“His Betrayal, Our Failure”

Meditation on John 13 (selected verses)

Maundy Thursday 2015

    “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. The devil had already put it into the heart of Judas son of Simon Iscariot to betray him. And during supper Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going to God, got up from the table, took off his outer robe, and tied a towel around himself. Then 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. He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, ‘Lord, are you going to wash my feet?’ Jesus answered, ‘You do not know now what I am doing, but later you will understand.’ Peter said to him, ‘You will never wash my feet.’ Jesus answered, ‘Unless I wash you, you have no share with me.’

     Simon Peter said to him, ‘Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!’ Jesus 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.’ For he knew who was to betray him; for this reason he said, ‘Not all of you are clean.’

      After 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? You call me Teacher and Lord—and you are right, for that is what I am. So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you. 

     …Very truly, I tell you, whoever receives one whom I send receives me; and whoever receives me receives him who sent me.’

        After saying this Jesus was troubled in spirit, and declared, ‘Very truly, I tell you, one of you will betray me.’ The disciples looked at one another, uncertain of whom he was speaking. One of his disciples—the one whom Jesus loved—was reclining next to him; Simon Peter therefore motioned to him to ask Jesus of whom he was speaking. So while reclining next to Jesus, he asked him, ‘Lord, who is it?’ 

       Jesus answered, ‘It is the one to whom I give this piece of bread when I have dipped it in the dish.’ So when he had dipped the piece of bread, he gave it to Judas son of Simon Iscariot. After he received the piece of bread, Satan entered into him. Jesus said to him, ‘Do quickly what you are going to do.’ 

     Now no one at the table knew why he said this to him. Some thought that, because Judas had the common purse, Jesus was telling him, ‘Buy what we need for the festival’; or, that he should give something to the poor. So, after receiving the piece of bread, Judas immediately went out. And it was night.

    When Judas had gone out, Jesus said, ‘Now the Son of Man has been glorified, and God has been glorified in him. If God has been glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself and will glorify him at once. 

      Little 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.” I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.’”

***

    Please don’t laugh at me, but I was struggling to sew a button on one of my favorite wool skirts this morning. Now I know how to sew buttons on clothes. Sewing by hand was one of the important skills my grandmother taught me when I was a little girl. She was a great teacher. She taught by showing me how to do the task, then encouraging me to do it on my own, but staying nearby to help if I had trouble. Grandma would get out my grandfather’s old shirts, worn socks, and fraying ties for me to practice my sewing. Sometimes, I would finish sewing a button on a shirt only to discover that it didn’t match up with the hole or line up with the other buttons. I would have to cut off the button and start all over again.

    Grandma never scolded me for my crooked stitches or tangled thread, so unlike her perfectly placed, nearly invisible stitches. She didn’t seem to mind that my grandfather’s old ties and socks, when I was finished mending them, were not always suitable for wearing in public. I don’t remember her scolding me for when I didn’t have the patience to thread the needle or make the knot. If I asked for her help, she would quickly do it for me and hand the project back to me, expecting me to finish. She stayed with me to the end--to make sure I didn’t abandon the project, though I was tempted at times to give up. She would accept my final product, no matter how it looked. She hung the mended blouse or shirt back in the closet. She rolled up the socks and ties and put them back into the dresser drawers. Sometimes, she proudly showed them to my grandfather before putting them away. He would smile and say from his big recliner, “Oh! Thank you!”

    Recalling my experiences learning with Grandma helps me to understand our Savior’s grace and mercy and what He expects from us. Our Lord is our teacher; His Spirit helps us do the things we can’t possibly do well on our own, but first we have to have the heart to obey Him and be fully committed to the task. And we must never give up, though we might be tempted.

      In our gospel reading today, Jesus is trying to teach his disciples one final lesson. His hour has come. Soon, he will depart from this world and go to be with the Father. He is nearing his most important task of all; the work of the cross lies ahead. 

     The disciples have not yet learned how to love. Jesus teaches by word and example. He loves them—as we read in John 13:1—as his “own”—and he will love them “to the end.” His love shows them our loving God and what the Lord expects of his disciples as they continue on with his healing, reconciling ministry when he is no longer with them in the flesh. Christ demonstrates humility and vulnerability, removing his clothes before washing their feet. This is what servants would do in the homes of wealthy and important people.  They would wash the feet of each person who came to the door to make them clean and presentable and so they would not bring dirt from the outside into the home.

      Jesus says, “So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you.” 

      This act of servitude foreshadows when Jesus will humbly give up his life to serve the Father, cleanse us of sin, and make what is unrighteous holy and acceptable to God. In this passage, Jesus also teaches us that accepting and receiving His love and work for our sakes is necessary! When Peter says to Jesus, “You will never wash my feet,” Jesus answers, “Unless I wash you, you have no share with me.”  Finally, Christ teaches us to love our enemies when he chooses to wash even the feet of the one whom he knows is going to betray him--Judas Iscariot--for a few pieces of silver!

     But before we begin placing the blame for Christ’s death squarely on Judas, or the religious leaders of the time, or the Roman soldiers, let us be reminded that every one of his disciples will desert Jesus in the end. Even Peter, the most passionate of all the disciples in his love for the Lord, will vehemently deny knowing him 3 times in one night--“before the cock crows.” If we examine our own hearts with all honesty, we would come to realize that we would have done no better than his disciples who fled in terror when Jesus was arrested, tried and condemned. Being stripped, whipped and nailed to a cross was the cruelest of all execution methods, with the greatest amount of pain, humiliation and prolonged suffering for the accused. Also, if we were to examine our own hearts with all honesty right now, we would realize that we, too, have let Jesus down repeatedly and failed in his command to love.

    But what we see and know as our personal failure, our patient Lord will use for our good. Our gracious God grants those who repent and turn from sin new mercies every morning! Every day, we have another opportunity to get it right, with the Spirit’s help, and be pleasing to Him. But we must be fully committed to this! We must be willing to try with all our heart, mind and might to live in obedience to Him--and learn to love!

       Just as I am, God loves and accepts me! Just as you are, God loves and accepts you! The Lord receives whatever we do for Him as a precious gift, an offering to Him, though our efforts at doing his work may seem to us to be no better than the mending I tried to do as a child. If we want to live with the Lord for all eternity, we must first allow Christ to wash us clean! Let us accept God’s love, mercy and forgiveness and his new mercies every morning so that we may live out the most important command of all. “Just as I have loved you,” Christ says, “you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another.”

Let us pray.

Thank you, Heavenly Father, for your love, grace and mercy! We praise you for Jesus, our Savior and our Teacher who not only commands us to love, he gives us the perfect example and His Spirit to enable us to love. Lord, forgive us when we have chosen not to obey your command, when we have failed to love. Fill us now with such love for the people of God that we cannot help but be a witness to your healing, reconciling love in this violent world, with so much hatred and pain, and so desperately in need of models of Christ’s humble, self-giving love. Thank for your new mercies every morning that enable us to forgive ourselves and those who may have sinned against us and to try again and again, with all our heart, mind, and might, to live in obedience to you. To love as you have always loved us! In Christ we pray. Amen.