Loving God, you continue to teach us through Jesus, calling us to live as your children in this world. Empower us by your Holy Spirit as we gather together this evening, strengthening us in love and in service; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

If you knew that this very night you would be arrested and mocked and condemned to death, how would you spend your last hours on this earth? If you knew that tomorrow you would be nailed to a cross and left there to die, what would you be doing tonight? To answer this question is to attempt to put ourselves in Jesus’ place, because – thankfully – none of us will be called upon to be the Saviour of the world!

However, in Jesus’ case, he knew who he was and why he had come to live among us. He knew what was coming, and he knew what it would accomplish. And so, on his last night with his disciples, he spends his time teaching his disciples the things that are the most important. And – as any good teacher will do – he teaches them using things that you can touch and see and taste and hear and smell.

As they were eating supper that night, Jesus could have simply sat there and told his disciples that they should love and serve one another. However, instead he gives them an experience to remember. He gets up in the middle of the meal and does the work of a servant. He goes to each one of them, and he washes their feet and dries them with the towel around his waist.

For those of you who have never tried it, it is a very humbling experience to have somebody else wash your feet for you. We tend to be like the child who says, “I can do it myself!” We are afraid that our feet might smell, or that we might be ticklish. Yet, such things are of no concern to Jesus when he instructs his followers to wash one another’s feet. Instead, Jesus is concerned about teaching his disciples how to love and serve one another.

The disciples expect that a rabbi and teacher such as Jesus would never lower himself to do the work of a servant. It simply wasn’t the done thing. However, Jesus usually doesn’t live up to people’s expectations, and he gives them a hands-on lesson in humility and service and love. That same hands-on lesson is available here this evening for those who wish to participate.

At the same time, there is another hands-on lesson here tonight that also comes from Jesus’ last night with his disciples. It is the meal that would strengthen Jesus’ followers for many years to come – the gift of his own body and blood. Once again, Jesus could have just sat there and said, “Tomorrow I am going to be giving my body and blood for you.” Instead, Jesus did something tangible and active in order to teach his disciples.

He took a loaf of bread, and he passed it around so that everybody present could have some of it, and he said to them, “When you share this together, it is not just bread. This is my body which is given for you.” He also took a cup of wine and passed it around to all of them. Once again, he communicated to them, “This is not just a cup of wine that you are sharing. This is the new covenant that God is making with you, sealed with my very own blood. When you do this, you will remember how I have given myself for you in love.”

Jesus knew that we do not learn only through what we hear. Rather, we learn most completely through what we participate in. And so, when we receive the Lord’s Supper, Jesus is quite literally giving himself to us. At the same time, we are receiving Jesus into ourselves as we eat and drink the bread and the wine. It is an act that reminds us that we are Christ’s body here on this earth – we are “little Christs” – as Martin Luther said. At the same time, we are being strengthened for service – filled with the love of Christ in order to be able to love and serve one another.

It seems to me that Jesus did some of his best and his most memorable teaching on this night – giving his disciples things to do and to experience in order to remember what he had taught. May our experiences this night not only remind us of how Jesus has given himself for us, but also empower us to be the presence of Christ in the world, following his example of loving and serving one another. Amen.

Maundy Thursday John 13:1-17, 31b-35
March 20, 2008 1 Corinthians 11:23-26
St. Luke’s Zion Lutheran Church
Pastor Lynne Hutchison Moore

© 2008 Lynne Hutchison Moore All Rights Reserved