Karl Barth, one of the most distinguished, Christian theologians of the 20th century, was giving a lecture series at a seminary in the USA many years ago. During a question and answer time, someone asked Dr. Barth, “What is the most profound thought that has ever crossed your mind?”
Barth’s answer was, “Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so.”
I believe that is one of the most profound thoughts that could cross any of our minds.
Today is Maundy Thursday, when we remember Jesus’ last meal with his disciples. And love is the focus of what John tells us about that night. Listen for God’s word to you from John 13:1-11…
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,[a] 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,[b]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.”
John has a different timing for the final events of what we call Holy Week, different from the other three Gospels. John here tells us about a meal that Jesus shared with his disciples before Passover. The reason John tells it this way is because he wants to show us Jesus dying on the cross at the same time that the lambs would be slaughtered for Passover. As John has already told us earlier in his Gospel, Jesus is the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. But all four Gospels are agreed that the death of Jesus took place on a Friday. The Synoptic Gospels view Friday as the first day of Passover. John views it as the day of preparation for Passover.
Thus, John does not focus on the elements of the meal itself that Jesus shared with his disciples. Rather, he focuses on something that happened during the meal. John tells us that during the meal Jesus showed the full extent of his love to his disciples.
Someone once said that Jesus “loves us unto the end of our miserable failures, unto the end of our wanderings and backslidings, unto the end of our unworthiness, unto the end of our deep need.”
How did Jesus show the full extent of his love? He did it by washing dirty feet.
Just think about how dirty the feet of the disciples were. They wore sandals and walked on dirt roads.
It was the job of slaves or servants to wash the feet of guests welcomed into someone’s home for a meal. However, there were no slaves or servants in this household. Furthermore, not one of those twelve disciples was willing to do the dirty job of washing Jesus’ feet and the feet of the others in their band of brothers.
Thus, Jesus took on the job himself, and he did it in order to reveal the full extent of his love, not to deserving disciples, but to undeserving ones. Remember, Judas was there too. Jesus washed Judas’ feet as well—the same Judas that the devil had already prompted to betray Jesus. If this scene does not teach us that Jesus loves all of us in spite of our sin, then I don’t know what it teaches.
Think about it: this Jesus who would be given all power and authority by his heavenly Father, stripped himself naked, wrapped a towel around his waist, took a basin of water and washed the dirty feet of his disciples, wiping those same feet with a towel. The one who was and is the greatest of all became a humble slave.
Bruce Thielemann, former pastor of the First Presbyterian Church in Pittsburgh, once told of a conversation he had with an active member of his church who said, “You preachers talk a lot about giving, but when you get right down to it, it all comes down to basin theology.”
“Basin theology? What’s that?” Thielemann asked.
The church member replied, “Remember what Pilate did when he had the chance to acquit Jesus? He called for a basin and washed his hands of the whole thing. But Jesus, the night before his death, called for a basin and proceeded to wash the feet of the disciples. It all comes down to basin theology: which one will you choose?”
Which basin will we choose? Rather than wash our hands of the needs that are around us, we need to find needs and fill them, we need to wash dirty feet.
Jesus’ action was so stunning to Peter that he tried to stop Jesus from washing his feet. “No, you shall never wash my feet.”
But Jesus explained, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.”
As is often the case in the Gospel of John, there is a surface meaning to what is going on here and there is a deeper meaning. I think John saw a connection between this physical washing and the spiritual washing of baptism. Unless Jesus washes us in baptism, and cleanses us of our sin, then we have no part in him or his ministry.
Peter responds to this statement of Jesus in his typical, impulsive, effusive fashion. He says in effect, “Well then, Lord, if that is the case, then don’t just wash my feet, but wash all of me.” I think Peter was still very aware of his own sinfulness in the presence of the holiness of Jesus, just as we all would be in his shoes.
Jesus’ response is marvelous and encouraging. “A person who has had a bath needs only to wash his feet; his whole body is clean. And you are clean, though not every one of you.”
Now, let’s think about this. Jesus’s statement has a double meaning. In a later period of the church, many people put off baptism until the latest possible moment in their lives. Their thinking was, “If we sin after baptism, then what hope is there for us to be forgiven?” It was in response to this concern that the Sacrament of Penance, and the other Sacraments of the Catholic Church developed.
However, Jesus knew that we would sin after baptism. He knows that none of us will be perfect until we are made whole in his presence on the last day. By saying that a person who has had a bath (baptism) only needs to have his feet washed, Jesus was indicating that indeed the sins we commit after baptism can be forgiven, if we come to him to have our feet washed, as it were.
Baptism is symbolic of what Paul calls justification: the legal declaration that we are righteous in God’s sight because of what Jesus has done for us through his life, death and resurrection. However, after baptism and justification we begin the lifelong process Paul calls sanctification, of actually becoming holy in God’s sight as the Holy Spirit lives in us and works out the salvation of Christ in and through us. Sanctification is often a process of three steps forward and two steps back. However, if every time we take a step backward, we ask for Christ’s forgiveness, he will cleanse us of those particular sins, he will wash our dirty feet. That is why Jesus taught his disciples to pray: “Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.”
Let me close with a story…
On New Year’s Day, 1929, Georgia Tech played UCLA in the Rose Bowl. In that game a young man named Roy Riegels recovered a fumble for UCLA. Picking up the loose ball, he lost his direction and ran sixty-five yards toward the wrong goal line. One of his teammates, Benny Lom, ran him down and tackled him just before he scored for the opposing team. Several plays later, the Bruins had to punt. Tech blocked the kick and scored a safety, demoralizing the UCLA team.
The strange play came in the first half. At half-time the UCLA players filed off the field and into the dressing room. As others sat down on the benches and the floor, Riegels put a blanket around his shoulders, sat down in a corner, and put his face in his hands.
A football coach usually has a great deal to say to his team during halftime. That day Coach Price was quiet. No doubt he was trying to decide what to do with Riegels.
When the timekeeper came in and announced that there were three minutes before playing time, Coach Price looked at the team and said, "Men, the same team that played the first half will start the second." The players got up and started out, all but Riegels. He didn’t budge. The coach looked back and called to him. Riegels didn’t move. Coach Price went over to where Riegels sat and said, “Roy, didn't you hear me? The same team that played the first half will start the second.”
Roy Riegels looked up, his cheeks wet with tears. “Coach,” he said, “I can’t do it. I’ve ruined you. I’ve ruined the university’s reputation. I’ve ruined myself. I can’t face that crowd out there.”
Coach Price reached out, put his hand on Riegels’s shoulder, and said, “Roy, get up and go on back. The game is only half over.”
Riegels finally did get up. He went onto the field, and the fans saw him play hard and play well.[1]
All of us have run in the wrong direction at some time, even after becoming followers of Jesus. Peter did and we do too. That’s why we need not only the bath of baptism but also the daily washing of our feet by Jesus, daily cleansing of sin through confession and forgiveness. And that is what Communion is all about.
Praise God he offers forgiveness to us every day through his Son Jesus Christ. Thanks to him, the game is only half over…
[1] Wayne Rouse in Fresh Illustrations for Preaching & Teaching (Baker), from the editors of Leadership.
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