Panzer Liturgical Service
Exodus 12:1-4, (5-10), 11-14 • Psalm 116:1-2, 12-19
We call this day Maundy Thursday. It’s a unique descriptor for the Holy Thursday, taken from the Latin word mandatum, which means mandate or commandment. Paul uses this theme in tonight’s epistle reading – “Do this in the remembrance of me.” The synoptic gospels, Matthew, Mark, & Luke, give us the historical account and the rubrics for this last supper – the one we reenact each week in the Eucharist. But the gospel of John fills in all the blanks. John’s account of the evening, found in chapters 13-17, gives us a significant look at Jesus’ theology… his understanding of who he is and who we are when we follow him. Yes, Jesus at the last supper gives us a mandate, but it’s not just to share this holy meal often.
Tonight, we see Jesus once again acting against stereotype. We talked last Sunday about how Jesus is a different kind of King. Instead of riding into Jerusalem on a powerful horse, he comes in on a humble colt or donkey, transportation for the poor. And when they arrive at the room for a simple supper, he again acted in an unexpected way.
In the normal order of things, Kings don’t wait on people. So, when Jesus takes off his outer garments and makes things ready to wash the feet of his disciples, they were shocked, so much that Peter confronts Jesus about his actions:
Peter: Lord, you’re not going to wash my feet…
Jesus: Peter, I have to wash your feet.
Peter: Well, then, wash my head and my hands also
Jesus: Just your feet, Peter… pay attention, this is not just about being clean.
It was common practice for guests to have their feet washed up entry into a person’s home. Most travelers wore sandals and the roads were dusty and dirty. Cleaning feet was a way of keeping the home clean, but also an act of hospitality for the traveler, to make their visit more comfortable. But usually, it was the servants who performed this duty, not the host himself. And so, for Jesus to put himself into that lesser role would have been an extremely dramatic and uncomfortable thing to witness.
Of course, this was nothing new. Jesus often tried to teach the disciples humility. Sometimes they got the message, but more often forgot to consider it all in the big picture. Washing their feet was an ultimate act of service. And afterward, he commanded them to continue the practice of serving one another, and not to wait on someone else to serve them.
We don’t often wash one another’s feet these days… in most mainline traditions, this Maundy Thursday service is the only time that this part of Jesus’ story is reenacted. Touching another person’s feet feels very intimate. I think it makes both people feel very vulnerable. And as with many of the things that Jesus asks of us, when we are open to that vulnerability, we are open to the Christian life in ways we might not have imagined before.
More than anything, Jesus’ actions tonight teach us important lessons that should inform the way we relate to other people and live out our faith every day.
1st lesson – Hospitality is an important manifestation of our faith. Jesus not only calls us to welcome people into our lives but also to meet the needs that they have. One of the things that I love about having German friends is the way that hospitality is lived out in many routine encounters. When we get together with our German neighbors or friends from our village band, certain rituals are always followed. First, you shake hands or hug every person who enters the group. You greet them with a phrase like “Grüß dich!” Or “Grüß Gott!” And then usually a question, “Wie ghets?” “How’s it going?” “Es ghets mir gut” or “Gut, Danke” “I’m doing fine.” And then someone will offer you something to drink… which you are not supposed to turn down. And when you leave, you don’t just say goodbye to the host and guest of honor, but to everyone you have had a conversation with during this encounter. “Danke für die Einladung – thank you for the invitation” and “Bis bald! – see you soon.”
When we first encountered these rituals, it felt very personal… very intimate… and very foreign. But they have taught me a lot about what hospitality is all about. And what a glad burden it is to be in relationship with other people.
2nd lesson – This encounter teaches us that no job of service is too lowly for any of us. We applaud people like Mother Theresa who served in the worst slums of India and think of that as a special calling reserved only for those who are the holiest believers. I’m certainly no Mother Theresa because I must confess that sometimes I feel like God has called me to ministry that doesn’t take my strengths into account.
At one church we attended, I felt guilted into helping with the homeless shelter for families the church hosted every other month. But they were in a bind and I couldn’t think of a plausible excuse to get out of helping. Silly me. In the end, the small acts of service that I performed, like helping people make up their beds, or cleaning the showers, or preparing breakfast the next morning, were incidental to the way I heard people talk about their lives and struggles. I saw how this ministry was giving families a second or third or fourth chance at life. Did I need a seminary education to do this job? No. But it did remind me that ministry isn’t just about teaching theology or biblical study. Ministry is also about meeting people’s needs so that they are ready to tackle discipleship in whatever ways they can.
Washing feet helps to remember that we, too, are called to be a different kind of people, ones who gladly receive and serve, as Christ has called us to do. This reminds me of a quote from practical theologian, Henri Nouwen: You don't think your way into a new kind of living - you live your way into a new kind of thinking.
Washing other people’s feet was the most astonishing act of service that Jesus ever did. He presided over a meal that unites us all at the same table… one bread, one body, one Lord… And in the next 24 hours, he was arrested, tried, beaten, stripped, and killed as his ultimate acts of service to all of humankind. And because we know the rest of the story, even as we approach the darkness of Good Friday or Karfreitag (Grief Friday in German), we see the resurrection on the horizon and know that Jesus’ ministry was not stopped by his death.
Some people do need to have their feet washed – the elderly, the sick, and others who cannot do this for themselves. But the real lesson here is that we should all be humble enough to do for others, serving out of love and devotion to God.
Jesu, Jesu, fill us with your love,
show us how to serve
the neighbors we have from you.
I wish that we could wash each other’s feet tonight. But Jesus understands. I continue to believe that wearing our masks, washing our hands, taking the vaccine when it is offered to us, and not taking unnecessary risks for being exposed to or passing on an undiagnosed infection with COVID-19 are worthy acts of service in our current environment.
Jesus calls us to serve. Our life’s mission is to see that while those acts of service may change from season to season, the underlying love is always the place from which we begin. Remember, we love because God first loved us. So let us serve the world in love. Amen.
Let us pray:
The basin and the towel are signs to us of your Son’s servanthood.
You have made us partakers of Christ and of one another.
As we live out our call to service, give us grace
to count others more important than ourselves,
to love our enemies,
to make peace.
Send the Spirit of truth to keep alive in us what Jesus taught and did,
that our words may carry his good news, and
that our lives may bear the shape of the cross
of the One who lives and reigns with You and with the Holy Spirit,
One God, forever and ever. Amen.
— adapted from A Footwashing Liturgy by Reggie M. Kidd.
https://re-worship.blogspot.com/2012/02/closing-prayer-footwashing_28.html
2021 – with COVID-19 restrictions still in place, we did not come forward to wash feet, but I leave this rubric in place as a reminder of the attitude desired of us when we come to serve one another.
While we go about the ritual of foot or handwashing, please remember that this is a symbolic act of devotion. We will only wash and dry one hand or foot, and no one is required to participate. After your foot or hand has been washed, please follow through by washing the hand or foot of the person who follows you. We have clean water in the bottles that you can pour as needed, and small towels for drying.
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