The Church of St.
Paul & Incarnation, Jersey City NJ
April 18, 2019
Maundy Thursday
Exodus 12:1-4, 11-14
Psalm 116:1, 10-17
1 Corinthians
11:23-26
John 13:1-17, 31b-35
As Shadows Lengthen
On
Sunday we retold the story of Jesus’ betrayal, arrest, torture, and death.
And,
so, if you were here then, tonight may be a little disorienting because we’ve backed
up just a little – we’ve backed up just a little to retell the story of the
Last Supper of Jesus and his disciples.
All
four gospels tell the story of the Last Supper, though they tell it in somewhat
different ways, which is to be expected since they were dependent on the
memories of people who must have been caught up in the moment and not so
concerned with keeping an exact record of what occurred that night.
But,
we know all that we really need to know.
We know that Jesus
and his closest followers and friends were in Jerusalem for the most sacred
feast of Passover – a time when the Jewish people deeply remember and celebrate
that God had liberated them from slavery.
Passover
was and is a sacred time and also a joyful time for Jews – but the mood was
decidedly different that night among Jesus and his friends.
Throughout
his ministry, Jesus had warned his friends about what was going to happen to
him – and the disciples either didn’t understand or, more likely, chose not to
understand – just as we all tend to look away from news that is just too hard
to bear.
And
now, the days of Jesus traveling from town to town teaching and healing have
come to an end.
We have moved from
light to lengthening shadows.
So, that night in
Jerusalem there was a sense of urgency, a sense of time running out, a sense
that, as best as he can, Jesus must teach these last, most important lessons -
before it’s too late.
And,
Jesus the Great Teacher knows that we learn from actions far better than we
remember just words.
So,
to everyone’s shock – especially poor Peter who as usual just doesn’t get it, at
least not right away – Jesus got up from the table and began to wash the feet
of his friends.
Even
now it’s a very lowly, uncomfortable, and even intimate act of service – awkward
for the one washing, and the one being washed.
Footwashing is a
lowly, uncomfortable, and intimate act of service – one that nobody was likely
to ever forget – it would be a lowly act of service for anyone but especially
for the Son of God!
And,
Jesus says – no, more than that, he commands - that this is how
we are to care for one another.
We
his followers are to offer lowly and loving service, especially to those who
can never wash our feet - those who can never pay us back.
That’s
why we feed the hungry.
That’s
why we shelter the homeless.
That’s
why we strive to welcome and love absolutely everybody who walks through our
doors.
That’s
why tomorrow morning we’ll carry the cross through the streets of Jersey City, stopping
to pray and bless at places of pain and sorrow.
And
then the second lesson that Jesus offered that night is the one that is much
more familiar to us – the lesson that we retell and reenact every time we
gather at the Lord’s Table.
Jesus took the
bread and the wine, blessed it, broke it, and gave it to his friends, telling
them and us that this is how we are to remember him.
It’s
probably no surprise that, although a few Christians have continued the
practice of footwashing, and we’ll do just that in a moment, most have not made
it a regular practice.
But,
as St. Paul writes to the Corinthians, pretty much from the start, Christians
gathered around the table with the Bread and the Wine, not just remembering and
receiving the presence of Jesus.
But,
especially in a time of shadow, the truth is that we need both – we need to
offer loving service and we need to gather at the table to receive the holy
food and drink.
Especially
as shadows lengthen, these are the most important lessons of all.
Amen.
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