24 March 2016
St. Athanasius Lutheran Church
Holy Maundy Thursday
Vienna, VA
Jesu Juva
“He Came to Wash Sinners
Clean”
Text: John 13:1-15; 1
Corinthians 11:23-32; Exodus 12:1-14
Grace, mercy, and peace
to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Saviour
Jesus Christ.
Amen.
I think it is hard for us to understand just how
shocking that night was for the disciples, when Jesus got down on His hands and
knees and began washing their feet. One by one, He goes around the table,
carefully, lovingly, wiping the grime of the day from between their toes and
from the soles of their feet. Each disciple, slightly embarrassed, yet marvelling at the same time.
Their Lord, the Messiah, doing this, for them.
And then He gets to Peter. He wasn’t the first,
but I wonder if he was last - if Peter had been watching Jesus wash all the
others’ feet, all twenty-two of them, and now He was kneeling before him. Lord
do you wash my feet? No, this was not right! It sounds a
little John the Baptisty, doesn’t it? When Jesus was
then doing when wasn’t expected, coming to be baptized, and John objected. I
wonder if Peter didn’t pull his feet back at that moment, away from Jesus. No, you
shall never wash my feet. Or even more accurately that would be: You
shall never, ever, not today, not tomorrow, not ever, not if we were the only
two people left on earth! wash my feet. Peter
really meant it. This was not the Lord’s work.
Except it was. This is exactly what
Jesus had come to do. And so He says: If I do not wash you, you have no
share with me. At that point, Peter, probably scared by those words,
relents, and even more, wants Jesus to wash him entirely - head to toe! Jesus,
perhaps, chuckled a bit at that, and then explained further: Peter, you
don’t need a bath. You just need this cleansing.
For it is the Lord’s work to cleanse, to wash. It
is to get down on His hands and knees and serve sinners. It is to get on the
cross and serve sinners. It is to serve sinners His Body and Blood. For this
cleansing: that we who are sinful and unclean, might
be clean. That our worst grime, our worst sins, be washed away by Jesus. That
not just the dirt of our bodies, but the sins of our souls be washed away.
So this night, when Jesus knew that his
hour had come to depart out of this world and to the Father, when the
hour of His death had come, He serves them one more time. The foot washing
service, His. The meal, His. This is His night. To serve them. To love them to the end.
How would you have reacted, had you been there
that night?
Would you have been like Peter, pulling back from
Jesus’ washing? Perhaps, for haven’t you already done so?
Holding back something of yourself from Jesus. Not
wanting to let go of but hold onto grudges or hurts, to use later. Trying to
hold onto your pride, your complaints, what you think you are entitled to or
deserve, or some sins you like? Yes, pulling back, like Peter.
Or would you have been like Judas, harboring sin
in your heart even while your feet are being washed? We do that too, don’t we?
Plotting revenge, dwelling on past sins against you that you are unwilling to forgive.Thinking about how you can get your way. Or doubting Jesus’ claims of love and care because things don’t
seem to be working out right at all.
Our hearts, they need cleansing too.
So tonight, look at Jesus. With none of that in His
heart - only love for you. With no motive except to cleanse
you. Only wanting to serve you, give Himself
for you and to you, and give you His gift of forgiveness. How different His
heart than ours!
And so He washed your feet earlier. Not outwardly
but inwardly. Just as you were once bathed in the water of Holy Baptism, so
tonight He washed away the grime that you collected today in your life - the
sins of thought, word, deed, and desire, your sins of commission and omission,
your stupid and petty sins and your big and horrible sins, the sins you are too
ashamed to tell your pastor or anyone else - all washed away as He washed you
with His Absolution: I forgive you all your sins. Jesus
serving you.
But there’s even more. For on this night, Jesus
not only gave His disciples this example of service, this foreshadowing of the
washing and cleansing He has come to provide and is going to the cross to
provide, He gave them His Supper as well. The food of His own
Body and Blood. Food for both our bodies and our
souls. To nourish all of us with Himself. To share His life with us. To forgive us and have His
forgiveness live in us. That we not pull back or
harbor sin, but be partakers of His new covenant, receiving His inheritance and
the promise of life. This is His Passover, in His blood. That
with His blood marking us, death pass us over.
So let a person examine himself,
Paul says, and judge himself truly. That’s not easy to do. Not
because it’s so difficult, but because the judgment is not a good one: I am
a poor, miserable sinner. But it’s good, for tonight we see that Jesus has
come to dwell with sinners. Jesus has come to serve sinners. Jesus has come to
cleanse sinners. And so judgment is overcome with gift: This is my body
which is for you. This cup is the new covenant in my blood. The body that once washed feet. The body
that hung on the cross. The blood that poured from His
head and hands and feet and side. Here, for you. The
forgiveness, His. The meal, Him. To love you to the end.
But to what end? The end
of His life? No, for He will not stay dead, but rise. The
end of your life? Not that either. But to this end, this purpose:
to raise you to a new life with Him. To give you a new heart, a new spirit; to
make you a new person, even now; and to raise you to a life which will have no
end. For that end He was born. For that end He got on His hands and knees. For
that end He laid down His life on the cross. And for that end He is here with
His service for you.
And He who has given such love to us, bids us so
to love one another. To wash one another’s feet. Maybe literally! But maybe also in other forms of service or sacrifice or
forgiveness. Not out of compulsion, but willingly. Not because you have
to, but freely. Not because there are any prizes or points attached to it, but
because that’s where Christ is, and you live in Him. And not in being served,
but in such service, you will find your life.
So look to Jesus tonight, here serving you; here
being served to you. His amazing heart and love holds nothing back, harbors no
ulterior motives, but gives all He is and all He has for you. He goes to the
cross for you. To love you to the end.
And with such service, such a sacrifice, you do
have a share with Him. For you are washed, you are clean, you are fed, you are
His.
In the Name of the
Father, and of the (+) Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.