1.
In the name of
Jesus. Amen. When it comes to giving out gifts, we usually
like to be on the receiving end. Our hearts delight to receive gifts at
Christmas, on birthdays, and on anniversaries—or on no particular occasion at
all. But, God is the ultimate giver, and
Jesus delivers God’s gifts. On this day, Maundy Thursday, Jesus washes his
disciples’ feet, an act that points to a deeper cleansing, a cleansing that
goes all the way to the heart. Tonight each of us can say with gladness, “It’s
Jesus, Peter, and me; and it’s all about cleansing.” This is God’s gift. Jesus gifts us with cleansing from all our
sin!
2.
But, tonight, we see
a different reality. Peter says to Jesus, in effect, “I don’t want your
gift.” It was the Passover feast. The traditional foot washing was usually
done by a servant, and when no servant was present, it was done by the humblest
person in the group. But, not one of the Twelve rises to perform this humble
task. Instead, Jesus does. Strangely, the disciples allow the master to wash
their feet. Until Peter. We don’t know exactly what was in the mind of Peter. Maybe
it was a mixture of reverence for Jesus and an element of self-will. This isn’t
how Peter thought it should be. “You shall never wash my feet” (v 8).
3.
Do we say no to
God’s gifts? Of course, when our sinful self is in control. We pray, “Thy
will be done.” But a part of us wants to say, “My will, not thine, be
done.” God promises strength and patience to help us when we’re sick or
when we’re bearing some heavy burden. But that’s not what we want. We want
immediate healing or deliverance. We feel at home with some of our sins—how we
speak, what we say about others, our goals that center on material things, the
lusts and sinful desires of our heart. We don’t like to hear God say, “Repent!”
That’s not what we want. We may pray only now and then. Our devotional life may
be on again, off again. We may keep ourselves away from worship and the
Sacrament and think nothing of it. Something is more important right now. We
don’t need God’s gifts of Word and Sacrament right now. We don’t need it that
much—these are all polite ways of saying, “God, I don’t want your gifts.”
4.
Notice how Jesus answers Peter here in John 13, “If I do
not wash you, you have no share with me” (v 8). To say no to God’s gifts is
death. It’s having no share with Jesus, no share in his sacrifice for our sins,
no share in his forgiveness. Nothing, nothing, nothing at all with God. Only
the death of being apart from God.
5.
Jesus says, “If I do not wash you, you have no share with
me” (v 8). Those words of Jesus now go all the way to Peter’s heart. And
here is Peter’s response: “Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my
head!” (v 9). Peter, the impetuous one, needs to be reigned in. “The one
who has bathed does not need to wash, except for his feet, but is completely
clean” (v 10). I believe that Peter now sees his total need for cleansing
in the deepest core of his being, cleansing not merely of dirt from the body
but of the filth of sin from the heart and soul. The foot washing was a symbol,
only a picture of Jesus’ ultimate humility, his ultimate gift. Jesus humbles
himself to the death of the cross for Peter, for all the disciples, for us, to
make us clean from all our sin.
6.
The Twelve are eating the Passover with Jesus. But, only Peter
and Judas are mentioned by name. The contrast is great, between the disciple
who is saved and the disciple who is lost. Judas, too, received the foot
washing, but was cleansed only of the dust from his feet, not the soil on his
soul. “The devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot,
Simon’s son, to betray him” (v 2). He was untouched by Jesus’ deeper
cleansing.
7.
Here’s the lesson for us. Don’t let the devil put into your
heart a hardened attitude toward sin. How does the thinking go? My sin is
everywhere. I’m only one of many. There’s no harm in it. It’s only now and
then. Nobody’s getting hurt. Judas started out with a little dishonesty. He
dipped into the treasury. But his sin grew and grew—into betrayal, despair, and
finally suicide. The thoughts, desires, words, and deeds of sin will form a
callus over our heart. The progression of sin takes us farther and farther from
God. Until we no longer hear Jesus’ words: “If I do not wash you, you have
no share with me.” When that happens, we’re untouched by Jesus’ deeper
cleansing.
8.
But we do have a share with Jesus—now. John 13 begins saying, “When Jesus knew
that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved
his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end” (v 1). The end is
the cross, where he died for our sins. We’re included in that. How? Through his
gifts of Word and Sacrament. Our Baptism, that divine washing, put us in union
with the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. God continuously gives, and that
means we continually receive. Baptism’s washing never stops. It embodies the
divine detergent of our Savior’s blood, which makes us clean from all our sins. We have a share with Jesus now. The love that
brought us to our Baptism keeps coming through his Word. What a great message
we hear in his Word! “Look at Jesus. See your sins on him. See him on that
cross for you. You are cleansed, forgiven, free from the guilt of your sin.”
So Christ speaks to your heart through the gift of his Word.
9.
This night, during
the Passover meal, Jesus instituted the Sacrament of his body and blood. Jesus
is the Lamb foreshadowed in the Old Testament Passover. They ate the Passover
lamb and painted the blood on their doorposts, and the angel of death passed
over, leaving them untouched. So too, we eat and drink the body and blood of
Christ in the Sacrament, and the angel of death passes over us, leaving us untouched.
We receive Christ’s true body and blood as a pledge from God that our sins are
forgiven. To eat and drink the Lord’s Supper is to have a share with Jesus now.
A most precious gift!
10.
We have a share also in giving Christ’s gifts of love.
Listen to Jesus: “When he had washed their feet and put on his outer
garments and resumed his place, he said to them, ‘Do you understand what I have
done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. If I
then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one
another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do just
as I have done to you’ ” (vv 12–15). The foot washing is an example of
Jesus’ humble and loving service to his disciples. It’s a call for us to a love
that never stops, a love that doesn’t quit when it’s hard to love, a love that
includes all—spouse, children, parents, brothers and sisters, neighbors,
friends, enemies, fellow Christians, and the lost. It’s compassionate, giving
love that gives time, effort, and money. It’s tough love when saying no is the
most loving thing you can do.
11.
What motivates us? Where do we get the strength? “We love
because he first loved us” (1 Jn 4:19). His gift of love calls us to
repentance, forgives us, and draws us to follow him and love others as he did,
to the end. This is the story of
Jesus, Peter, and each of us. Amen.
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