St. Paul’s Church in
Bergen & Church of the Incarnation
March 29, 2018
Maundy Thursday
Exodus 12:1-14
Psalm 116: 1, 10-17
1 Corinthians
11:23-26
John 13:1-17, 31b-35
Getting Jesus
As
most, if not all, of you know, before I was a priest I was a teacher.
I’d
like to think I was a good teacher but, as hard as you and I may find this to
believe, sometimes, probably for a bunch of different reasons, my students just
didn’t “get” what I was trying to teach them.
That
was often very disappointing and frustrating for all involved – and at the end
of each semester this “not getting” became a pressing issue when my students
faced their exams.
In
a last ditch attempt to help them out, like most teachers I’d offer an exam
review where I’d try to squeeze a whole lot of material into just a couple of
hours, when I’d make one last ditch attempt to help my students “get” what I
thought was most important.
And,
probably thanks to all of those years in the classroom, that’s how I always
think of the Last Supper.
One of the most
consistent themes throughout the Gospels is that most of the time the disciples
just didn’t “get” Jesus.
Although
they clearly spent a lot of time with Jesus – although they must have heard the
same parables and teachings over and over – although they saw with their own
eyes so many signs and wonders – although all of that and more – very often the
disciples – Jesus’ closest friends and followers – just didn’t get him and what
he was trying to teach.
This
failure to “get” Jesus must have been frustrating all around.
It probably wasn’t
surprising to the Lord – but in the gospels we can hear his exasperation slip
out from time to time.
Now,
it’s easy for us to stand in judgment of those first disciples who didn’t get
it, but, let’s be honest, Jesus was and is often hard to understand, his
teachings were and are mysterious, difficult to accept – and after two thousand
years much of it we still clearly don’t get, or maybe just choose to
ignore.
Those
who love their life will lose it and those who hate their life in this world
will gain eternal life.
In
the Kingdom of God, it’s the poor and the hungry and the mourners and the
hated, who are blessed.
Love
your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.
Forgive
not seven times, but seventy times seven times.
Got
all of that?
Out
of all the disciples, it’s lovable but oh-so-flawed Peter who messes up the
most. Ironically, it’s the leader – the Rock – who fails to get Jesus – and,
say what you want about him, he’s consistent right to the end.
Tonight
we heard the story of the Last Supper as found in the Gospel of John –
different in many ways from the other gospels. It’s John alone who offers us
this powerful image of Jesus washing the feet of his closest friends.
When
Peter realizes what Jesus is proposing to do, he is highly offended by the idea
of his Lord stooping to a task as lowly as washing feet and, as we heard, he
wants none of it.
Still,
even after all this time, Peter doesn’t get that Jesus has come into the world
not to lord it over us but to serve us.
But,
who can blame Peter for not getting that, right?
So,
like a teacher straining to be clear, Jesus is blunt with Peter, using language
that sounds a lot like Baptism:
“Unless
I wash you, you have no share with me.”
That
stark warning seems to work – the light bulb goes off above Peter’s head:
“Lord
not only my feet but my hands and my head!”
At
least for the moment, Peter “gets” Jesus.
Foot-washing
is a seemingly simple act, but it represents the kind of service that Jesus
offers to us and models for us, it represents the love that we are meant to
share with one another, the love that is supposed to be the hallmark of our
Christian faith, and it reminds us also of our Baptism, when we “get” Jesus in
a deep and permanent way.
At
the Last Supper in the other gospels there’s the story we retell week after
week: Jesus takes and blesses the bread and wine and tells his friends that
this is his Body and Blood and we are to gather forever in remembrance of him.
Each
time we gather at the Lord’s Table we “get” Jesus.
We
know that the Last Supper is not the end of the story.
We
know that despite having their feet washed and despite eating the bread and
drinking the wine – despite “getting” Jesus, the disciples are about to fail
Jesus terribly – Peter most of all when he denies three times even knowing
Jesus.
And,
of course, we fail Jesus all the time, too.
And
yet, the Good News for Peter and the first disciples - and the good news for us
- is that despite our failures, despite not always passing our tests, once
we’ve gotten Jesus in Baptism and once we’ve gotten Jesus in the Bread and the
Wine, we get him forever, no matter what.
Amen.
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