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The
Cathedral Church
of Saint John
Ten Concord Ave.
Wilmington
Delaware
19802

voice: (302) 654-6279
fax: (302) 777-5789

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Parking lot
on Concord Avenue

  

Dean’s Sermon
Maundy Thursday
9 April 2009

by the Very Reverend William B. Lane

And during supper Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going to God, got up from the table, took off his outer robe, and tied a towel around himself. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel that was tied around him.

In the first century Mediterranean world, such acts of hospitality as foot washing were usually the duties of servants or slaves. If the host or master of the household washed the dusty feet of the guests, it was an act of humility, and an honor for those guests. It would have been a way of identifying with those guests and identifying them with the host.

So, in John’s Gospel account, when Jesus gathers his disciples at a pre-Passover supper, he comes to each to wash their feet. Peter’s reaction is a normal one, the master should not wash the disciples feet. When Jesus explains to him that this washing is necessary if Peter is to share in the work that Jesus will be doing, Peter then goes overboard and request a much more extensive bathing than just foot washing.

Of course Peter wants to share with the master, what disciple would not? But, not surprisingly, Peter does not understand what sharing with Jesus entails. The washing is an outward sign of preparation and purification, not so much for the supper at hand, but for the events to come. Events of which, in John’s Gospel account, Jesus is fully aware and in command of. As much as Peter wants to be fully a part of Jesus’ life and mission, the commitment to that will be more than he can make. Jesus knows this and confirms this knowledge when he tells Peter: Will you lay down your life for me? Truly, truly, I say to you, the cock will not crow, till you have denied me three times.

Jesus washes the disciples feet as a sign of purification for participation in the coming drama, the drama of the cross. Only on the other side of the cross will they truly begin to come to gripes with what this means for Jesus and for them. Knowing this, Jesus instructs them to, in the future, repeat amongst themselves the act of foot washing as a reminder, as a reliving and participation in this first foot washing and in the self offering of Jesus that follows it.

This act of foot washing continues in the life of the Church as an outward and visible sign of the inward and spiritual grace of God’s redeeming love so completely lived out by Jesus the Christ and so incorporating of the people of Christ. We Episcopalians recovered this sacramental like act during the liturgical renewal following the Second World War. For many of us it may still seem strange, but for new generations of Church women and men, it is becoming a meaningful part of the journey into the story of the passion of Jesus.

When we receive Holy Communion this evening, we will be at one with the disciples and Jesus on that evening before Jesus was crucified; and at one with the Church in all ages, past and yet to come. So too, when the feet of the people of God are washed this evening, we will be at one with those disciples to whom Jesus knelt before and washed their feet. And in both acts we will experience the Kingdom of God. Not a Kingdom yet to come, but a Kingdom Come for all who take up the cross and follow the Lord of history. For all who hear and heed the new commandment: I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.

Faithfully,
The Very Reverend William B. Lane

Dean’s Sermons:

Cathedral Call Letters from the Dean

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