Week beginning 3rd April 2022

 

Service inspired by a service conducted at chapel this morning.

Song: At the name of Jesus.

At the name of Jesus - YouTube

Reading: John’s gospel, chapter 13, verses 1 to 17

Song: Blessed Assurance

Blessed Assurance Hymn (Lyrics) - YouTube

Me? Do that?!

This could be how many people would react to the suggestion that Jesus might wash our feet. We are used to bowing down to Jesus as mark of our respect to him, and rightly so; but here, Jesus is bowing down to his disciples, and instructing them that this is the right thing to do.

Would we allow it? Do we allow it?

John’s gospel is a gradual build up to the grand finale, rather like an Agatha Christie novel leading up to the big reveal of whodunnit at the end.

The first 12 chapters give details of the first three years of Jesus’ ministry including two trips to Jerusalem. Chapters 13 onwards detail the third trip to Jerusalem, and events that occurred in that visit: Jesus’ farewell preparations; the betrayal and trial; the crucifixion and resurrection. Within all this there is the underlying message that Jesus came to earth to give his life in atonement for the sons of mankind.

The chronology of the footwashing story is a little uncertain, but since in verse 29, Judas is sent out to buy supplies for the passover, it seems that this event was the day before the passover meal.

The main focus of the story is on washing the feet of the disciples. In the U.K., if you were asked to remove your shoes when you visited someone’s house, it would be regarded as polite to comply; if you were asked to remove your socks, you might think it a little odd; but if the host said that they were going to wash your feet for you, it would be distinctly odd, and most people would feel extremely uncomfortable. In Palestine at the time of Jesus, washing the guests’ feet was a rite of normal hospitality. It would be done by a servant, if one were available. But Jesus turns this on its head. He was the one with high status, not a servant. The feet were not washed on arrival, but he waited until all had arrived. To use a modern phrase, he made something of a production of it; where normally it would be an unobtrusive process.

Verse 1 tells us that this action was done out of love for the 12. He was preparing them for when he was no longer there. He humbled himself. In effect, he was team building.

And yet, even though he knew that Satan had entered Judas’ heart, he washed his feet, just like everyone else. If we knew that someone was going to do as great injustice, could we perform them a service like this?

Peter, on the other hand, was his usual impetuous self, and said “Not me!” Jesus rebuked him and said that unless he allowed this to go ahead, he would not be part of the team!

Effectively Jesus says “Do you know what I have just done?” Follow this as your example. Serve one another. Status and protocol don’t matter.

We have to become a servant; become vulnerable; lose any status and power that we light have.

Traditionally Lent is a time when we give something up as an act of self denial. Maundy Thursday gets its name from a French word which mean command. The command is to emulate Jesus. Perhaps not physically, although there are places where churches wash people’s feet. There is a danger of this becoming simply a ritual, which is probably not what Jesus intended. The command is about the way in which we live our lives in service of others, and each other.

Prayer:

Eternal God,
We hold before you
the peoples of Ukraine and of Russia.
We pray for those who are in despair today
because they see their homeland invaded
and those they love in danger.
Bind up their hearts, O God,
and give them strength to care for one another.
We pray for those who are in despair today
because their children on national service
have been placed in the front of the Russian advance.
Bind up their hearts, O God,
and give them certainty in your love.
We pray for our own and other nations,
expressing their concern,
but finding it hard to turn that concern
into anything that really helps.
Take from us all, O God,
any desire to lord it over others,
and make us ready to sacrifice what is easy
for the sake of what is good,
so that your lordship over us might be
a witness to the world.
In the name of Jesus the Prince of Peace,
Amen

S Haward and J McColm,25th February 2022

Song: Meekness and Majesty.

Meekness & Majesty by Graham Kendrick (Singing the Faith 362 / StF 362) - YouTube