The Joy of Washing Feet ~ John 13:1-17, 31b-35 ~ Maundy Thursday

Brian was the man that every man wanted to be. 

He was the father of four great boys and a loving wife.  He was a very successful architectural engineer.  He coached his boys’ soccer team. 

He was kind of man who could build anything or fix anything.  At fix-foot four, he was a tower of strength, wisdom, and knowledge to everyone who knew him.

On top of it all, Brian was a man of God. 

But everything changed on a cold winter’s evening, when his car hit a patch of black ice and rolled over an embankment. 

Upon getting the phone call that no one wants to get, his family, his neighbors, and his friends united in prayer as he clung to life.

The next day, their prayers were answered when they learned that he would live.  But the joy of the  news was short-lived when the doctor informed them that Brian would be permanently and completely paralyzed from his injuries.

After months in the hospital, the time came for Brian to return home—but life was never again going to be easy.  He required round-the-clock care—and everything needed to be done for him.  A nursing home was not an option for the 35-year-old father, from a family standpoint as well as from a financial standpoint.  The medical bills had decimated the couples’ savings—and with Brian unable to work, his wife Pam had to get a job.  The money wasn’t there to pay caregivers.  But Pam and the boys couldn’t do it on their own.  They did not know what they were going to do. 

But everyone kept on praying.  Little by little, friends, neighbors, and members of their church came forward to help.  It began with meals for the family—but gradually, they gave more.  They did laundry.  They helped get the boys off to school.  They fed Brian.  They helped to dress him and bathe him.  They even changed his adult diapers. 

To this day, they’ve never been without help to take care of Brian in their home.

One of his friends spoke about the experience this way: “God never answered my prayers quite like when God sent me to change a grown man’s diapers.  If Jesus died on the cross for me, then how much less this is for me to do for a friend and his family in need.”

This is the key to understanding the cross: you understand complete helplessness—and you give yourself completely to a person in need, for no other reason than because that person needs it.

Recently, I worked with a group of boy scouts on their God and Church Award.  The lesson of the day was “How Jesus Served.”  So we set up a chair with a basin of hot, soapy water.  One by one, they washed each other’s feet.  When we were done, I asked them about the experience.  What was hardest for you—to have your feet washed?  Or, to wash someone else’s feet?

There was really no consensus, because both are hard.  But from Brian’s standpoint, there’s no question: it’s terrible to be dependent on others.  

As Americans, we love our independence.  We treasure it.  We practically define ourselves and our own worth in terms of our independence.  I doubt any of us would have wanted Jesus to wash our feet, had we been there at his last supper.

Most of us can (and do) wash our own feet.  But there’s one thing none of us can do for ourselves: we cannot make ourselves right before God.  We are sinners.  We’re no better than Judas Iscariot, when it comes to our sin.  And we are mortal.  And it doesn’t matter how strong we are, how righteous we presume to be, we are all beggars in chains to sin and death.  Then Jesus comes along, and does for us what we cannot do for ourselves.  He puts himself in our place of helplessness.  He gives his life to us as a gift.  He embraces us in our helpless situation—and the power of God that raises him from the dead comes upon us just the same.  The Holy Spirit makes us a new creation, such that Christ lives through us.  Our sins are nailed to the cross.  In him, we shall live forever.

So as you come today to the Lord’s table, remember that Jesus gives his body and blood for you because you need it.  Not because you deserve it, but because you need it.  And because Jesus loves you that much.

But this is only one side to the truth of the cross.  To know the rest of the truth is to take up your cross and follow him.  It is to die to your self—to all your ambitions, your successes, your own way of life, along with your independence.  It is to get down on your knees, and wash your neighbor’s feet.  It is to do for others—and not for the sake of what we get, and not because we feel they deserve it.  We do good because our neighbors need it.  The more that love demands of you, the more you will understand the cross.  The joy of the Lord comes by washing feet. 

To be a servant is hard, but there will always be grace to do it.  The food and drink you receive today will bring you into the whole truth of the cross, giving you the faith to receive Christ’s love, and the strength to put that love into practice. 

We do it all for Christ’s sake—because Christ gave it all for ours.