Maundy Thursday Meditation

March 26, 2013 (Maundy Thursday)

Gospel Reading: John 13:1-35

Meditation:

I am so glad God made churches.  After all, we are the perfect embodiment of Jesus on earth.  We never argue, never fight, never gossip in the parking lot.  And we churches never decide to part ways from each other because of personal or family dynamics, politics, the pastor or the color of the carpet.

I once heard the story of a church that had a deep-seeded conflict and split.  Half of the congregation left because they could not, with any integrity, remain there.   The hot button issue?  Homosexuality?  Political preference?  Other religions?  Oh no.  This church split because, when having footwashings, half of the women thought you had to leave your stockings on when having your feet washed, to be proper, while the other half (we’ll call them the “contemporary worship types”) said you could remove your stockings for footwashing in worship.  Unable to reconcile this deep theological conflict, the church split.  Over a pair of $5 panty hose.

Clearly, there were deeper dynamics at play there.  But still, when I hear the words of Peter saying, “No Lord you’ll never wash my feet!” in our John reading, I’m reminded of that little church.

Ah, Peter.  Overeager, hyperactive, melodramatic Peter.  Peter knows that only servants wash feet and refuses to participate in Jesus’ little spa ritual.  It’s just not proper.  But Jesus calls Peter out for his fixed thinking and says, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.”

Now our text doesn’t tell us that Peter then kicks off his sandals as fast as he can, but I’m betting he did.  “Wash my head and my hands,  and…and my knees and my elbows, too!” overeager Peter shouts.  Jesus tempers his enthusiasm with, “Just the feet’ll do, Pete.”

Jesus was always patient with Peter, even building his church on such a character.  And Jesus made Pete a promise at this last supper and first footwashing: "You do not know now what I am doing, but later you will understand."

Goodness how that sentence describes most of our lives, doesn’t it?  Like Jesus in this text, we know that we have come from God and that we are ultimately returning to God.  But the tricky part is what comes in between those two: the messy, complicated journey that is living, trying to understand it all.  Jesus was in the midst of such a time: the devil had already filled Judas leading him to betray Jesus.  (That devil has a name, by the way.  It’s Greed.)  Jesus was trying to make his final moments on earth count, not by taking a last trip to Disneyworld or getting his will in order, but by feeding and washing. 

It’s no wonder that Peter didn’t understand it.  How could he possibly fathom that the God of all creation would stoop to wash his filthy, ragged feet?  How could he wrap his mind around a Messiah who offered bread and a cup to the one already planning to betray him?  Or that this Jesus would choose the path to the cross, never defending himself, never speaking an ill word against his accusers? 

Later you will understand.  What a promise!  The obvious question is, of course, how late is later?  When would Peter understand this kind of love love? 

Did Jesus mean when Peter, who always felt too much, was consumed by fear and denied his Lord three times? 

Or did Jesus mean in a few days time, when he had endured the cross and defeated the grave?

Or did he mean when Peter was at Pentecost and spoke the words of the Prophet Joel speaking about the Spirit poured on all sons and daughters? 

Or when Peter later healed a lame man and was called before the authorities for it?  Or when he had a vision of a church made up of Jews and Gentiles, saying that God has made all clean?

Or when, as Origen wrote many years later, Peter was crucified by the state upside down, because the one who did not think he deserved to have his feet washed by Jesus also did not think he deserved to die in the exact same way?

When exactly did this understanding of what Jesus was doing come to Peter?  There is a gift in not knowing the answer to this question: for understanding could have come to Peter at any moment on the journey of his life.  But do you know what I think?  I think each moment, even those that were his darkest, brought Peter greater and greater understanding of the One who fed him and washed his feet that Passover night. 

This is so important because Peter had a quality that each of us as a follower of Jesus must possess.  I’m not talking about being hyperactive, or melodramatic or overeager, y’all.   Peter was a seeker: desperately searching for understanding of God, even when it cost him his life.  If we are to follow this servant-Messiah, we must become seekers.

Jesus promises us that, though we do not always know what he is doing, “later we will understand.”  We do not know how long it will take for  “later” to get here, and we do not know what that “understanding” might look like. 

But still we seek after it, with every fiber of our being.  We gather at a Table where Jesus promises to meet with us, seeking a taste of something real.  We gather at the foot of a cross, where sorrow and love flow mingled down, seeking the power of such a sacrifice.  And on Sunday, we gather at an empty tomb, seeking resurrection: his, ours, everyone’s. So first come to this Table to taste and remember, to prepare and hope.  But mostly, come to this table to seek.  Amen.