John 13:1-17
Time in this pandemic year has been weird and indefinite. Days run together, and weeks pile up amorphously. In contrast, Maundy Thursday is a distinctive day of decision-making. Maundy Thursday is the point in the gospel story when all the cards are on the table and the stakes are high. The air is filled with tough questions that demand a response: Stay or go? Fight or flee? Commit or deny? Love or betray? It is a day of high, gripping drama. The future for Jesus and his band of followers looks difficult, ominous. The hardest part of the road is still ahead. It’s not possible to turn back.
In telling the story of this momentous day, John keeps before us all that Jesus knows. Jesus knows that his hour has come. Jesus knows the end is near. Jesus knows that one of his own followers will betray him. Jesus knows that one of his own followers will deny even being with him. Jesus knows that suffering and death lie before him. Jesus knows there is not much time left.
The hours that remain have to be used carefully. Nothing can be wasted. There are not many opportunities that remain. Jesus knows tomorrow he will die. Jesus knows this is the last time that they will all be together. They have shared many things. They have known days of joy and possibility. They have glimpsed the glory of God through Jesus’ words and his deeds. He has taught them and prayed for them and loved them. Jesus knows that he will love them to the end. In spite of the betrayals and the denials that he knows are soon coming, Jesus will love them to the end. Jesus knows that that end is near.
So, what does he do in these final moments? As the time slips away and his death draws closer, what is the last act for Jesus with this small band of followers? He takes a towel and fills a basin and kneels before them to wash their feet. Jesus knows that his hour has come. He knows that soon he will be arrested and tried and beaten and executed. But in the face of all those things, when he could flee or hide or organize resistance, Jesus takes a towel and fills a basin and washes his disciples’ feet. Leaving them – leaving us – with this unmistakable sign of what it means to be human and how it is we are to live as God’s people in this world.
There are any number of things that Jesus could do in those final moments, but Jesus knows that this humble act is what matters most. Jesus knows that he must teach this last lesson. Jesus knows that we must learn it. “Do you know what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord — and you are right, for that is what I am. So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you. Very truly, I tell you, servants are not greater than their master, nor are messengers greater than the one who sent them. If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them” (John 13:12-17).
Unlike Jesus, none of us knows when the hour will come for us. There is time left. We don’t know how much, but there is time left. Time to live, time to love, time to learn, time to worship, time to speak words that matter, time to acts in ways that count, time to respond to the One who will not stop loving us, time to serve others even as we have been served by Jesus Christ.
If we know these things, we are blessed if we do them.
JOHN WURSTER is pastor of St. Philip Presbyterian Church in Houston.
