a Sermon for Maundy Thursday
Text: John 13:1-17, 31b-35

There are many interesting parts of the story we tell of Maundy Thursday, but much of it we actually save for tomorrow, Good Friday. Our tradition focuses on two important acts:

1. The Passover Meal
2. The Footwashing

The Passover.

We heard in our Hebrew reading from Exodus about what the people were to do to prepare for the Passover. We remember that this was GOD’s response to Egypt’s stubborn refusal to allow the Hebrew people to leave. Though the story itself is quite involved, the result is that the people were not allowed to leave, and GOD was compelled to liberate them. This happened after one last, horrifying plague on the people in which all of the first-born male children were killed.

To be passed over, the Hebrew people were called to share in a big dinner, using the lamb’s blood as a marker to the Spirit to skip that house. For as terrifying as the full story is, and it is deeply disturbing when read in its context, it has served as a central moment in Jewish faith traditions. Many commemorate the moment with the Seder, a tradition of sharing a very rich and flavorful meal together while sharing in the Passover story. When Jesus got together with his disciples on that auspicious night, they gathered to share in just such a meal.

The Replacement.

In many ways, Jesus seemed to encourage his followers to see him as a Passover replacement, or perhaps more accurately, a Passover fulfiller (as he came not to replace the Law [Torah], but fulfill it). As we evolved from being a Jewish faith to one that is separate from Judaism, we stopped celebrating the Passover and replaced it with the Passion.

Still, are we missing something?

We shared in a simple (though tasty!) meal, which honors our view of a solemn Lent and Holy Week. But that is nothing like the more extravagant dinner the disciples no doubt consumed. I wonder if what Jesus was thinking about was a little less lentish and a little more Mardi Gras. A festive and joyous last hurrah before the nastiness that follows. One last chance to share in that most important meal with his closest friends. I’m not sure.

The Teaching.

And just as that last dinner was probably a last hurrah, it was also Jesus’s last chance to work with his disciples. He left behind two very visual and recognizable teachings. One festive and the other solemn. One joyful and the other demoralizing.
He taught them to share in a common meal, to do it as they did with him, in remembrance of him. To eat and drink together. To share in this most powerful image of community that he could muster: table fellowship. Today, even though it hardly resembles that first dinner, it remains a powerful, and misunderstood mystery of our faith.

The second, and more provocative is Jesus’s teaching of servant leadership in the washing of his disciples’ feet. Peter, as always, misses Jesus’s point, therefore giving us a chance to better understand the teaching for ourselves. He urges them to see the footwashing as not about cleaning for hygiene or purity, but as an act of humble generosity and a demonstration of relationship. That everyone that can claim themselves as “I” is to subject themselves. We are therefore unified by our humility, rather than stratified by our striving.

What we are called to see today is that these two teachings are identical and central to our faith. That Jesus, at table and the bowl of water, is sharing in a grand community building that is humble and unifying. We are shown how to share and be with one another in love and commitment, rather than separation and independence.

As we prepare ourselves once again for a celebration of Jesus’s sacrifice and departure from us, we will gather at table one last time in Holy Week, consecrating enough to share again when we reconvene tomorrow. As we do, ponder how this meal is representative of that generosity that Jesus was instituting. And how we might demonstrate that same generosity with others.