March 20, 2008

Denise Kelsall

Maundy Thursday

Feet. We are here to remember and celebrate the washing of feet. We will wash each others feet. Jesus washed the feet of his disciples the night before he was crucified.

Tonight – another place, another space.

In reply to the protests of Peter, Jesus says ‘later you will understand’ and after washing the disciples feet he asks ‘do you know what I have done to you – or ‘do you understand what I did?”

I look at the long history of the church and the societies we have built and wonder how different we really are. Have we learned or really understood? Do we live this understanding?

Washing someone’s feet or having one’s own washed is a very open and intimate act. This gospel reading from John tells us that it is an act of love. It also implies trust, acceptance and a silent inner acknowledgement of our mutual and vulnerable humanness. In this manner it goes beyond personal likes or dislikes and is at heart a gesture or action that transcends thinking and embodies a care that is primal and basic. We wash those we love and care for.

Jesus washes the feet of his disciples to illustrate the radical nature of his love. It is a dangerous love, a love that threatens the powers of the day so completely that they will collude to murder him. This love is expressed in washing the feet of those he loves best, his mates or followers who have supported and hung out with him for a few years. They’ve been through thick and thin, seen some amazing things, miracles even, learned heaps. He is their leader, their teacher, the one at the centre of their small band, the one to whom they all look for guidance and their future.

And here he is, acting like a slave and washing their feet. Hard to take maybe, but they have to take it otherwise they don’t belong or are not part of his life anymore.

Foot washing in itself is a radical act because it is something we just do not do for each other intentionally, not then and not now, and probably not even for those closest to us. It is radical because it is so very self-abasing in a deeply caring way, and I can imagine many people would laugh nervously and say ‘get outta here’ or something similar to cover their fear of vulnerability and exposure.

It is radical in this story because of the social nature of what it implies. Jesus is called Lord and yet humbles himself to wash their feet.

Humble is not a very popular word these days. For me it resonates with a sort of Dickensian flavour of menial lowliness. Eating ‘humble pie’ is admitting we were wrong. At best it means modest and unpretentious. Yet the action of bending down or kneeling to wash someone’s feet is a humble gesture, a defenceless gesture of tenderness. It has power and beauty.

In this action Jesus is revealing the egalitarian nature of real love, what we have come to understand as God’s love – the nature of love that rests in cherishing life, goodness and equality. It also points to the essence of the action which is revealed as service. Service, laid bare, in washing his disciples feet revealing the depth of care and solidarity that marked Jesus’ life. This action also foreshadows the ultimate service he will submit to or undergo – that of crucifixion and death – all in the name of love.

Love and service are the two main themes in this reading. Radical love that lays waste all pretension, status or high mindedness as seen in the gaze upon the human commonality and frailty of the feet that we share - that we must understand we share if we are to continue to walk freely upon this earth. It is a deeply compassionate love for the miraculous nature of life and vulnerability and is a message for our world today as we continue to crucify the other in our fears and ignorance. I think that the implication in this twofold story of love and self giving service is that they reside within each other – that the desire to care and serve is intrinsic to free open and generous love that is shared.

The disciples are asked to love one another as humbly and truly as Jesus loves them, and we are asked to do the same. And so I ponder my question – do we understand yet the demands of this bold and humble love and do we live it.