Prayer of the Day
Eternal God, in the sharing of a meal your Son established a new covenant for all people, and in the washing of feet he showed us the dignity of service. Grant that by the power of your Holy Spirit these signs of our life in faith may speak again to our hearts, feed our spirits, and refresh our bodies, through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

Gospel: John 13:1-17, 31b-35
1 Now before the festival of the Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart from this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. 2 The devil had already decided that Judas son of Simon Iscariot would betray Jesus. And during supper 3 Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands and that he had come from God and was going to God, 4 got up from supper, took off his outer robe, and tied a towel around himself. 5 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. 6 He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?” 7 Jesus answered, “You do not know now what I am doing, but later you will understand.” 8 Peter said to him, “You will never wash my feet.” Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no share with me.” 9 Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!” 10 Jesus said to him, “One who has bathed does not need to wash, except for the feet, but is entirely clean. And you are clean, though not all of you.” 11 For he knew who was to betray him; for this reason he said, “Not all of you are clean.” 12 After he had washed their feet, had put on his robe, and had reclined again, he said to them, “Do you know what I have done to you? 13 You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for that is what I am. 14 So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. 15 For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you. 16 Very truly, I tell you, slaves are not greater than their master, nor are messengers greater than the one who sent them. 17 If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them.”

31b “Now the Son of Man has been glorified, and God has been glorified in him. 32 If God has been glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself and will glorify him at once. 33 Little children, I am with you only a little longer. You will look for me, and as I said to the Jews so now I say to you, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come.’ 34 I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Sermon
Some lessons might be too difficult and may be beyond our capacity to perform them ourselves. Fresh in the disciples’ mind was the scandal of Mary breaking open a container of priceless ointment and slathering it onto Jesus’ feet. Then she dries his feet with her hair. Nothing in Mary’s devotion is innocuous. It’s all scandalous for its extravagance and even its intimacy. Now Jesus all but imitates Mary’s ritual of serving… might he have been inspired by her? I choose to think so.

Foot washing is the job of servants; female servants at that. Servants are supposed to be practically invisible while doing their work. Religious leaders are meant to be seen, heard, and served. Simon Peter says what the others were probably thinking—Messiahs don’t serve and they don’t debase themselves. Jesus does. What’s more he continues to insist that he is from God and is soon to return to God. In a way, Jesus says his ways reflect what God is like.

We might not always appreciate the scandal of John’s description of Jesus as the pre-existing essence of God…the Word…who becomes flesh and lives among us.

Now this incarnate Word among us kneels and washes feet—presides at the meal of liberation and then calls on us to love in the same manner that Jesus loves. Even when he’s betrayed, Jesus feeds everyone and serves everyone…scandal on top of scandal each act more egregious than the one before it. As John says, Jesus loves his followers; ecen now…to the end? Where does it end? At the cross? Not for John. It ends with Jesus resurrected and ascended into heaven. Why? So that we may learn to love and to trust and to live life in a way Jesus calls abundant—a life lived for the sake of others and the world God so loves.