Maundy Thursday: Service and sacrifice

Jesus is on the way to becoming.

Becoming what, we won’t really know until it happens, until all of what he has been warning about or preparing his disciples for, happens.

As to exactly what was happening all along and the fact that it was all happening from the beginning, well, that was before.

Now though, it was all beginning to seem rather strange.

They spent God knows how much time together (that was a Christianity pun, by the way) and there were always a bunch of strange things going on, the feeding of the 5,000 comes to mind; strange things that couldn’t really be described except through terms like miracles or amazement.

But this time in the upper room together is different.

Because it was all happening or, rather, it was all starting to happen.

It was coming together, into shape and into focus, a shadow becoming truth, a being reality.

Just the way he was talking over dinner, the way he spoke longingly about longing things, about how much he loved his friends there with him that night.

He loved them.

He loved them and told them so because he knew his hour had come.

It was time to move on as he knew he was already betrayed by the one they called Judas, yet still he loved his friends who were there with him.

And he made a move to get up.

The disciples became alert to his stirrings.

Clay wine goblets were placed on the wooden table, a dull thud was heard as each cup was put down; silence then entered the room as they watched their Rabbi rise.

Jesus knew the end was coming, his time with his disciples would be disturbed by those coming to arrest him and to be left with those who would abuse him and march him towards Calvary.

And though he had tried to prepare them, he was never sure about just how his message was received., or if it was received at all, so, he’d try again.

He moved across the room removing his outer robe and he grabbed a towel and tied it around himself.

Yet the Greek indicates the plural of robe here and instead might mean outer garments.

In this scenario, Jesus then did not just take off his robe, but all his outer garments.

He was no longer wearing much and was now walking around the room dressed only in his loin cloth as a slave in Roman times might dress.

In a loin cloth and a towel wrapped around his waist.

An empty basin was nearby.

Jesus poured water into that basin.

Thinking of what was about to happen, thinking about his coming trial and the trials he was to endure, thinking about the worlds he inhabited, his duality, Jesus washed his disciples’ feet.

From foot to foot and disciple to disciple, Jesus moved across the room washing their feet.

Jesus approached Peter.

And Peter had something to say.

Peter always had something to say.

He called out Jesus.

Because Jesus was their Lord.

Capital L.

Lord.

And Lords do not go about doing servants’ work.

But then Peter didn’t understand, he didn’t always understand what was going on and this time, this time it was different though.

He still lacked understanding, but this time, Peter was incensed.

You are not going to wash my feet.

Sure I am.

Well, if you’re going to wash my feet, then wash everything else, too!

I don’t need to wash everything, you are already clean. You were made clean by your baptism, you now only need to clean your feet.

Peter couldn’t see.

He couldn’t see what was happening.

He was offended.

His Lord, his King, his Messiah was acting as a servant would, he was dressed as a slave when he should be dressed as royalty.

But it was happening regardless.

His feet were washed of the day’s travels.

Miles washed away, Jesus finished up.

He dried his hands and arms, he removed the towel, he placed back on his outer robes.

He returned to a table much more subdued than it was before.

This was no longer a meal among friends celebrating the Passover but became a holy moment, or, rather, a holier moment.

In that holiness, the disciples sat wondering.

Jesus spoke.

He told them all that he was Lord and they were right to call him that.

He also told them that they were to serve one another just as Jesus served them.

There was not to be one preeminent disciple, but 12 servants to humankind and for each other.

And yet there is, as there was in Narnia too, a deeper magic.

Serve, yes.

Serve each other and serve those you do not know.

Serve those needing food.

Water.

Sustenance.

Serve those needing God.

And along with service, is sacrifice.

In John 2:19 Jesus talks about just what is being sacrificed.

“Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”

This temple that Jesus was talking about though, was not the one of stone and masonry.

This was not the temple that was under construction for forty-six years, where tables were turned, and vendors were driven out by whips.

No, the temple Jesus was talking about was his very mortal shell.

Destroy his temple, his body, and he would return in just three days.

By letting go of who he was.

By emptying himself of the essence of his kingly self, Jesus was serving his servants as a servant would, and he was sacrificing himself totally.

In that time as a servant king, Jesus was just a man.

And as a human being, he showed his disciples just what they had to do as well.

No longer would those Sons of Thunder argue about who would be the ones to sit on the right-hand side of God, they would simply serve.

And Thomas, once full of doubt would overcome that doubt and serve.

Peter and the others would emerge from behind a locked door and a cloud of fear to go out and serve the Lord.

But to do so, would require sacrifice.

Jesus gave up his very self, that was his example.

Before he was nailed to the cross, the Christ knelt before his disciples and showed them that foot-washing was not just about clean toes and toweled ankles, but a service to others and a sacrifice for all.

To serve we must sacrifice.

To be Christian, we must give of ourselves, we are to sacrifice our totality, to lend our bodies, our minds, our prayers to each other and ultimately to God.

Share in each other; give of each other.

This lesson slowly dawns on the disciples and I do not think it is fully learned until they witness Jesus’ sufferings, the rest of the story as it were.

Jesus, it is said, sacrificed everything to save everything.

And Jesus is now teaching about that sacrifice.

In his humility, he is no longer King.

In his loin cloth, he is no longer Lord.

On his knees, before his servants, he is their servant.

And still, there is more to give and more to sacrifice and he will do that.

Brick by brick, the temple was destroyed.

Blow by blow, this sacred body was tormented and destroyed.

The temple was emptied of thieves, his body was emptied of life.

By his sacrifice, his body becomes the temple and, in his holiness, his body will rise.

Yet tonight is before all of that happening.

What is to happen will happen soon, the betrayer has already left the upper room.

What is to happen will happen soon, but not yet.

What we have now is our messiah teaching about holiness through service and through that service, sacrifice.

And on this night, when all of those things that are going to happen, begin to happen, we know just what that sacrifice means.

So many of the disciples would lay down their lives for each other, for their beliefs, for their faith.

And why they did can be found in Christ’s example given on this night even before his execution.

That too is our lesson.

We are to serve.

We are to visit.

We are to feed.

We are to clothe.

We are to sate thirst.

We are to serve.

Yet that service is but a part of the story.

For we too are to sacrifice.

We are to untie the robes that cover us and hide us away, we are to strip away the very defenses we put up to remain unseen and not have others witness our true selves.

We are to uncover and become the very people we serve.

Sacrifice all so that we might kneel before each other without ego, with only God, and wash each other’s feet.

Sacrifice our very beings so that in communion and in community with Christ, we might say to each other, you are my brother, you are my sister, you are my sibling, and tonight I give you my life.

Service without sacrifice is but charity, and as wonderful as charity is and as needed as it is, Christ is not talking about charity.

No, on this night, we serve God and each other and we give up our very selves to God and each other.

On this night, Jesus is with us for just a little while longer and we are given a new commandment to love one another just as Christ has loved us.

And we will love for we are taught how to love by a man who gave all for us.

Our Christ, our King, our Lord, our Messiah sacrificed all and he saves all.

Amen.