Maundy Thursday, 2022 - Do You Understand?

Surely, the Twelve were accustomed to Jesus doing the unexpected. He had always followed his own inner GPS and colored outside the lines. He knowingly and intentionally broke the rules of his religiously shaped culture. He refused to pander to the religious leaders or play political games. It was part of why they followed him. But this time he went too far!!

That evening, without a word of warning, he wrapped a towel around his waist and filled a basin with water. He then went wordlessly from one to the next, unlacing their sandals and gently washing the dust of the day from their dirty, sweaty feet, drying them with the towel tied around his waist. It was the work of a servant — the household slave — not their rabbi!

Washing feet was a part of the cultural expectations of the day. As guests gathered for a dinner party, the host provided this service as part of his welcome. It was a way of transitioning from the journey and the day’s demands into the relaxed fellowship of the dinner party. It was a soothing practice that did more than remove the dust and sweat from the feet. It helped them relax and unwind. The host provided this service to his guests, but he did not do the foot washing himself. It was the work of his servant, his household slave.

A slave occupied one of the lowest positions in the social structure of their society. He or she had no power, no standing, no voice. She had no value outside of the tasks she performed. He was a human machine doing an assigned task for which he had been trained. He (or she) had no personal identity outside the role of a slave.

That night, Jesus took on the role of the household slave — the role of a servant.

It was Peter — dear old Peter — who said out loud what everyone was thinking. “What in the blazes do you think you’re doing? You’re not going wash my feet!”

What Jesus said back to Peter was spot on! “You do not know now what I am doing” (John 13:7). Peter could not understand … and he wasn’t the only one! None of them understood what Jesus was doing. All they knew was it was highly inappropriate and it made them extremely uncomfortable.

The Twelve did not, could not understand what Jesus was doing because they were thinking from the perspective of the ego-centric self with its merit-based thinking. Merit-based thinking, which produces the ego-centric self, is our default way of thinking. It is thinking that is based upon merit. Its language is the language of deserving. In this way of thinking, the ego-centric self ties its sense of identity to how well it measures up to some set of expectations. Its value is tied to its standing in the hierarchy of relationships. That’s why what Jesus was doing was so offensive to them. Their rabbi, their leader — the one at the top of their hierarchal relationship system — was doing the work of one who was at the very bottom of that hierarchy.

“Do you know what I have done to you?” (John 13:12). Obviously, they did. He had washed their feet. And, obviously, they did not. They did not understand.

In washing their feet, Jesus was washing away more than the dirt and sweat. He was washing away the way they thought and, along with it, the sense of identity and value they had constructed based upon that merit-based, measuring-up way of thinking. He was teaching them a new way of thinking and living — one that turned their old way of thinking and living upside down. He was teaching them a new identity — one rooted in their relationship with God and in God’s love, not in how well they measured up or where they stood in the hierarchy, i.e., the ego-centric self. He was teaching them to love.

When Jesus took on the role of the servant that evening, it was not the first time. It was not a role he took on for just that event or that evening. It was his essential nature. Jesus lived out of a servant spirit. He lived out of love (John 13:3). Jesus lived as a servant because self-giving, servant love was and is the nature of God.

What Jesus did that night — washing the feet of his disciples — was to give them an unforgettable image of what it means to be his follower. Being a follower of Jesus is to die to the ego-centric self with its merit-based thinking and living. It is to embrace a new way of thinking and living. It is to claim a new identity, one rooted in the love of God. To be a follower of Jesus is to be a servant. It is to love as Jesus loved.

“I give you a new commandment, that you love one another” (John 13:34). The ego-centric self, rooted in merit-based thinking, cannot genuinely love. All it can do is compare and compete as to how well it is measuring up in comparison to others.

This Maundy Thursday, may we understand what the disciples could not! May we understand the way of the servant.