Sermon – Maundy Thursday – "Do You Know What I Have Done For You?" – John 13 – 4/5/07
April 6th, 2007The Holy Gospel according to St. Luke, the 22nd chapter.
“Then came the day of Unleavened Bread, on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed. So Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, "Go and prepare the Passover for us, that we may eat it." They said to him, "Where will you have us prepare it?" He said to them, "Behold, when you have entered the city, a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him into the house that he enters and tell the master of the house, 'The Teacher says to you, Where is the guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?' And he will show you a large upper room furnished; prepare it there." And they went and found it just as he had told them, and they prepared the Passover.”
It was the day when the Passover lambs were to be killed. Families would gather together to eat the Passover meal just as pious Jews continue to do to this day. The 12 disciples whom Jesus had chosen to follow Him had become family. And Jesus was the head of the family. He had made the arrangements for this meal with a man in the city of Jerusalem. He sent two of His disciples ahead to prepare the meal. They would find the room by following a man who would be carrying water.
The whole thing sounds very strange and mysterious. He could have just given them the address or described the house he had in mind, but Jesus seemed determined that no one should know where to find Him on this night. At least, not yet. Judas had already made his deal with the Sanhedrin to betray Jesus and Jesus knew it. But Jesus still had more to say and do with His disciples and dared not risk being interrupted by Temple guards who would be sent to arrest Him. Not until after this supper had ended. He sent Peter and John ahead to make the preparations, not Judas. Judas would not know ahead of time where this meal would take place.
Jesus leads His disciples into the city. They enter the house. The doors are shut. They were all alone. There was not even a servant present to wash the dust off of their feet. Instead, there was a jar of water, a basin and a towel left at the entrance to the upstairs room. As the disciples entered the room, they each see these things. Which one would volunteer to wash feet?
They had just recently gotten into quite a tiff over which of them was the greatest among them. James and John wanted first dibs on right and left cabinet positions when He came into His kingdom. The 10 were indignant when they heard this. Jesus corrected them all. “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." (Matthew 20:25-28).
So, now we wonder. Did these disciples listen to a word He said? Did they learn the lesson He wanted to teach them?
Try to picture that awkward silence as they all gather in the room, each one glancing to the pitcher and bowl and towel. Each one trying to pretend that they don’t see it. Small talk and idle conversation about anything just to try to cover up the tension in the room. Jesus is waiting to see who had understood anything of what He had been teaching them. Slowly, He realizes that none of them get it. Not one of them remembered any of His sermons. Not one of them learned anything from His example. After three years, they remained unchanged. Still too proud to humble themselves. Still too worried that they might get taken advantage of. Not one willing to love his neighbor enough to become his servant. No, not one. The dinner is ready and He invites them all to recline at the table. The reclining position puts feet and face pretty close together. Yet still, no one was willing to do what should be done. No, not one.
So Jesus gets up from the table, takes off His outer garments, took the towel, poured the water in the basin, got down on His knees, and began to wash the disciples feet and then wipe them dry.
Picture this if you can. Jesus Christ, very God of very God, by whom all things were made, apart from whom nothing was made that has been made, at whose command the storm stopped and the sea became calm, who walked upon the water and the water kept Him high and dry because the wind and the waves and the sea knew their Lord. But here, among His disciples, He must perform the work of the lowliest slave because they were not willing.
Picture this if you can. The face of God must look up to look into the face of man.
When He had moved around the entire table and finished washing all 24 feet, He put his outer garments back on and resumed His place. And then He asked them this question, “Do you understand what I have done for you?” The intention of the question that Jesus poses to His disciples is obvious. If they understand what He has done for them, then His action upon them should have a certain desired effect upon them.
And the desired effect of His action upon them is this, “Now that I, Your Lord and Teacher have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.” John 13:14-15.
This must be what St. Paul had in mind when he wrote to the Philippians, “Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant…” (Philip. 2:5-6)
“Do you understand what I have done for you?” Our entire life is a response to what Jesus Christ has done for us in the name of the Father. What He has done for us is He’s loved us. He’s loved us more than He loved Himself. He valued us more highly than He valued Himself. He made Himself nothing to make us something. He gave Himself up for us. He laid down His life to save ours. This is what love is and this is what love looks like.
“This is love,” says John, who owned 2 of those 24 feet Jesus had washed. “Not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.” And then John directs us to the only logical response to this love. “Dear friends, since God so loved us, we ought to love one another.” (1John 4:11-12).
To love one another is our response to God’s love in Christ for us. To serve one another is the proper response to the Divine Service that we receive from Christ. Love is more than just sentimental feelings and emotions. It’s action. “You should WASH one another’s feet.” “You should DO as I have DONE for you.” The truth is, God doesn’t need us to do anything for Him. But our neighbor does. When we love the one whom God loves, we show our love for God.
This is Maundy Thursday. The night we Christians commemorate the institution of the Lord’s Supper. This is the night when Jesus took bread, blessed it, broke it and gave it to His disciples and said, ‘Take, eat, this is my body, given for you. And in the same manner after supper, He took the cup and when He had given thanks, He gave it to them saying, take, drink, this is my blood of the new covenant, given and shed for you for the forgiveness of all of your sins.”
Do we understand what Jesus has done for us here? He has given to us His true body and true blood for the forgiveness of our sins and the renewing and strengthening of our faith. If we understand what He has done for us here, then surely we are eager obey His commandment to “do this” in remembrance of Him.
But this is not all that He has done for us in this Supper. And we don’t fully understand what Jesus has done for us here in this Supper unless we understand what He has done for us by the washing of the disciples feet. This is not a separate incident, unrelated or disconnected from the Lord’s Supper itself. John tells us that it was “during the supper” that He got up and washed their feet.
The fact is, John doesn’t even include the “words of institution” in his account of what took place in that upper room on that Passover night. He only records the washing of the feet. And to this, John records Jesus saying, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, just as I have love you.” (John 13:34). And it is from John’s gospel and Jesus’ action upon the disciple’s feet that this night gets its name. “Maundy Thursday” is “mandatum Thursday,” “commandment Thursday.” “A new commandment, I give to you, that you love one another, just as I have love you.”
The point is this, by washing the disciples feet as a part of the Lord’s Supper, Jesus permanently embeds this mandate into the Supper every time it is celebrated. It’s not that we must get out the basin and towel and literally wash each other’s feet. He doesn’t say, “take, wash,” “take, dry.” If He did, we’d certainly “do this.” This is an example. “I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.
Actually, this is not something new to the Lord’s Supper. The summary of the 2nd table of the 10 Commandments has always been that we are to love our neighbor as ourselves. What is new here is that Jesus makes loving one another part and parcel of our participation in this Supper. Here, in this Supper, Jesus gives us His love with which we are to love one another. He gives us the His forgiveness with which we are to forgive one another.
Here in this Supper, Christ gives Himself to us that we may in turn give ourselves to one another. And because this bread and wine is His true body and blood, as we give to others what we have received from Him, we are in essence, giving one another Christ. We love one another with the love we have been given, and give one another Christ whose body we have received and whose body we are.
So, if we understand what He has done for us here, we simply cannot walk away from this table of the Lord, and continue to lord it over one another. We cannot walk away from this meal where we have received His crucified flesh and shed blood and continue to talk in vague generalities about loving and forgiving one another, but never really doing it. We cannot receive the healing and renewal that Christ gives us in this Supper and continue to do what is harmful to one another.
“Truly, truly I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, not is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.” (John 13:16-17).
Related Entries:
» Holy Week – 2006» Sermon Index – Lutheran – LCMS
» Bible Study
» Maundy Thursday – "The New Covenant – In Remembrance Of Me" – 1 Cor.11:25-27 – 3/20/08
» Sermon – Maundy Thursday – Matthew 26:26-27 – 4/13/06
» Sermon – Maundy Thursday – "Why Baptism and Communion?" – 1 John 5:6 – 4/9/09
