The churches I have served have never held their own Good Friday services, so I have always felt the need to make sure that our Maundy Thursday worship service included all the readings for Good Friday, but this year is different. I am very grateful that Drew was willing to put together a Good Friday service for us and I hope you will come back and hear once again the story of Jesus death told through scripture, drama and music. That service tomorrow means that tonight we have the opportunity to spend some time looking at the event that starts the whole thing off. Before the cross, before the trial, before the garden of Gethsemane and even before the Last supper we hear this amazing story of Jesus washing the feet of his disciples. It is this story that really sets the tone for all that is to come, and it is an important story for us to understand because after Jesus finished washing their feet he said to his disciples that what he just did for them was to be an example that they needed to follow.
As we heard, the story begins with Jesus getting up from the table, taking off his outer robe and tying a towel around his waist. It seems like these words might just be a description of what Jesus actually did that night, but if we stop and think about it, that simple act is really a reflection of how Jesus lived is entire life. Listen to this description of Jesus from Philippians 2:5-8.
As we heard, the story begins with Jesus getting up from the table, taking off his outer robe and tying a towel around his waist. It seems like these words might just be a description of what Jesus actually did that night, but if we stop and think about it, that simple act is really a reflection of how Jesus lived is entire life. Listen to this description of Jesus from Philippians 2:5-8.
5Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:
6Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
7but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.
8And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death—
even death on a cross!
Do you see the similarities here? In many ways, this whole passage from Philippians is seen clearly in the story of the foot-washing. It says, Jesus did not regard equality with God as something to be grasped or held on to. What Paul means here is that Jesus as the Son of God didn’t remain in heaven and demand his own rights and privileges. Jesus didn’t demand that all of creation serve him; he got up from the heavenly banquet table and came into this world to serve and save us. When Jesus arrived at the home where they were going to celebrate the Passover, he was the master, he was the leader and it was someone else’s job to wash his feet, but Jesus didn’t hold on to his rights and privileges as the master and demand that someone serve him. Instead, he did exactly what he did in heaven, he got up, took off his robe and began to serve.
In Philippians it says Jesus made himself nothing, and was born in human likeness. Again, Jesus took off his heavenly robes, his divine nature, and was willing to be wrapped in flesh and blood. And when Jesus entered this world he again wasn’t wrapped in the finest linens which he deserved as the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, instead he was wrapped in strips of cloth and laid in a manger where he was wrapped by straw and hay. This action of taking off one set of robes to put on another is common for Jesus; it’s who he was and it is what characterized his life and ministry. He takes off his divinity to put on flesh. He gives up royalty to be laid in a manger. He gives up wealth and fame to heal and forgive, and in the upper room he takes off his outer robe and wraps himself in a towel, a symbol of service and humility.
Again from Philippians it says Jesus humbled himself and took the nature of a servant and that is exactly what we see Jesus doing here. He humbled himself by physically kneeling down in order to wash the feet of the disciples, and that was the actual work of a servant. Washing people’s feet as they entered the home was the work of the lowest household servant, and you can imagine why, it was a dirty and disgusting job. The roads of Jerusalem were not clean and wearing only sandals meant that people’s feet got pretty bad, so Jesus kneeling down to perform this task was a sign of incredible humility. He really did take the form of a servant and humbled himself, but Jesus actions here were nothing new or out of the ordinary, this was how Jesus lived his life, Jesus let go of his rightful place and humbled himself to serve.
Now what’s interesting to see is Peter’s response to all of this. Peter says, you will never wash my feet. I don’t think Peter is just embarrassed or uncomfortable about Jesus washing his feet, I think there is something else going on here. If Peter was just embarrassed because Jesus, the master, was going to wash his feet then he could have said, wait Jesus, this is all wrong, let me wash your feet, but Peter doesn’t say that, he says you will never wash my feet. I think what Peter is struggling with here is that he doesn’t want to submit himself to Jesus. He doesn’t want to give up control and admit that he needs help. Does that sound familiar? So many times we struggle with the same thing. We don’t want to surrender ourselves to God, we don’t want to admit that we need help and so we just keep trying to do it on our own, and as long as we think we can do it on our own, God can’t wash us clean. The only way God can serve us and ultimately save us is if we are willing to let go of our pride and surrender ourselves to him. The only way Jesus was going to be able to wash Peter and make him clean both inside and out was if he was willing to submit to him.
Holy Week can’t just be a time for us to remember all that Jesus did during his final hours on earth, we have to remember that he did it for us because he loves us and that we are called to surrender ourselves to his love. Jesus said to Peter, unless I wash you, you have no share with me. Unless we allow God’s love and grace to forgive us, we will not experience the fullness of life and life eternal. We need to ask Jesus to cleanse us from our sin through his love and grace. We need to ask God to forgive us and prepare us for the new life he brings in the resurrection. Jesus washing the feet of his disciples wasn’t just Jesus making sure people had clean feet to put under the table, it was Jesus way of saying, I am the one who will cleanse you from all sin, and you can experience this forgiveness and new life if you will surrender yourselves to me.
Are we willing to surrender ourselves to Jesus tonight? Are we willing to confess our sin and admit that we need Jesus to wash us clean because we can’t live a holy and perfect life on our own?. Are we willing to humble ourselves and ask God for forgiveness and new life? If we aren’t, then we have no place with Jesus, and no place in God’s kingdom, if we are willing to surrender ourselves to Jesus, the joy of a new life awaits us.
So the towel not only reflects how Jesus lived his life, giving up his rights to serve others, it also reflects how we need to surrender our hearts and lives to the touch of that towel and allow God to wash us clean, to forgive us and give us new life. But the towel also represents the way we are to live. Jesus said, if I as your teacher and Lord have washed your feet, you also should wash the feet of one another. For I have set you and example. You should do as I have done. Jesus is pretty clear here that the towel needs to symbolize our lives. I was thinking this week that maybe the towel would be a better symbol for our faith then the cross because most of us will never carry a cross. What I mean is that most of us will not have to physically die for our faith, or even die for others, but all of us are called to serve. All of us are called to humble ourselves and find ways to help those in need around us. So maybe instead of crosses around our necks or on our jewelry we should have little towels to remind us that we need to serve one another in humility and in love.
Is there some way God has been calling us to serve someone in our lives that maybe we have been avoiding? Is there someone we need to forgive? Someone we need to help? Some situation God has been saying, it’s time for you to step up and get involved? I wonder when the disciples got to the home for the Passover meal if God was saying to them, you need to wash the feet of your friends, and while they heard the call, no one responded. It says Jesus didn’t get up from the table until they had already started the meal, so I wonder if God was speaking to the disciples to get up and serve and none of them did so finally Jesus stepped up and did it. If God is speaking to us tonight to get up and serve, to get up and love and forgive, then we need to listen and follow the example of Jesus and serve those in need around us.
In so many ways the foot washing sets in motion all that is to come. Later that evening Jesus laid aside his will for God’s will in the Garden of Gethsemane, and then he laid aside his rights and took up our cross, and then he laid aside his life so that we might live. As we journey through this night and through the day tomorrow, we will once again hear and see the humility and sacrifice of Jesus, and as we do, we need to remember that everything Jesus does, he does because he loves us. In the end, Jesus loved his disciples so much that he was willing to serve them. Jesus loved the world so much that he was willing to reach out his hands on the cross to save us, and Jesus loves us enough to call us one more time to surrender ourselves to his love and the grace of God and to the cleansing touch of His water and towel.
