April 18, 2019

Linda Murphy

Maundy Thursday     John 13:1-17, 31-35

Tonight as we enter into the last three great days of Holy Week we share the Eucharist and offer to wash each other’s feet as Jesus washed the disciples’ feet. During this Holy Week a myriad of feet have walked and continue to walk the labyrinth in front of us.

Feet, were an important symbol in ancient times. Occasionally people were permitted to glimpse the feet of the Unseen God; more commonly, they responded to the divine presence by taking off their own shoes. Devotees kissed the feet of their gurus, priests had their feet washed for them, and victorious leaders even tread upon their enemies’ prone bodies. Echoing that custom, Jews and Christians dreamed of their enemies being made into God’s footstool. Bare feet clearly represented both sacred and secular power.

In my working day I see and care for feet. The feet of the rough sleeper are often a very sad and sorry sight. Those feet have often walked for miles often without shoes and rarely socks. They need to be washed and usual need some medical attention. Often they need to be seen by our wonderful podiatrist who comes to the Mission fortnightly. They need socks and shoes that fit and like the disciples our rough sleepers’ are often not keen to have their feet washed.

Washing someone’s feet carries many different meanings: reverence, subservience, hospitality. In the time of Jesus people arrived usually on foot, their feet tired, dusty and sandy. The welcoming thing was to wash their feet.

In tonight’s Gospel Jesus washed his disciples’ feet and gave them the mandatum to do the same.

“I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.”

Loving one another is perhaps the most difficult of commands. It means we have to first learn to love ourselves. See ourselves as worthy of accepting, giving and sharing love. Jesus not only spoke kind words and did great deeds. He comforted and healed and gave hope for a brighter future. He embodied love. We are called to do the same. Our world cries out to see the face of Jesus, to walk the way of love, to experience a church that not only preaches love, but demonstrates love.

The 15th of March 2019 was a day of horror for all of us in Aotearoa. A day we will not forget and the out pouring of grief was enormous. This horrific event has changed us as a country. However it is all too easy to slip back into our pattern of life forgetting Jesus commandment to love one another and that includes everyone.

Let me finish with this prayer from Iona for this night:

Before the bright dawn in the garden

-when Love was resurrected,

Before the cold silence of the tomb

-by which Love was swallowed,

Before the black horror of the cross

-on which Love was broken,

Before the bitter struggle of another garden

-through which Love affirmed its choices,

Jesus,

Eating a final supper with his friends,

Blessed and broke bread and poured out a cup of wine,

Sharing these tokens with them

As a confirmation of the life he had lived

And a sign of what was to come…