jesus teaches us vulnerability: maundy thursday

the holy gospel according to john, the 13^th chapter.  glory to you, o lord.

now before the festival of the passover, jesus knew that his hour had come to depart from this world and go to the father. having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. ²the devil had already put it into the heart of judas son of simon iscariot to betray him. and during supper ³jesus, knowing that the father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from god and was going to god, ⁴got up from the table, took off his outer robe, and tied a towel around himself. ⁵then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was tied around him. ⁶he came to simon peter, who said to him, “lord, are you going to wash my feet?” ⁷jesus answered, “you do not know now what i am doing, but later you will understand.” ⁸peter said to him, “you will never wash my feet.” jesus answered, “unless i wash you, you have no share with me.” ⁹simon peter said to him, “lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!” ¹⁰jesus said to him, “one who has bathed does not need to wash, except for the feet, but is entirely clean. and you are clean, though not all of you.” ¹¹for he knew who was to betray him; for this reason he said, “not all of you are clean.”

¹²after he had washed their feet, had put on his robe, and had returned to the table, he said to them, “do you know what i have done to you? ¹³you call me teacher and lord—and you are right, for that is what i am. ¹⁴so if i, your lord and teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. ¹⁵for i have set you an example, that you also should do as i have done to you. ¹⁶very truly, i tell you, servants are not greater than their master, nor are messengers greater than the one who sent them. ¹⁷if you know these things, you are blessed if you do them.

“now the son of man has been glorified, and god has been glorified in him. ³²if god has been glorified in him, god will also glorify him in himself and will glorify him at once. ³³little children, i am with you only a little longer. you will look for me; and as i said to the jews so now i say to you, ‘where i am going, you cannot come.’ ³⁴i give you a new commandment, that you love one another. just as i have loved you, you also should love one another. ³⁵by this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

the gospel of the lord.  praise to you, o christ.

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i don’t know about you, but i don’t like feet.  yes, they are quite useful—they help me get around, i can put socks and shoes on them to help keep me warm, and they can help me count past ten,                        but really… i just don’t like them.

i feel like they’re always dirty.  they’re always so close to the dirt and grime of the ground—and that’s how i feel even when i have socks and shoes on to protect them, so i can hardly imagine being a disciple back then!  you spend all day walking around in sandals—no socks, no tennis, no paved streets or sidewalks.  your feet have got to be filthy!  definitely not something to show off to friends.

then jesus comes along and not only does he want to see and touch your feet, he wants to clean them!  it’s one thing to have a servant, who is lower than you, touch and clean your feet.  that’s the custom, and, after all, you don’t interact with them outside of that context.  they’re not in your peer group, so you don’t see them.

but jesus?!

not only do you regularly interact with him, he’s your rabbi!  he is your teacher and lord.  now, if he’s your rabbi, according to custom, you should be following him so closely that you step in everything he steps in, so he should already know what kind of dust covers your feet because it’s his dust. 

but what about judas, whose feet carry the dust of betrayal?  or peter, whose feet carry the dust of his impulsive actions and reactions and, as jesus knows, will soon carry the dust of denial?  or the other disciples who try to keep the children and the lepers away from jesus?  i’m willing to bet that jesus could tell a lot about a person by touching or cleaning their feet.

ultimately jesus is teaching us and the rest of his followers: love.  this whole story from foot washing to the greatest commandment is a story of love.  many people also think that jesus is teaching his disciples to be servants, and that’s part of it—part of what love is—but what i think he’s really trying to teach them is more of a prerequisite to love and service—something that has to happen before service can be genuine or love received.  

it’s something you can only learn by doing.  that is, vulnerability.  because love and service are vulnerable and how vulnerable is it             to have jesus cleanse the dirtiest part of you?  to clean off the dirt accumulated when you strayed off the path, away from jesus and the rest of the group?  to clean the cracks, calluses, and blisters accumulated from a life of living and walking in the dry climate of 1^st century palestine?

jesus teaches his disciples vulnerability by putting them in the position of being vulnerable.  it’s not an anything goes, outrageous vulnerability. 

jesus tempers both peter’s imbalanced desires: first his desire to be free from vulnerability as he refuses to have his feet washed and then his desire for extreme vulnerability as he wants all of himself to be washed.  jesus is teaching his followers not only appropriate vulnerability, but also a familiarity with and willingness to be vulnerable.

jesus teaches his followers vulnerability so that they can live differently in the world because it is through vulnerability that love can truly be felt.  jesus’ greatest command is that we love one another as jesus has loved us.  when jesus’ followers can be vulnerable, their connections with others can deepen and their love and service are more meaningful. 

they will be able to pass on their vulnerability and honor it as they interact with others who have been made vulnerable because of uncontrollable life circumstances.  those who are poor and marginalized have no choice in the vulnerability they feel, they are forced into vulnerability. 

yet jesus’ followers will know how to be vulnerable with them, to accompany them.  even if they don’t know what it’s like for the individuals they meet who are made vulnerable by others, they will know the gift and strength of being vulnerable together rather than alone.

jesus teaches them vulnerability with the same purpose that he teaches us vulnerability through communion.  the act of coming to receive communion is vulnerable.  we come before god and each other, beginning with confession of our sins—confession of the dust we carry on our feet and in our hearts that is not the dust of our rabbi, jesus.  we begin with vulnerability through confession and continue as we come to the Table. 

this vulnerability to come to the Table, declares to all those gathered that we need the nourishment and sustenance of jesus.  we come knowing our sins.  knowing the parts of ourselves that we think are the dirtiest or meanest or most sinful.  even our physical posture is vulnerable as we stop and kneel, lowering ourselves, and looking up, hands out, to receive communion.

i’ve been spending time with our young people as they prepare to receive communion and i continue to be amazed as they quickly grasp what it’s all about.  they know that god provides communion.  and when we’ve talked about who can come to the Table for communion, it took no time at all for the class to point out that you don’t have to be perfect to come for communion, because if we had to be perfect, then no one could come, no one could receive communion.  that’s what we say when we come to receive jesus at the Table.  we say that we are not perfect.  we are sinners and we need jesus.  we cannot do it on our own.

the kids of this congregation get it.  they get that we come to communion precisely because we are not perfect.  we come because we sin and even as we know that we are both sinner and saint, we trust god to be at work in communion, strengthening us and nourishing us not by bread alone, but by the very word of god. 

in that combination of god’s word proclaimed and bread and wine given we receive Grace—god’s love.  we are vulnerable and in our vulnerability god loves all of us, even down to our stinky feet, and gives us Grace.

we come to the Table clear that we need jesus and just like judas and peter and all the followers gathered around the table that night so long ago, we receive the bread and wine, Body and Blood            now,                         trusting that it will be enough to sustain us through our betrayals and denials, to get us through the pain and sorrow of the garden, the crucifixion, and the death, and safely to the other side.

knowing all that is to come, jesus nourishes us at the Table now.  jesus teaches us to be vulnerable now.  and jesus loves us now.  so that as we go out we can be vulnerable in love and service with others.

amen.