing the disciples feet. That is
the image John gives us. Written
around the turn of century, when disputes over whether Peter or Paul was the
authentic leader; the Lord’s Supper had become so traditional that its meaning
was fading; all those ways that ritual and formality sap the spirit of a
community, John gives us the revolutionary picture of Jesus, wrapped in towel,
doing the foot washing servant’s chore.
As the Palm Sunday
image is of Jesus leading revolution to the
“You call me Teacher
and Lord—and you are right, for that is what I am. So
if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one
another’s feet. For I have set you
an example, that you also should do as I have done to you. Very
truly, I tell you, servants are not greater than their master, nor are
messengers greater than the one who has sent them. If
you know these things, you are blessed if you do them.”
(John 13:13-17)
At the time Jesus
lived, washing the feet of guests was a necessity. Walking
dusty paths in open sandals, one’s feet got dirty. Tonight
is not so much about practicalities. Tonight,
Maundy Thursday is about us. The
word, “Maundy” is derived from the first word in Latin from the phrase which
appears a little later in the 13th chapter of John, “I give you a
new commandment”.
Arranged experiences
of worship are always about equipping us for living. Confession
and forgiving cleanse us of paralyzing guilt. Scripture
and message stir new insights into life. Music
and prayer renew hope and joy moving us to labor for a better world.
If you are on the
e-mail list for Tom’s “Tween
Sundays” you may have read the message from our missioners in
Arizona-Mexico. This trip was an
arranged experience to provide an acquaintance with life on the border—an
experience it is evident is contributing to growth in love and faith.
Carly Gould wrote:
“When you reach out a hand to someone, you both move forward.”
Allison Sanderson
wrote: “Not only did we learn so much, but we left hope with all the children,
families, and migrants we met…hope that someday we will do something to change
the issues…”
Ted Mueller wrote:
“After spending time with the impoverished and struggling families and
children, I gained a deeper level of love and hope for our world.”
On Maundy Thursday
evening, customarily we remember the meal Jesus shared with his disciples to
which he gave new importance by identifying the bread and cup with his body and
blood. John’s Gospel open’s for
us a glimpse into another intimate gathering where Jesus washed his followers’
feet. It was a leveling and unifying
act joining teacher and followers in common loving and serving.
The church does little
better than other institutions of our culture in avoiding the levels of
hierarchy. To say it another way; in
a position of leadership or responsibility, we can easily think we are above
others. Or the “others” easily
think those in leadership and responsibility are higher than they are. Jesus,
riding a colt led the Palm Sunday revolution to the temple to restore it as a
house of prayer. Jesus leads the
revolution Maundy Thursday, wrapped in a towel to restore the community of love
and provide the example of serving necessary if the church is to lead revolution
in the world.
Last year on Maundy
Thursday, I recommended participation in the experience of foot washing if the
opportunity presented. This night, I
want to afford that opportunity. I
deliberately limit the structuring of the experience. I
am not inclined to introduce another ritual to church life. I
am distressed with myself that as worship and prayer and Sacrament become
familiar, how shallow my participation can become.
But I keep coming back and venturing on and the Spirit does not
disappoint.
To keep the
arrangements simple, there are stations on either side at the front of the
chapel. You may come if you wish and share with another who comes—to wash or
be washed as you see your need in the uniting, leveling, serving realm. A
cloth may be moistened in the basin, a towel used to dry; they can be left in
the basket. A fresh cloth and towel
are available for the next. There
will be quiet, music, a reading of “Basin and Towel” and in time we will
move on to sharing the Supper. If
you need a change in clothing to bare your feet, at least I will remain after
the closing anthem. You may return
then.
Lighted candles to
represent disciples, Scripture to stir our vision of God’s reign of love,
bread and cup to remember the love evident in Jesus, the Christ, basin and towel
to link us in serving, music and prayer and quiet to refresh us in hope and
joy—this is Maundy Thursday: “I give you a new commandment, that you love
one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.”
(John 13:34)
Amen.
©
Copyright 2009 First Presbyterian Church