Third week on spiritual disciplines
o Prayer and devotion—Jesus wants a relationship with you and is waiting for you to spend some time with him
o Fasting—in the Bible God shows up when people fast. So, if we want to do one of the most effective things to get God to show up in our lives, we should fast (from food, from TV, from our vices)
o This week we are talking about Christian action. Now that can take a lot of forms. We could talk about loving our enemies, welcoming the stranger, helping the poor, caring for the orphan and the widow, providing for the homeless, the prostitutes, or the addicts. And we could even lean political and get into what the Bible says about things like immigration or caring for the refugees. But
instead, we are going to start with what I think is one of the most holy ways Jesus shows us to be like him.
• Jesus is gathered for Passover with his disciples. He knows this will be their last meal together before his death
• These are his friends. They've been together for 3 years. Living life, walking around, fishing, sharing meals, teaching people, learning their stories, teaching them about God's love and grace. They've struggled together, cared for one another.
• And now he knows that one is already ready to betray him. One will deny him over and over and over again. And he will face his death hurting and betrayed. He knows their hearts, their temptations and their weaknesses and sits down to this meal together.
• I don't know about you, but when I am anticipating a friend's failing...I don't normally want to stick around. I'd rather jump and run before they have a chance to hurt me. In high school and college I was the type to dump a boyfriend before he could dump me just so I didn't have to deal with the rejection.
• I don't want to be hurt. I don't want to be lied to. I don't want to be betrayed. So instead of sitting around waiting for it, I'd rather just get out before it happens. But that's just me.
• Jesus was a different kind of guy...which probably doesn't surprise anyone at this point. Jesus KNEW his friends would betray him. He KNEW it. And yet he stayed to share dinner with them. Now, he didn't just stay and eat. He wasn't all grumpy and miserable and testy waiting for someone to ask what was under his skin.
• Nope, he was there with love and grace, caring for them with the greatest of affection and care. He wasn't walled off. He opened his heart. He didn't tolerate them, he embraced them. So much so that they hardly knew something was up. They were just 13 guys sharing dinner together.
• And then he got up from the table, took off his robe, and began to wash their feet. One after the other.
o Now, maybe we have heard that story a time or two so it doesn't really surprise us that this is what he did. But I can tell you his disciples were surprised. This was not expected or even really kosher. Foot washing wasn't done by the rabbi, it was done by the servant. And it wasn't done in the middle of the meal, it was done when you first arrived.
Now, the Passover meal does include several acts of ritual hand washing, but what Jesus did was different. It would have caused the disciples to wonder what on earth was actually going on.
So Jesus is washing them one by one, and then he gets to Peter. Good ol' Peter. If you don't know, Peter is a hot head. He's brash and gruff and generally tends to act before he thinks. And when Jesus gets to him he immediately objects. You'll never wash me!
• So Jesus says, Peter, if I don't wash you, you have no part of me.
• To which Peter replies, well fine, but you'll have to do my hands and my head to.
• Jesus explains, Peter, I'm not trying to bathe you. You're already clean. This is something different. This is about letting me love you, about letting me serve you. Will you let me do that? Because if not, then you've completely missed who I am, what I'm about and what I'm here for.
• Jesus doesn't reply again. But we see in the scripture that Jesus finished washing all their feet. So at some point, Peter relented. Maybe muttering under his breath, but he let Jesus wash his feet.
• And when he was done, Jesus put his robe back on and sat down to continue with the meal. He didn't leave anything to the imagination. He didn't want his disciples to miss the point of his actions.
o "I have given you an example. As I have done, so you should do for each other."
o This wasn't just some nice thing Jesus did before he died. It wasn't meant to be a fond way for them to remember him. It was his example for them to follow.
• Interestingly, Jesus did this with two other things in scripture...participated in it and then asked the disciples to follow his lead:
o He was baptized by his cousin John and then told his disciples to go and make disciples of all the world baptizing in the name of the father, son and Holy Spirt.
o And after he washes their feet they continue with the Passover meal and he changes the meaning of both the bread and the wine. It becomes for us the ritual of communion. And he tells them to continue doing this practice, remembering him each time they eat the bread and drink the wine.
And these two holy acts become holy acts for the whole of the church...we call them sacraments and, as you know, they are practiced world wide in the church universal.
AND Jesus washed the disciples' feet and commanded them to do likewise...it's almost sacramental. =)