YEAR C 2025 maundy thursday

Maundy Thursday, 2025
Exodus 12:1-4, 11-14
1 Corinthians 11:23-26
John 13:1-17, 31b-35
Psalm 116:1, 10-17

In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  Amen.

“Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.”  Jesus loved them till the end.  All of them.  All of them beloved.  All of them welcome.

Jesus washes all the disciples feet.  Judas has not yet left to do quickly what he must do.  He’s still there.  And, as Jesus says to Peter, “Unless I wash you, you have no share with me.”  This means all twelve disciples have “a share with” Jesus—whatever that phrase may mean.  All 12 having a share includes Judas.  Peter is beloved, not better.  And Judas is welcome, not worse.  Whatever Jesus is doing in this washing of his disciples’ feet, he is doing it both to Peter and to Judas, along with all the others.  Beloved, not better.  Welcome, not worse.

We call today Maundy Thursday.  Maundy comes from the latin word, maundatum, which in English becomes “commandment.”  (You can think of our word “mandatory.”)  In many churches tonight, people will wash one another’s feet, as a sign of humility and service.  Some Christians—like those in the Church of God—view foot washing as something like another sacrament.  But here at St. Timothy’s, this has never really been part of our tradition.  And to be honest, I’m glad for that.

Because foot washing does not mean for us what it meant to Jesus and his disciples.  In our society, more than anything, foot washing is awkward and uncomfortable for the person whose feet are being washed, which is definitely not the point Jesus was making.  To wash someone’s feet in Jesus’ day was a sign of service and humility—as if taking on the role of an indentured servant, as a matter of fact.  In our day and time, it’s like the roles are reversed: you have to humble yourself to let someone do the washing, rather than be the washer.  It gets it all backwards.

But Jesus does indeed give us a commandment tonight.  And if you look at the story, the commandment—this maundatum—is not a commandment to wash one another’s feet.  We know this, because Jesus comes right and tells us what the commandment is.  “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another.”  That’s the commandment: to love one another.  And the foot washing is an example of how you might have done that in Jesus’ day.  But how do we follow this commandment to love one another in our own time?

Well, I suspect it will be different for each of us.  But by giving us the example of taking on the role of a servant, Jesus points the way.  “Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

“Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.”  May God give us the inspiration and the courage to love as Jesus loves.  And in doing so, others will know that we are disciples of Jesus.  Like Peter, beloved, not better.  Like Judas, welcome, not worse.  Together, we are the disciples of Jesus, following his commandment to live in love, as he loves us.  To walk in love, as Jesus first loved us, and gave himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God.  

Amen.