Following Instructions

 Exodus 12:1-4, 11-14; 1 Corinthians 11:23-26; John 13:1-17, 31b-35

 
In tonight’s readings, we have several sets of instructions.

Moses instructs the Israelites on how to prepare to leave Egypt, although what appears in Exodus is the much later codification of the instructions, dating from when the material was written down.

Moses says: Take a lamb, prepare it and eat it. If your household is small, share it with another small family. Plan to eat all of the animal, and be prepared to leave immediately after eating it. Later in the chapter, Moses will give the instructions for painting the lamb’s blood on the doorways, so God’s Spirit knows which households to pass over with the plague of the firstborns.

The instructions are intended to embed this ritual, this saving action of God, into the minds, bodies, hearts, and spirits of the people. They are to observe the remembrance as a festival every year on this day. The intent is not just to have a party every year, but to act out, to relive the Passover and the Exodus.

… We don’t know just how the Passover was celebrated in Jesus’ time, but it clearly included bread and wine, probably lamb, and foods like hummus and olives. Tonight, however, we read from John’s Gospel, which doesn’t include a story of Jesus celebrating Passover. Instead, the passage includes another set of instructions: how to wash feet.

Jesus and the disciples are having a supper which turns out to be the last supper they have together. More than in the synoptic gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke), in John’s gospel, Jesus is in charge, and knows a lot about events before they happen. Rather than being resigned or even reluctant to be arrested and executed, John’s Jesus is looking forward to the end. He intentionally prepares the disciples for what comes next, turning the responsibilities of ministry over to them, and empowering them for the work ahead.

At this final supper, knowing Judas is about to turn him over to the Jewish leadership, Jesus washes feet, including those of Judas, and those of Peter. The other disciples submitted to having Jesus wash their feet without a recorded response. But Peter speaks, as he often does, for how they are all feeling. “Not MY feet!” he shouts.

In previous years, I have sometimes talked about how Jesus washing feet meant he was doing slave labor, unseeming especially for a rabbi to do. This year, I noticed another aspect of this unseemliness. Footwashing is not just slave labor, it’s female slave labor. Jesus is doing what a slave-woman normally does. In an honor-and-shame society, this is appalling! In a society where women and men don’t touch each other in certain ways, and men don’t touch each other in certain ways, this is unthinkable.

But Jesus insists that all must allow him to wash their feet. And then when he has washed all the feet, Jesus gives further instructions. As I have washed your feet, you must also wash the feet of other people. The disciples must have been stunned. What on earth was he saying?! Jesus continues, “You say I am your Teacher and Schoolmaster, and so you are not greater than I am. If I, your Teacher, can wash your feet, so can you wash the feet of others. This is how you will show how much you love.”

We know that after supper, Jesus goes out to pray, he gets arrested, is given a mock trial, and is crucified just as the Passover lambs are being slaughtered for the celebrations that will happen that night. Jesus’ intent in John’s version of the story is that Jesus himself becomes the sacrificial Passover lamb for all of us. This is how he shows how much God loves us.

… Because of this understanding of Jesus as the Passover Lamb, John’s Gospel throws off the Holy Week calendar. Good Friday comes before Holy Thursday! So, let’s get back to the usual schedule with a quick look at Jesus and the Passover meal.

Leonardo DaVinci’s painting of the last supper has the disciples ranged along a table, all facing the painter – or camera, as if for a selfie. In 1998, Polish artist Bhodan Piasecki had a different vision of what that meal probably looked like. It’s a Passover meal, which is always a family affair. In the painting, we see men and women and children gathered on both sides of the table, with ceramic jugs and cups and bowls scattered around the room and on the table. 

As Jesus shares the bread and wine with those around the table, he gives an additional meaning to the salvation offered through the Exodus from Egypt. He gives himself as the Passover Meal: the Bread and Wine become his Body and his Blood, offered, given, to them, to us.  

The third set of instructions comes from Paul. The letter to the church members in Corinth is a set of instructions intended to heal the divisions that have arisen there. Paul is concerned about the way the Lord’s Supper is being shared, to the point of abuse. It seems like each week a large supper is served and wealthy people arrive early and eat all the food. Those who arrive later – the poorer folks – don’t get anything to eat.

Paul offers this correction. Eat supper before you come to worship. In this way you will be able to respect everyone who comes, whether they are wealthy or poor. And while you worship, make sure to use these words that Jesus himself shared with me. The words we have from Paul are pretty much the words we use each time we offer Holy Communion. We try to follow instructions.

… So – tonight you have several opportunities to follow instructions. You already know how to receive the bread and wine. But you may need some instructions for receiving foot washing. Most of us don’t mind doing things for others, but we don’t particularly like having things done for us. Some of us remember a pain reliever commercial in which a woman has a headache, and her mother tries to help her. But she yells at Mom, “Mother, please, I’d rather do it myself!” That’s us, most of the time. Even with Jesus, even with our friends. We’d rather do it ourselves.

Tonight, I invite you to let yourselves be served. Come and let someone else wash your feet. I know your feet may be old, misshapen, not the beauties they once were. I know you may be ticklish, or very sensitive. It will be just a little water poured over your feet, and a quick drying with a towel. I am happy to wash all your feet, or you may come in pairs and wash each other’s feet.

The point is to allow Jesus, embodied in our own bodies, to serve you. If we can’t let him wash our feet, how will we ever allow him to forgive our sins?! Amen