Hands of Humility.

 

Sermon for Maundy Thursday, April 1, 2021

The Lord is gracious and righteous, and our God is compassionate for His people, for all of you.  Amen.

John 13:1-5, 12-17  Before the Passover Festival, Jesus knew that the time had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father.  Having loved those who were his own in the world, he loved them to the end.  ²By the time the supper took place, the Devil had already put the idea into the heart of Judas, son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus.  ³Jesus knew that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God.  ⁴He got up from the supper and laid aside his outer garment.  He took a towel and tied it around his waist.  ⁵Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.… ¹²After Jesus had washed their feet and put on his outer garment, he reclined at the table again.  “Do you understand what I have done for you?” he asked them.  ¹³“You call me Teacher and Lord.  You are right, because I am.  ¹⁴Now if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.  ¹⁵Yes, I have given you an example so that you also would do just as I have done for you.  ¹⁶Amen, Amen, I tell you: A servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him.  ¹⁷If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them.” (EHV)

Hands of Humility.

Dear disciples of the humble Savior,

            19th century British politician Lord Acton observed, "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”  He was not the first to come to this conclusion; others had previously expressed similar sentiments, and as we observe the political scene in our country and around the world, we can see that this weakness likely infects all people, well, all except one perfect exception.  Our Lord Jesus holds in His hands all the power and authority in the universe, but because His disciples didn’t yet understand what true love is, Jesus demonstrated with His Hands of Humility.

Most of the time when people think about love, they think of the emotion, that kind, pleasant feeling, perhaps even sensual passion, yet the love demonstrated in our text goes ever so much further than that.  The event takes place during Jesus’ final meal with His disciples before His betrayal by Judas and arrest at the hands of His enemies.  Here, John informs us of a very significant thing: “Jesus knew that the time had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father.  Having loved those who were his own in the world, he loved them to the end.” 

The two chief commandments are “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind; and, love your neighbor as yourself.” (Luke 10:27)  Jesus was in the home stretch of His mission to obey those commandments perfectly in order to save you and me.  As we study this episode of humble service, many might guess that Jesus washed those feet to shame the disciples for failing to volunteer to do so.  Others might say that it was to show us how to serve, and while there may be an element of this in Jesus’ actions, primarily, He was giving love as He always had, with self-sacrificing, perfect humility, service, and grace.  This is true love on display: not doing something because it is required, or even because it is the socially acceptable thing to do, but humbly devoting oneself to serve those around him simply out of loving care and concern.

Not long before Jesus and the twelve gathered in that upper room, the disciples were arguing over who among them was the greatest of Jesus’ disciples.  They were jockeying for position in Jesus’ court should He establish the kingdom they expected Him to restore.  Even though they feared He would be killed in Jerusalem before He could succeed in what they assumed was His mission, they secretly harbored the expectation that Jesus would reestablish David’s earthly kingdom in which they hoped they would be perfectly aligned for positions of power and prestige.  However, they should have remembered Jesus saying, “The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Matthew 20:28)

Because all the disciples were focused on promoting themselves to be high ranking officers in Jesus’ kingdom, it is obvious that not one of them thought to take on the role of servant that night, or to do for the others what ordinarily would be handled by a house servant.  After a full day of walking in sandals, feet needed a cool, cleansing bath.  It was a common courtesy at every gathering, yet none of the men gave it a thought that night, except Jesus.

Therefore, Jesus, admittedly their Lord and Teacher, and ours as well, took on that job usually assigned to the lowest servant in the household.  We know from Peter’s reaction that many of the disciples were appalled to see Jesus voluntarily do this washing.  In their minds, it was beneath such an honored member of their group.  Yet, Jesus washed and dried every foot, every toe, of every man present.

When Jesus had finished this lowly task, He asked the twelve men gathered there around the table, “Do you understand what I have done for you?”  We could ask the same question today, “Do you understand?”  Many jump to the conclusion that we are commanded to wash each other’s feet when we meet, because He said, “Now if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.”  Yet, if all we think of is washing feet, we truly underestimate Jesus’ point.  That night Jesus cleansed their feet with a bath.  The next day, He would cleanse their souls with His blood.

To a group of men who were greatly concerned about how they would rank in Jesus’ kingdom, Jesus taught, “Yes, I have given you an example so that you also would do just as I have done for you.  Amen, Amen, I tell you: A servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him.  If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them.”  To love means to give oneself to serving another.  Therefore, while we certainly could wash one another’s feet, the real point is that, for cleansing us of all the filth of our sin, we owe Jesus a debt of gratitude which will lead us to humble ourselves to serve our neighbor in whatever way is needed, and to serve regardless of how we may be treated by those who we could help.  Rather than seeking to elevate ourselves over our neighbor, or to magnify ourselves in the eyes of the Lord, we should humble ourselves to serve, to bring the cleansing flood of Jesus’ blood and righteousness to as many as we have opportunity, and to humble ourselves to repent of every unwillingness or failure to do so.

Consequently, having a foot washing ceremony this evening (while a fine thing) wouldn’t earn any merit in the kingdom of heaven, nor for that matter does anything we do earn us a place in God’s presence.  The important thing to note is that Jesus “loved them to the end.”  For every shortcoming in our record, Jesus did the perfect thing.  For every time we have failed to serve or to love unselfishly as we should, Jesus loved perfectly and completely.  No deed that the Father required was left undone.  No command was left unfulfilled.  Not even one speck of prophecy was neglected.  All because Jesus lived perfect love for you and me.

I don’t know about you, but I must admit that I haven’t always served my neighbors as humbly as I ought.  I haven’t always lowered my estimate of my own goodness before the Lord.  Yet the truth remains, in God’s eyes, none of us are righteous, none of us have obeyed the law as we should, all of us struggle to fully understand the magnitude of what Jesus did for us that night and especially the next day.

Jesus is The Lord, and He is The Teacher—the one and only.  He is the Word made flesh who dwelled among us, (John 1:14) who came not to judge but to live for us and to die to pay the penalty for our arrogance, selfishness, and all other sins of the world. 

Jesus is “The radiance of God’s glory and the exact imprint of the divine nature.” (Hebrews 1:3)  It is in Jesus that we truly see the love of God for all mankind.  Though we all sinned, God came into the world to save us, and Jesus did that not with power and might but with humble, unselfish service, compassion, and honesty.  He never condoned sin but forgives it.  He didn’t come to destroy but to heal.  All of this continues today and will until He returns, but at that point, Jesus will come to judge, and those without faith in Christ will be condemned. 

So that as many as can be saved will hear and believe, Jesus sends His disciples out into the world to serve in His place.  We are to go not seeking fame and fortune, but to willingly get our hands dirty as we serve our neighbor in whatever way we can.  “He himself gave the apostles, as well as the prophets, as well as the evangelists, as well as the pastors and teachers, for the purpose of training the saints for the work of serving, in order to build up the body of Christ.” (Ephesians 4:11-12)  Jesus did the hard part.  He earned our righteousness before God and our forgiveness and salvation.  Now Jesus asks us to humbly share in His service by graciously serving those around us with the Good News of His love.

Through His Word, God comforts and assures us that Jesus is our righteousness.  Tonight, we also celebrate another way Jesus demonstrated His great love for us.  Tonight, we once again partake of the Supper Jesus instituted that same night.  After He had washed their feet, Jesus offered those who remained at the meal His real body and blood in bread and wine to refresh in them—and thus in us going forward—the forgiveness and righteousness which He earned for us with His holy life and with His loving sacrifice of His own body in our place on the cross.  To those who call Him, Lord, Jesus says “Take and eat.”  “Take and drink.”

It is for you and me, in company with all the world, that Jesus lived, loved, served, suffered, shed His blood, and died.  In great humility only the Son of God could achieve, Jesus loved us by taking our sins away from us and destroying sin, death, and the devil’s reign.  Tonight, come and partake of Jesus’ living body and blood, the healing medicine He offers to you with Hands of Humility.  “Taste and see that the Lord is good.  Blessed is everyone who takes refuge in him.” (Psalm 34:8)  Amen.

Blessed is everyone who fears the LORD, everyone who is walking in His ways.  Amen.