Holy Thursday, cycle A

JOHN 13:1-15
IN OUR CHURCH WE CELEBRATE SEVEN SACRAMENTS. MOST OF OUR PROTESTANT BROTHERS CELEBRATE TWO, BAPTISM AND THE EUCHARIST. MANY DENOMINATIONS HAVE RITES LIKE ORDINATION AND MARRIAGE WHICH THEY DO NOT CALL SACRAMENTS, BUT CONSIDER SACRED, NEVERTHELESS. BUT MOST CHRISTIAN BODIES DO NOT CELEBRATE THE WASHING OF FEET, EXCEPT ONCE A YEAR, IF THAT; AND CERTAINLY DON'T SEE IT AS A SACRAMENT. BUT JESUS TOLD HIS DISCIPLES TO DO THIS, JUST AS HE TOLD THEM TO CELEBRATE THE EUCHARIST, AND TO BAPTIZE ALL NATIONS. I WONDER WHY CHRISTIANS HAVEN'T MADE MUCH OF FOOT-WASHING? OBVIOUSLY, THE HOLY SPIRIT IS INVOLVED, AND HE GUIDES THE CHURCH, SO I'M NOT BEING CRITICAL HERE. BUT I CAN THINK OF SOME REASONS WHY FOOT WASHING NEVER CAUGHT ON LIKE THE SACRAMENTS AND OTHER SACRED RITES.
FIRST OF ALL, IT'S MESSY, AT LEAST THE WAY JESUS DID IT. IT WASN'T SYMBOLIC FOR JESUS. HE GOT DOWN ON HIS KNEES AND SCRUBBED THE FEET OF HIS DISCIPLES. THEY WERE DUSTY AND SMELLY, AND HE SET OUT TO CLEAN THEM. BY THE TIME HE GOT TO THE YOUNGEST APOSTLE, JOHN, THAT TOWEL HE HAD WRAPPED AROUND HIS WAIST MUST HAVE BEEN PRETTY DIRTY, AND THERE WAS PROBABLY A LOT OF WATER THAT HAD BEEN SPILLED ON THE FLOOR. IT WASN'T LIKE THE CEREMONY THAT WE ARE ABOUT TO WITNESS – IF YOU ARE SELECTED TO HAVE YOUR FEET WASHED, I'LL BET THEY ARE THE CLEANEST FEET IN THE CHURCH. THE SOCKS ARE NEW, AND MAYBE YOU'VE EVEN PUT AN ODOR EATER INTO THE SHOE.
SECOND, FOOT-WASHING IS INTIMATE. IN JESUS' TIME IT WAS SOMETHING A WIFE DID FOR HER HUSBAND AND NO ONE ELSE. IF YOU HAD A GUEST WHOM YOU WANTED TO HONOR, WASHING FEET WAS A WAY TO SHOW THAT HONOR – BUT SINCE IT WAS AN INTIMATE ACT, YOU HAD AN ANONYMOUS SERVANT DO IT. REMEMBER THE SHOCK THAT THE BYSTANDERS EXPERIENCED WHEN THE WOMAN WASHED JESUS' FEET – THE WOMAN WHO WAS A GREAT SINNER? THE INTIMACY THAT THIS IMPLIED IS WHAT UPSET THE PEOPLE WHO WITNESSED THIS ACT.
THIRD, FOOT-WASHING IS THREATENING. PETER RECOGNIZED THIS – LORD, YOU WILL NEVER WASH MY FEET! THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE WASHER AND THE WASHED IS CHANGED – IN REAL FOOT-WASHING, NOT IN THE SYMBOL. THE ONE BEING WASHED BECOMES VULNERABLE; IN OUR SOCIETY WHERE WE ALWAYS WEAR SOMETHING ON OUR FEET EXCEPT AT THE BEACH, TO REMOVE YOUR FOOTWEAR IN FRONT OF A STRANGER IS A LITTLE LIKE BEING NAKED, AND TO PUT YOUR FOOT IN SOMEONE'S HANDS IS TO GIVE UP A LITTLE OF YOUR AUTONOMY.
AND THAT IS JESUS' POINT. IF WE ARE TO WASH EACH OTHER'S FEET, THIS IMPLIES SOMETHING WE DO, AND SOMETHING WE HAVE DONE TO US. WE NEED TO WASH AND BE WASHED, WE NEED TO SERVE AND BE SERVED. IF ALL WE DO IS SERVE, WE ARE MAKING OURSELVES SUPERIOR TO THOSE WE SERVE. SO EVEN THOSE WHO ARE MODELS OF SERVICE MUST ALLOW THOSE THEY SERVE TO SERVE THEM. JESUS DID AFTER ALL BRING A NEW POLITICAL SYSTEM INTO BEING, ONE WHICH STILL HASN'T CAUGHT ON EXCEPT IN SOME MONASTERIES. IT IS NOT CAPITALISM AND IT IS NOT COMMUNISM. ONE NAME FOR IT IS COMMUNITARIANISM. THERE IS PRIVATE PROPERTY, THERE ARE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN PEOPLE IN TERMS OF TALENTS, LEADERSHIP, AND SO ON. BUT EACH PERSON PUTS WHAT IS HIS AT THE SERVICE OF THE OTHER, AND AT THE SAME TIME GLADLY ACCEPTS WHAT THE OTHER CAN GIVE HIM THAT HE DOES NOT HAVE. EVERYONE HAS SOMETHING SHE CAN GIVE, AND EVERYONE HAS SOMETHING SHE NEEDS FROM SOMEONE ELSE. IN JESUS' VISION, TRUE JOY COMES WHEN WE SERVE EACH OTHER.
AND REAL SERVICE IS MESSY. IF WE START OUT TO SERVE SOMEONE'S NEEDS, THE FIRST THING WE FIND OUT IS THAT WHAT WE THOUGHT WAS A NEED IS PROBABLY NOT THE REAL NEED. YOU BRING A HOT MEAL TO SOMEONE, AND NEXT THING YOU KNOW YOU ARE SITTING THERE LISTENING TO THAT PERSON TALKING, BECAUSE THE REAL NEED IS NOT THE MEAL, BUT AN ATTENTIVE EAR. AND IF YOU DECIDE TO VOLUNTEER TO TEACH FAITH FORMATION, IT WILL BE COMPLICATED BY INATTENTIVE KIDS AND DISINTERESTED PARENTS, AND YOU WILL FIND YOURSELF TEACHING MORE BY EXAMPLE THAN BY WORDS.
REAL SERVICE DEMANDS INTIMACY. TO REALLY SERVE SOMEONE, YOU NEED TO KNOW THEM MORE THAN SUPERFICIALLY, BECAUSE THAT IS THE ONLY WAY TO DISCOVER WHAT HE REALLY NEEDS FROM YOU. AND WHEN YOU SERVE SOMEONE, YOU SHOW HIM SOMETHING OF YOURSELF, SOMETIMES SOMETHING YOU'D RATHER HAVE KEPT HIDDEN.
AND REAL SERVICE THREATENS. YOU MAY MEET HOSTILITY. THE PERSON YOU ASSIST MAY TURN AROUND AND BETRAY YOU. THERE'S BEEN MORE THAN ONE GOOD SAMARITAN WHO GOT SUED BY THE PERSON HE HELPED, AND MORE THAN ONE PERSON WHO GOT TAKEN BY SOMEONE WHO TOOK ADVANTAGE OF HIS GENEROSITY.
MESSY, INTIMATE, AND THREATENING: AND THAT'S JUST WHEN YOU SERVE. WHEN YOU ARE THE ONE BEING SERVED, IT'S EVEN WORSE.
SO THERE ARE A LOT OF IMPLICATIONS IN THIS ACTION OF JESUS, THIS MOMENT WHEN HE TIED A TOWEL AROUND HIS WAIST AND KNELT ON THE FLOOR AND WASHED THOSE DIRTY FEET. AND IT'S EASY TO HEAR THIS GOSPEL BUT NOT QUITE REGISTER THOSE WORDS HE ADDRESSES TO THE DISCIPLES AND TO US: WASH EACH OTHER'S FEET.
TODAY WE CELEBRATE THE INSTITUTION OF THE PRIESTHOOD AND THE INSTITUTION OF THE HOLY EUCHARIST. WHEN YOU THINK OF THE SCRIPTURES WE HEARD TODAY, OR ALL THROUGH THE YEAR; WHEN YOU THINK OF THE RELATIONSHIP YOU HAVE WITH THE PERSON OF JESUS CHRIST, WHETHER IT IS BARELY THERE OR VERY DEEP AND INTIMATE; WHEN YOU THINK OF THE ONGOING EFFORT OF THE CHURCH, THE BODY OF CHRIST ON EARTH, TO REMAKE THE WORLD INTO THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN DESPITE SETBACKS AND ALL-TOO-HUMAN LEADERS AND LUKEWARM FOLLOWERS, IT IS THE PRIESTHOOD AND THE EUCHARIST THAT HOLD THE ENTERPRISE TOGETHER, THAT TRANSMIT THE TEACHINGS OF OUR LORD, THAT BRING HIS PRESENCE BEFORE US SUNDAY AFTER SUNDAY. THE PRIESTHOOD IS NOTHING WITHOUT THE EUCHARIST, AND THE EUCHARIST CANNOT BE WITHOUT THE PRIESTHOOD. A TRUE PRIEST IS THE VERY IMAGE OF JESUS SERVING HIS DISCIPLES, AND A MODEL FOR OUR OWN CALL TO SERVICE.
SO LET US GO FORTH TONIGHT RECOGNIZING THAT CALL TO SERVE, AND THAT CALL TO BE SERVED; LET US GO RESOLVED TO MAKE THIS COMMUNITY OF SAINT MARY'S AN EXAMPLE TO EVERYONE OF HOW JESUS WANTS US TO LIVE. LET US FOLLOW THAT EXAMPLE OF TRUE SERVICE, MESSY, INTIMATE, AND THREATENING – BUT WHEN WE GET IT RIGHT, WE FIND THAT JESUS LIVES IN US, AND WE MEET HIM IN THOSE WE SERVE. WHAT COULD BE BETTER THAN THAT?