They say that the most stressful day for any of us in a given year is our birthday. And the reason for this is because we’re not always comfortable with the focus being on us. Especially for those of us who like to fly under the radar.
You can be enjoying a casual conversation with some friends and the moment someone finds out it’s your birthday, it’s like this big bright spotlight shines on you out of nowhere.
One year for my birthday, my family took me out to a steakhouse for my birthday. Just as we were finishing our meal, our waitress comes to our table with one of those portable horses.
She said to me, “Please get on the saddle, sir. We’re all going to sing happy birthday to you!”
It was quite the photo shoot moment as I lived out my inner cowboy in that moment. Other restaurants might make you wear a sombrero as the staff sings “happy birthday!”
We all have probably endured a situation like this at some point in our lives where we might feel a little awkward and embarrassed.
I can’t help but to wonder if the disciple Peter had a similar expression of awkward surprise as he watched Jesus go from disciple to disciple washing their feet. By washing the disciples’ feet, Jesus was committing a 1st century Middle East fax passé because only servants were supposed to wash feet.
And here, their teacher, their Rabbi, and indeed, the one who they knew to be their Messiah was doing something that seemed to be so un-Messiah like. He was stooping down to gently and lovingly wash “their” feet.
Peter is still in shock over this whole foot washing scene and when it is finally Peter’s turn, Peter does only what Peter knows how to do. Instead of silence, he speaks. Sometimes, silence is an appropriate response in times like this. But Peter can’t control himself.
In our bibles, Peter’s response comes out like a coherent and complete sentence, but the original Greek is very abrupt and choppy. A better translation would read, “You?... You wash…my feet?”
Peter was in shock that Jesus, would do such a thing. And Jesus proceeds to wash Peter’s feet.
In this quiet, but powerful and countercultural act, Jesus was turning the disciples’ preconceived notions of who the Messiah should be and what religion should be, upside down. Without using words, Jesus was showing the disciples what it means to be His followers.
Think about what Jesus’ does in this loving action. John tells us that after Jesus got up from the table, he took off his outer robe, and tied a towel around himself. The next time that we will read about Jesus’ clothing will be six chapters later when Jesus appears before Pontius Pilate wearing a crown of thorns and a purple robe.
And soon after that, Jesus will be stripped naked and will die on a cross showing us once again, how far he is willing to go to redeem us and claim us as his own. No wonder Peter found it difficult to allow Jesus to wash his feet. God’s love goes beyond our comprehension. It even shocks us, and when we come face to face with it, we often have trouble receiving it.
That’s why we can never exhaust the deep meaning of Holy Week. No matter how many times we read these scripture lessons, God’s love is revealed in new and fresh ways, surprising us, and calling us to receive it again and again and again.
In my years of pastoral ministry, I have discovered that many of us, me included, find it difficult to receive love. In our thinking, we need to do something to earn God’s love. But it just doesn’t work that way with God. God loves us right where we are.
What if, on this night, instead of trying to earn God’s love or favor, we instead receive God’s love? What if on this night, we allow God to stoop to wash our feet? What if on this night, we allow the Son of God to lavish his love upon us.
Will Willimon, a retired United Methodist Bishop and author who was raised not too far from here in Greenville tells the story of a friend of his, Stuart Henry, who grew up in a very strict southern Presbyterian church.
Whenever they would serve the Sacrament of Holy Communion, the pastor would stand before the congregation and say something like, “It is my sacred and solemn duty to warn you that if there be any adulterers, fornicators, liars, thieves, or blasphemers among you, and that if you partake of this holy food unworthily, you partake of your own damnation.
Dr. Henry said, “We all pranced right down to the front to receive the body and blood of Christ anyway.”
And tonight, here we are. We can relate to Judas and Peter, for we know about betrayal and denial all too well. And yet, John tells us that Jesus washed their feet.
A friend of mine shared with me how he became a Christian. While he was in college, a friend of his invited him to a worship service at a United Methodist church.
And during the worship service, a member of that church read this very same scripture from John’s Gospel – the story of Jesus washing the disciples’ feet.
And my friend said, “For the rest of that week, I couldn’t stop thinking about that scripture reading. I couldn’t get that image of Jesus out of my mind. I kept repeating those words to myself for the next several days, ‘Jesus washed the disciples’ feet.’”
“The reason why I’m a Christian today,” he went on to tell me, “Is because of this story.”
What an interesting way to come to faith. Just through someone reading a story like this that reveals the heart of who God is and just how much God loves us.
A bowl and a basin are powerful images for us to reflect on tonight. Think about it.
Jesus washed their feet.
Jesus washed their feet.
Jesus died on the cross for us.
Jesus died on the cross for me. (Begin to sit down and repeat)
Jesus died on the cross for me.
Jesus died on the cross for me.
Jesus died on the cross for me.
