1 Corinthians 6:1-11
John 13:1-17
For all He was about to do – to stand as only the
Innocent can, to be beaten to within an inch of His life, AND THEN to be hung
up until dead – Jesus, for some reason, still found it necessary to display yet
another act of extreme humility.
Reading this account about the Son of the Most High
God, then, and envisioning Him stooping so low – literally and figuratively –
to wash the foot of another goes far beyond the act itself. It is
incredibly intimate, deeply personal, and remarkably humbling. It is about as low as one can go in relating
to others.
So as Jesus finishes washing Peter’s feet, our Lord
asks, “Do you know what I have done to you?”
Chances are Peter had no
more a clue than you or I beyond having witnessed a foot washing, a ritual. And indeed Jesus tells them they must wash
one another’s feet, but what we are seeing has nothing to do with hygiene or
foot care. There is something else going
on, something so far-reaching as to have escaped the notice of the Church
probably since the time when Jesus did it Himself. We do it once a year – if then - to
commemorate this moment, but in daily living it seems clear we really don’t
understand it.
Yet Jesus chastised Peter AND those who would dare to refuse it: “You have no share in Me”.
So if we are not talking about foot washing, what can
we see in this act of extreme humility?
What is missing from the very heart of the Church today that is signified
by Jesus in this humble act as a must-do?
American poet, Maya Angelou, may have expressed it
best: “I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will
forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”
So how do others – those we
consider to be outsiders, guests, unbelievers, non-Christians, or any others
who are not like us in any way - feel after having had an
encounter with any one of us? With the
Church as a whole? Do they feel unconditionally
accepted … or judged and rejected? Do
they feel comforted … or are they cast out and even lonelier than before?
It is a haunting question,
but it is also a necessary evaluation not only of how we relate to others but,
more importantly, how we do so in the spirit of such humble service in the Name
of Christ – acting as He did, acting as He would still, acting as He commands.
And this is the point about
the deeper meaning in the act. Until we
actually engage in such acts of humility in service to one another, we will never
be able to fully understand what it is Jesus wants us – NEEDS US – to know. Reading it only makes it theoretical. Actual engagement in the act makes it
real. And this is the essence of faith:
trusting Him to reveal it to us as we trust Him to so engage.
It is not about washing feet. The foot washing represents something much
deeper and more far reaching than merely stooping down to wash the feet of
another. The significance of this act
comes before THE Act we must allow, THE Act we must engage before we can have a
share of Christ Jesus: the Crucifixion.
What can this mean to those
of us who do not deny the Crucifixion? Surely
we believe it happened; and every year we hear it and maybe try to understand it. I think, however, that what Jesus is actually
conveying is the depth of His Crucifixion and what it ultimately means. If it is the forgiveness of sins, then it has
to go beyond a single moment, beyond a one-time-and-only-very-general
confession.
In order to have that “share” in Christ Jesus, we have
to allow the fullness of the Crucifixion; but we do not merely allow Him
to die. Rather we allow Him to take
away sin – our own sin. And not just sin in general, but specific
grievances and burdens and deep, dark secrets we continue to bear; for only in
this may we expect to reach a point at which we can – or will – excuse the sins
of others. Do you see there is only so
much we can do – even if we were so willing - when we are so
overwhelmingly burdened ourselves?
We cannot
love unless we know we are loved. We cannot
forgive unless we know we are forgiven.
So if we do not fully love and will not completely forgive, it is likely
we have yet to experience the fullness of that love and the depth of that
forgiveness. When we have the weight of
sin on our own shoulders, when we are shackled about our necks and having the spiritual
life choked out of us, we have only the spiritual energy to worry about
ourselves – and often not enough even for this!
We are not at all interested in worrying about or helping others as long
as we are so heavily burdened and our own needs so great.
So as Peter allowed
Jesus to serve him in this incredible way – even if Peter did not fully
understand it at the time – Peter was, unbeknownst to himself, enabled
to serve others in the same way. It is
the “example” Jesus left for
His Church, His Body; not as a warm-and-fuzzy, feel-good organization of people
who like each other as long as they play by our rules but
as the genuine Body of Christ willing to love and serve others as we have been
so thoroughly loved and served.
Sometimes we worry a little
too much about “getting saved” as pertaining to what we are personally saved from
and do not spend nearly enough time and thought and prayer and discernment considering
exactly what we have been “saved” for.
The apostles were still not
quite getting what was coming, let alone what it would come to mean; but we
have the benefit of knowing we are about to be set free – if we will allow
ourselves to be freed! This includes the
sin in our lives we have left buried and ignored for too long. It is time to allow our Lord to do this thing
for us we’ve been aching for, yearning for, but were too afraid to bring up –
maybe hoping it would just go away.
Heaven forbid we face it again when all we want to do is forget it and
pretend it never happened!
Yet “Unless I wash you”, our Lord says, “you have no share in Me”.
Let it be so, Blessed
Savior! Teach us to face it, confess it,
and hand it over to You! Wash us
clean. Break our chains! Free us from the anxiety that so weighs us
down so we may have that “SHARE” in You that You so freely offer as You call us
also to share as freely with others! By
Your Mercy and in Your Most Holy Name, may it come to be! Amen.
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