Maundy Thursday-The Rev Melanie Lemburg

 Maundy Thursday 2021

On this Maundy Thursday, since we are not able to offer the foot washing, I’d like to offer a contemplative practice based on our gospel reading for today.  This contemplative reading is modeled on Ignatian prayer practice in approaching scripture. 

I invite you to close your eyes and listen as I read the gospel again.  Imagine that you are present at the scene.  Think about the sights, the smells, the sounds, the feelings that this scene evokes in you.  After I read the gospel through again, I’ll share different phrases again with you and offer questions for you to engage in this contemplative practice.

“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, servants are not greater than their master, nor are messengers greater than the one who sent them. If 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. 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.” 

Imagine you are seated at the table with Jesus for supper.  You are among those who are friends, with whom you have walked for many seasons.  Conversation is flowing naturally as it does when we sit together around table with those we know well.  Some are making jokes.  Some are talking quietly.  You are pleasantly full from supper.

You notice Jesus has stood up. He takes off his outer robe and ties a towel around his waist like an apron.  Then he pours water into a basin and begins to wash the feet of everyone at the table and to wipe them with the towel that is tied around him.

What are you feeling as you watch this unfolding? 

 

He comes to Simon Peter, who says to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?” Jesus answers, “You do not know now what I am doing, but later you will understand. Peter says to him, “You will never wash my feet.” And Jesus answers, “Unless I wash you, you have no share with me.”

Do you share some of Simon Peter’s resistance to receiving Jesus’s love in this act?  Examine what is underneath that resistance?  Is it fear of that intimacy?  Is it discomfort with the vulnerability?  Is it a feeling of unworthiness to see Jesus kneeling before you at your feet?

What do you think Jesus means when he tells you, “Unless I wash you, you have no share with me.”? 

        Simon Peter proclaims, “Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!” And Jesus responds, “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.

        What parts of your body and soul feel dusty and weary from the road?  What parts of you feel clean?  What parts of you would you ask Jesus to cleanse and refresh?

        As you watch the scene continue to unfold, you realize that Jesus has washed Judas’s feet, too.  Jesus washes the one who will betray him.  How does that awareness make you feel?

Then you hear Jesus speak to you and all who are gathered:  “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….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.”

How might Jesus be calling you to show love to others?  Can you name before him those who you struggle to love:  those who have betrayed you, those with whom you disagree, those among your friends and acquaintances who are just a little harder to love? 

Take a few moments and ask Jesus for what you need as you walk this way with him over the next three days.