March 28, 2010

John 13:1-17; Philippians 2:5-11

I think most of us struggle, at times, to understand who God is and how God works in the world. Sometimes life just doesn’t make sense and it is difficult to know what God is up to.

However, in the last week of Jesus’ life – Jesus does two very dramatic actions that tell us a lot about who God is and how God works in the world.

First of all, Jesus – as he enters Jerusalem to be crowned king – asks his disciples to bring him a donkey. Instead of riding on a “white horse” as kings do – Jesus makes his kingly entrance into Jerusalem on a “lowly donkey”.

By riding a donkey Jesus signals to the crowd and to the world that he will be a different kind of king. Jesus lets us know that his way of ruling will be by “power under” rather than “power over”.

He is here to serve – rather than be served.

The second dramatic action by Jesus – with more passion than any words will ever convey – Jesus gets on his knees and washes his disciple’s feet.

If riding a donkey didn’t get peoples attention – washing his disciples feet surely did.

At this point, Jesus knows that he has only a few hours left with his disciples. This is his last chance to speak directly into their lives about what is closest to his heart.

For three years Jesus poured his life into these disciples and now he has one hour left with them before they are on their own.

He taught them everything he knew, but so often the disciples didn’t understand much of what he was talking about.

Just prior to this last supper with the disciples – Matthew’s Gospel has James and John’s mother asking Jesus if her two sons can be cabinet ministers in Jesus’ new administration when he becomes king. They want to sit on his right and left and be in “power over” with Jesus.

Of course, when the other ten disciples found out what they had done – they were furious at James and John because they also wanted those same positions.

The disciples did not understand what Jesus was about.

Luke’s Gospel mentions that the disciples were actually arguing among themselves during the Passover meal about – “who is the greatest?” Jesus is about to be killed and they are arguing about – who is the greatest?

After three years the disciples still do not get who Jesus is or what he is about.

And in John’s Gospel, when Jesus tries to wash their feet, the disciples are uncomfortable with Jesus being a lowly servant.

Peter tells Jesus that he can never wash his feet.

Peter had his sights set on riding up front with Jesus in the victory parade into Jerusalem. And there was no way Peter was going to let Jesus act like a lowly servant and wash his feet.

For Peter, washing feet was left to the losers – not the winners. And Peter wanted to be a winner.

The most difficult thing in Jesus’ ministry – was trying to convince his disciples that he had come “to serve others”. He did not come to be served – but to lay down his life for his friends.

Jesus had all the power in the world at his disposal and yet for his last act with his disciples he chose a “towel and a basin” as his tools for advancing God’s work in the world.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once said – “you don’t have to have a college degree to serve. You don’t have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. You don’t have to know Einstein’s theory of relativity or the second theory of thermodynamics to serve. All you need is a heart full of love and a soul generated by grace. A person is great when that person is committed to serve.”

As Christians, Jesus gave us the tools we need to change the world.

• The Christian life is not about winning.
• It is not about being the greatest.
• It is not about getting the best job.
• It is not about making the most money.
• It is not about having the biggest house or nicest car or the most degrees behind your name.
• It is not about having the biggest church.
• It is not about having the biggest house or nicest car or the most degrees behind your name.

Those things have nothing to do with the Christian life.

What the Christian life is all about is learning to humbly serve others.

Jesus’ dramatic act of washing his disciple’s feet is all about our willingness to serve each other and to lay down our lives for one another.

When Jesus rises from the table, lays down his robe, girds himself with a towel, fills the basin with water, and washes the disciple’s feet – he is demonstrating in action what love means for his followers.

To love – is to serve others.

Loving others is not merely a matter of warm feelings – it is a matter of action.

Jesus gave his disciples this ritual of footwashing as a constant reminder for us not to lord it over each other or to seek our own way – but to serve and tenderly care for one another.

Just like the disciples argued over who has the most power and who will get the credit and who is the greatest – we Christians often struggle with these very same issues.

• Way too often we think “our way” of doing something is far superior to another person’s way and so we demand our way over theirs and we push our viewpoint over someone elses.
• Or we still think certain gifts in the church are more important than other gifts and callings. We tend to value the up front and more vocal gifts over the ones that operate behind the scenes.

And yet the behind the scenes gifts are usually the ones that keep everything together and help things function smoothly.

• And whether it is at home, or at work, or in the church – it is just as hard to find people willing to clean tables, wash dishes, sweep floors, and clean bathrooms as ever.

We would never say it, but we often think we are “above those kinds of jobs”. We tend to view those jobs – as jobs for someone else to do – our lives are too important to get our hands dirty.

• I know you find this hard to believe, but even when pastors get together – there is talk about how many members are in the church, how big the budget is, and what new things are happening.

It is all about who has the biggest and best church – as if those things are the most important ones.

• And for those of us who are married – one of the most difficult issues in a marriage is about who has power and how that power is used.

Instead of mutually submitting ourselves to one another out of love – which really means seeking the best for our spouse – we each tend to demand our way and we want to have “power over” the other one. We want to win the argument and get our way.

Instead of using our power to “come under” and serve our spouse – we try to get our way by lording it over them and demanding our rights.

• And too often today, the church follows the ways and tactics of our polarized political system to get the upper hand in winning an argument.

We are steeped in a culture of “who is the greatest? Who is the best? Who is the smartest? And a win at all costs kind of mentality.

It is a culture that demonizes your opponent and makes them so we can look good. Too often we find this thing happening in the church.

A couple of months ago I was talking with a man who felt strongly that the main issue the church needs to deal with today is abortion.

He called those who supported abortion – liberals and baby killers.

He argued that if you weren’t opposed to abortion you really couldn’t be Christian. And he told me he could never be part of a church that didn’t oppose abortion.

After some discussion I asked him – if he would be willing to wash the feet of those he disagreed with?

His response was – no way. He wanted nothing to do with a bunch of liberals.

Some time after that I had a discussion with another person who was lamenting how some Christians are so “one issue oriented” that they can’t even fellowship with those they disagree with.

This person, who was supportive of gay marriage, went on to call pro-life people fundamentalists and homophobes.

When I asked this person – would you be willing to wash the feet of a pro-lifer? The response was – no way. I want nothing to do with a bunch of fundamentalists.

Now, the issue for me this morning is not that we disagree over some of these important issues in the church – will disagree – but that we are so unwilling to wash the feet of those we disagree with.

Like our political system – the church is gridlocked. Because we think we are right and we want to win – it is easy to employ the tactics of “power over” others – instead of being willing to serve those we disagree with.

We would much rather lob verbal grenades at each other and stop fellowshipping with one another than to bend down and wash each others feet.

So, just like the disciples – we in the church can often be found arguing about who is the greatest, who is the best, who gets the credit, how can we win, and how can we make our opponent look small and ignorant so we can win.

At the Last Supper, as the disciples are arguing about who is the greatest and Judas is preparing to betray Jesus, Jesus responds to their “power over tactics” with a “power under” response.

For this Last Supper, which was the Jewish Passover Seder, Jesus is the host of this meal.

As host – Jesus gets to choose the seating arrangement.

Now, in those days they didn’t have chairs and sit at a table like we do today.

They sat on pillows on the floor in a horseshoe shaped configuration. And the places of honor at the meal were to sit on either side of the host.

So, Jesus had – John, the beloved disciple sit in front of him. Jesus, as host was in the second spot.

And then the next place, beside the host, was usually reserved for the honored guest.

For this special meal – for this Last Supper with his disciples – Jesus chose Judas to sit at the place of honor.

Now, Jesus already knows that Judas has gone to the authorities. Judas, upset because Jesus wasn’t who he thought he was going to be – went to the authorities and said – “how much will you pay me to turn Jesus over to you when the crowds are gone?

They offered him, in today’s money, about $10,000. Judas accepts the money and agrees to betray Jesus.

Now, here is the thing. Jesus knows all of this about Judas and yet he places Judas in the seat of honor right next to him at the meal.

Jesus has been teaching his disciples for three years about loving your enemy, turning the other cheek, going the second mile, not lording it over others, and serving your neighbor.

He has taught them these things but now he practices what he has been preaching.

Jesus puts his betrayer right beside him. Jesus serves him food. Jesus washes his feet. Jesus is respectful and kind to Judas. Jesus never stops loving Judas.

Jesus makes his betrayer the honored guest at the meal.

The question for us this morning is – How do you deal with your enemies? How do you treat those you disagree with? Do you avoid them? Do you give them the silent treatment? Do you seek revenge? Do you give them the evil eye? Do you demonize them? Do you make them feel small so you feel big?

Or do you honor them, love them, and wash their feet?

Jesus, knowing Judas was set to betray him – loved him anyway and washed his feet. Jesus did not reject Judas.

Jesus, knowing Peter would deny him three times – loved him until the end and washed his feet too. Jesus did not reject Peter.

Jesus washed the disciple’s feet – not so we could have a ritual to practice once a year on Maundy Thursday – but as an invitation to enter a life of serving one another.

It is our invitation to opt out of this culture of – who is the greatest? Who gets the credit? Who is the best?

Washing the disciple’s feet was not a “photo-op for Jesus. When the goal of service is to elevate the servant – it is not Christian service.

David Augsburger, in his book Dissident Discipleship, writes – “when service is primarily about me, it tends to seek the large need or opportunity, not the small one. It looks for publicity rather than preferring to stay hidden. It becomes selective, serving those who will offer advantage rather than those who offer nothing but their human need.”

Jesus lived to serve others – not for his benefit but for other people’s benefit.

A towel and a basin are the tools God gives us for how to advance the reign of God in the world. Jesus shows us that true greatness is found in serving.

After Jesus washed his disciple’s feet he said to them – “now that you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.”

Jesus says – blessed are you who do what I did! The “blessed life” is a life of serving others.

In many ways, I think, we would prefer to hear Jesus’ call to deny father and mother, houses, and land for the sake of the Gospel than to hear Jesus’ invitation to wash feet.

There is something more adventurous and glamorous about giving it all up for the Gospel. But serving others – washing feet – relegates us to the mundane, the ordinary, and the trivial.

There is nothing romantic about serving others. It is hard work and it can be draining.

And one of our greatest fears is that people will take advantage of us and walk all over us.

That could happen, but serving others is not about being a doormat. It doesn’t mean we don’t speak up and say what our needs are or what we want. It doesn’t mean we will all agree with each other.

It doesn’t mean we put up with physical, verbal or sexual abuse. Sometimes we need to leave our situations for a more wholesome environment.

But washing another person’s feet does mean we have to be willing to let go of our pride. It does mean we have to be willing to get our hands dirty. And it does mean we have to be willing to receive what others have to give.

Washing feet and serving others will always be a stumbling block to some and seen as pure foolishness to others. But Paul says that “God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.” (I Cor. 1:22-25)

Dr. Martin Luther King, in a Christmas day sermon in 1967, said this about love and service – “I have seen to much hate to want to hate, myself, and I’ve seen hate on the faces of too many sheriffs, too many white citizens councilors, and too many Klansman of the South to want to hate, myself; and every time I see it, I say to myself, hate is too great a burden to bear.

Somehow we must be able to stand up before our most bitter opponents and say – we will match your capacity to inflict suffering by our capacity to endure suffering. We will meet your physical force with soul force. Do to us what you will and we will still love you…. Throw us in jail and we will still love you. Bomb our homes and threaten our children and as difficult as it is, we will still love you.

….drag us out on some wayside road and leave us half-dead as you beat us, and we will still love you…..Be assured that we’ll wear you down by our capacity to suffer, and one day we will win our freedom. We will not only win freedom for ourselves; we will so appeal to your heart and conscience that we will win you in the process, and in our victory will be a double victory.”

Jesus says – “now that I have washed your feet – now that you know these things – blessed is the one who keeps on doing them.”

If you still wonder this morning who God is and how God acts in the world – look at Jesus washing his disciple’s feet.

The towel and the basin show us how God acts in the world and these are the tools God has given us, as well, to advance the reign of God in our homes, our churches, our communities and in our world.

May we come to see that what is truly important in life – is to love and serve others.