Reverend Marci Scott-Weis, MDIV

So, friends the story of Jesus washing the disciples’ feet, from the Gospel of John, comes at almost the end of Jesus’ story. His public ministry has ended and he’s completed all of the seven signs ranging from turning water into wine at Cana to the raising of Lazarus. He is in his final hours, alone with his disciples. After this passage, Jesus will pray with these disciples and then they will all go to a garden where Jesus will be arrested. He will be executed in less than 24 hours.

In John’s Gospel, Jesus’ final act of ministry is the washing of his disciples feet; it is the only Gospel to mention foot washing and includes only the briefest mention of the supper that would become so central to the Christian tradition. Instead, John, knowing full well the centrality of the bread and wine to the Last Supper scene, choses to highlight foot washing as Jesus’ final act of ministry. John highlights this an intimate act of love and Jesus’ encouraging his disciples to use that example in their own ministries.

Immediately after the passage we heard read today, two pretty remarkable things happen…the first is that we find out that Jesus knows that one of the people whose feet he just washed, will betray him. We find out that he got on his knees and knowingly washed the feet of the one who will turn him over to the authorities, resulting in his death. The other remarkable thing that happens right after the foot washing is that Jesus gives his disciples a new commandment, ‘that you love one another; just as I have loved you…by this all shall know that you are my disciples, if you have love among one another.’

This is one of my FAVORITE passages of the Bible because it tells us some pretty powerful things about how we are called to BE in this world and about how we are called to LOVE in this world. And it’s not just this passage but all of the stories about Jesus in John’s Gospel tell us something powerful about how we are called to BE and about how we are called to LOVE in this world. From the wedding at Cana, where Jesus demonstrated extravagant abundance because he listened to what his mother was saying to him to the lavish and abundant love Jesus offered through his healing and feeding people, to calling Lazarus to new life….John’s Gospel tells the big story of abundant love.

And it all leads up to this, Jesus’ final act of ministry, on his knees, taking a position of humility and washing the feet of his disciples. Immediately followed by him telling them to take that example and replicate it over and over again in how they love each other, how they walk in the world and most importantly, how minister in the world. In John’s Gospel, Jesus shows us so many examples of HOW to offer abundant love. And all of these examples of HOW to offer abundant love show us how we are called to BE in this world! They show us how to follow Jesus’ example of compassion, mercy, and empathy. That is the Way!

But unfortunately that Way seems to contradict a whole lot of what we are seeing in the world right now. Because currently the offering of abundant love through compassion, mercy and empathy are being characterized as flaws, weaknesses or even sins. Or as recently stated by a certain billionaire, ‘the fundamental weakness of Western civilization is empathy.’ Currently, abundant love lived out in humility with compassion, mercy, and empathy, is being demonized and mocked instead of being seen as the Way of Jesus.

Yet this story calls us back to the Way. It reminds us that the Way of Jesus, of abundant love lived out in humility through compassion, mercy, and empathy, is desperately needed in our world right now in a deep and vital way and is what we MUST hold all of those in positions of power accountable to. This story reminds us that the Way of Jesus, is what we MUST offer as the truthful alternative to the hateful and hate-filled narratives out there.

And this story reminds us that the Way of Jesus is to keep abundant love, lived out in humility through compassion, mercy, and empathy, on full display for all the world to see. Because THAT is how we will overcome and turn the tide towards peace, mercy, and justice. This story reminds us how we are each called to BE in the world.

And not only that, but this story also reminds us how we are called to LOVE in this world. I find it so deeply moving that Jesus’ final act of ministry is this act of service, of abundant love and tenderness for his disciples. When he washes the feet of those disciples, he is lovingly ministering to them with his hands and embodying his commandment, ‘love one another, just as I have loved you’. He is showing them what abundant love looks like in the most tenderest of ways.

When I hear this story, I imagine it with great detail. I imagine how Jesus and his closest friends have gathered and eaten together. And then how Jesus gets from the table, wraps a towel around his waist, pours water into a basin and gets on his knees, kneeling before each one gathered in that room. I imagine him there on his knees, looking up into each person’s eyes as he gently takes a foot in his hands, cradles it lovingly, washes and dries it and then gently places that foot back down….the whole time smiling lovingly up at the one before him, seeing them, knowing them, loving them.

In this story, Jesus does that for EVERY SINGLE PERSON around the table, including the one who he knows will betray him. He kneels before Judas, knowing the path Judas has already started down, and he gently takes Judas’ feet in his hands and lovingly cradles Judas’ feet as he washes and dries them each, fully knowing the heartbreak of betrayal that is soon to come. And just like every other disciple gathered around that table, there is Jesus, smiling up at Judas, seeing him, knowing him, loving him.

Last year during Lent, I preached a sermon about a saying that confronts and challenges me every Easter season. It goes like this…’when you learn to sit at the table with your Judas, you’ll understand the love of Jesus Christ’. The sermon I preached last year was about how instead of

thinking of that saying being about forgiving and loving the Judas who has wounded me, to instead think about it as hearing a call to forgive and love MY Judas. A call to forgive and love that part of ME that is way more like Judas.

So calling on our story today, maybe the saying should go like this…’when we learn to accept Jesus washing OUR feet, we understand the love of Jesus Christ’. To consider the saying that way, means that each one of us acknowledges our belovedness, even for the parts of us that are so like Judas and maybe especially for the parts of us that are so like Judas.

So let’s go back to imagining that story, except this time instead of picturing the scene, we are going to put ourselves into the scene. And to do this, I’m going to encourage you all to imagine yourself in the scene, imagine the room and the table and the echoes of a lovely evening of shared fellowship among friends. And then imagine how Jesus gets from the table, wraps a towel around his waist, pours water into a basin and then gets on his knees and kneels before you.

And then imagine Jesus looking up, deep into your eyes, and seeing you in your totality, seeing all of you, and knowing the choices you have made and the choices that you will make. And imagine Jesus there on his knees, looking up into your eyes, gently taking your foot in his hands and cradling it lovingly, washing and drying it and gently places your foot back down ….the whole time smiling lovingly up at the you, seeing all of who you have been, all of who you are and all of who you will be.

Take a moment and just hold that image of Jesus lovingly smiling up at you, seeing all of you.

This story calls us back to the Way. It reminds us that the Way of Jesus, of abundant love lived out in humility through compassion, mercy, and empathy, desperately needed in our world right now and in each of our own stories. This story reminds us how we are each called to LOVE in the world, starting with ourselves, feeling that abundant love fill every crack and crevasse of our hearts and souls and overflowing into the world.

’When we learn to accept Jesus washing OUR feet, we understand the love of Jesus Christ’. When we learn that, we understand that we are constantly called into abundant love, for others and for ourselves and we realize that we have always been and always will be….at home with God.

Praise be to God!

Amen