Readings for the Day:
Sermon:
The summer before I came here to St. Paul's, I was working at Holy Comforter
in Atlanta. It's a church that has a congregation made up primarily of people who
live with some for of mental illness.
Now unfortunately because their mental illness left them vulnerable, several of the member at Holy Comforter lived in subpar housing. So they weren't really cared for well. This meant they often had old, rarely washed clothes. And I saw many of them with shoes that looked like they could fall apart at any moment.
Holy Comforter provided care and activities for these members throughout the week. And every so often there would be a clothes drive. And a foot clinic.
I remember one member quite vividly, we'll call him Joe. Joe lived within a mile of the church, and while we had a van that would come pick him up, he often needed to get up and move earlier than we could get by, so there were several times he would just walk to the church. He had one of the most worn down pairs of shoes, and I think the only time I ever saw him with clean socks without any holes in them was when a volunteer at the weekday program gave him a new pair of socks.
And there was his feet themselves. He rarely got his toenails cut, so they would often start to curl. The rest of his feet looked battered, bruised, and beaten from all the days he would walk to the church on his own. I am certain that it was only sheer will that helped him keep on walking most days.
His feet were quite difficult to look at. And yet for these foot clinics Holy Comforter would put on, I saw trained nurses and physicians carefully take off his shoes and socks, trim his toenails, and massage his feet. I remember thinking "this is just about the greatest act of kindness you can do for another person. To massage their dirty, beaten down feet."
The name for our service today has to with such an act of kindness. Maundy means "Mandate" or "Command." Just as Jesus gives his disciples in our reading a new commandment: "Just as I have loved you, you should love one another."
This commandment is placed right after Jesus washes his disciples' feet. Because that action shows just how much Jesus loves His disciples.
A good host, in ancient times, would provide water for his guests to wash their feet. Because unlike us, they did not have closed-toed shoes back then. There was nothing to keep the dust and the elements from clinging to your feet back then. And their soles of their sandals would not have been the comfortable, rubberized soles we wear today. I often wonder how many of the disciples had feet that were in just as bad of condition, or worse, than Joe's feet were at Holy Comforter.
Now unfortunately because their mental illness left them vulnerable, several of the member at Holy Comforter lived in subpar housing. So they weren't really cared for well. This meant they often had old, rarely washed clothes. And I saw many of them with shoes that looked like they could fall apart at any moment.
Holy Comforter provided care and activities for these members throughout the week. And every so often there would be a clothes drive. And a foot clinic.
I remember one member quite vividly, we'll call him Joe. Joe lived within a mile of the church, and while we had a van that would come pick him up, he often needed to get up and move earlier than we could get by, so there were several times he would just walk to the church. He had one of the most worn down pairs of shoes, and I think the only time I ever saw him with clean socks without any holes in them was when a volunteer at the weekday program gave him a new pair of socks.
And there was his feet themselves. He rarely got his toenails cut, so they would often start to curl. The rest of his feet looked battered, bruised, and beaten from all the days he would walk to the church on his own. I am certain that it was only sheer will that helped him keep on walking most days.
His feet were quite difficult to look at. And yet for these foot clinics Holy Comforter would put on, I saw trained nurses and physicians carefully take off his shoes and socks, trim his toenails, and massage his feet. I remember thinking "this is just about the greatest act of kindness you can do for another person. To massage their dirty, beaten down feet."
The name for our service today has to with such an act of kindness. Maundy means "Mandate" or "Command." Just as Jesus gives his disciples in our reading a new commandment: "Just as I have loved you, you should love one another."
This commandment is placed right after Jesus washes his disciples' feet. Because that action shows just how much Jesus loves His disciples.
A good host, in ancient times, would provide water for his guests to wash their feet. Because unlike us, they did not have closed-toed shoes back then. There was nothing to keep the dust and the elements from clinging to your feet back then. And their soles of their sandals would not have been the comfortable, rubberized soles we wear today. I often wonder how many of the disciples had feet that were in just as bad of condition, or worse, than Joe's feet were at Holy Comforter.
But notice that a good host only needed to provide the water. Just as we shy away from feet in this day and age, so people shied away from feet in ancient times. They were dirty and gross. So dirty and gross that not even a servant was required to wash the master's feet.
What Jesus, then, is doing for the disciples is an act that not even most servants would perform. It is the an act of love and self-giving to stoop so low as to take care of the most vulnerable and dirty part of the body. It is an act of love that is only surpassed by Jesus humbling Himself for all of humanity by dying on the cross for us.
And then when Jesus is finished, He calls His disciples to do the same. To follow His own example as they go out into the world. For them to wash each other's feet.
Jesus is calling them to follow His example and serve others with the same love as He had for them. The love of One who would stoop to wash the feet of those who, by all accounts, should be serving Him. The love of one who would rather humble himself to take care of the needs of others. The love of one who would die for his friends.
Like the disciples, we too are called to emulate the love Jesus has for us in the world. We are called to get down in the nitty and gritty to show others that we care. And sometimes, we are called to put aside our own lives even as a sacrifice to help others.
We are called to love with the same love of the One who washed His own servants feet. Who died for you and for me. That is the command given to us tonight to follow forevermore.