Maundy Thursday
Author: Rev. Jean Baptiste Kenol Rock
Let us pray: Heavenly Father, sanctify me with your truth and guide my thoughts so that you would set me apart for your use and glory. In Jesus’ precious name. Amen.
Our message tonight is all about unconditional love. The love that Jesus shows us, and then the love that he would have us give to one another.
Wouldn’t it be this love that we must express to one another so that we may have peace like a river in the world?
Through the gospel that we have just read, Jesus gives us a living example by washing his disciples’ feet.
In the Jewish tradition, it was customary for a host to provide a basin of water so guests could wash their feet.
Washing someone else’s feet was a task reserved for Gentile enslaved people. A superior never washing of an inferior’s foot.
All the disciples rightly considered Jesus as their superior, their master, their teacher, the Christ, the Messiah, the King of kings.
So, Jesus decided to wash his disciples’ feet to show them and all of us today that the way of unconditional love is to serve one another with humility.
The way of unconditional love is to give our life as an offering to those around us.
Jesus showed such love because he knew the time had come for him to leave this world. He knew he would die on the cross for the sake of the world.
I want you to know before Jesus washed his disciples’ feet, he did not tell them anything.
If he did so, they might have washed their own feet in advance-
No- Jesus surprised them- he got up from the table, from the meal, the Last Supper, and he took off his outer garment, and took a towel and tied it around his waist.
Jesus took the feet of each disciple in his hands, washed them gently, and then dried them with the towel around his waist.
The disciples didn’t know what to say. For them, it was awkward in the extreme!
It was awkward for them to see Jesus, their superior, their master, their teacher, the Christ, the Messiah, wash their feet.
There was even some kind of resistance. For instance, when Jesus came to Peter to wash his feet, Peter said to Jesus:” Lord, you are going to wash my feet- no way! You shall never wash my feet. You’re not a gentile slave; you’re my master.
Yes, it was awkward for Peter and other disciples, but Jesus did it anyway and did not care how long the disciples had gone without washing their feet.
He did not care if their feet were broken or bony— some of them were broken, bony, and dirty because they spent their lives in sandals.
Despite all this, he received them; he washed their feet the way they were.
In 2008, I was an assistant priest at St Joseph’s Episcopal Church in Queens, NY; I told all parishioners during an announcement that the rector and I were going to wash their feet on the following Maundy Thursday-
I can tell you all the feet were clean, and they even smelled good, particularly the feet of the women.
In the case of Jesus, it was much different.
What is the message behind Jesus’ foot washing service in the evening just before the Last Supper?
When you love someone unconditionally and express the full extent of your love to someone, you accept them the way they are.
It is what Jesus did for all his disciples just before the Passover feast when he knew the time had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father.
Tonight, Jesus continues to acknowledge each of you the way you are.
It is unconditional love, and he challenges each of us tonight to do the same not only for our relatives, our best friends, the people we know, or the people who speak like us but, more importantly, for those who don’t speak like us, for those we do not know, the poor, the weak, the sick and the lonely.
We call unconditional love the agape love in action.
Again, isn’t this love that we need to express to one another so that we may have peace like a river in the world?
Jesus washed his disciples’ feet one by one, including Judas Iscariot, who would betray him for 30 pieces of silver.
Here is something I would like you to do before this coming Easter Sunday: someone who hurts your feelings either in the church or in your work; that person, for some reason, did not show up for a few weeks-
Go and dial his number and call them and say- Hi Mary, hi Peter, I called you to check on you because I did not see you at church, or I did not see you at work for a while, and I want to know if everything is okay.
That person might not even be expecting your call.
That person can become your best friend through this simple action, and you can bring her to Christ.
It is unconditional love; this is agape love in action that requires great humility.
With our unconditional love, with the agape love of Jesus, can we change the world?
Loving one another unconditionally is what Jesus commands us to do.
He wants us to apply it in our daily lives so that first, we show that we love God with all our hearts, minds, and souls. Second, everyone will know we are Jesus’ disciples.
Love received, love to give, this is Jesus’ invitation on this Maundy Thursday, March 28th, 2024.
Pray to God all the rest of the Holy week to allow us to practice Jesus’ unconditional love, Jesus’ agape love. Such love is infinite-
What would the world, church, and community be like if we applied this love? We will have peace like a river everywhere.
Go and show we are Jesus’ disciples by loving one another unconditionally. Amen.
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