More Humility: Jesus Teaches Peter and Us a Central Lesson

From John 13, this text teaches that Christians in America don't need more power, they need more humility.

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Transcript

Sermons from Mission Hills UCC

San Diego, California

Rev. Dr. David Bahr

david.bahr@missionhillsucc.org

March 17, 2024

 “More Humility”

John 13: 1-15 – Common English Bible

Before the Festival of Passover, Jesus knew that his time had come to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them fully.

2 Jesus and his disciples were sharing the evening meal. The devil had already provoked Judas, Simon Iscariot’s son, to betray Jesus. 3 Jesus knew the Father had given everything into his hands and that he had come from God and was returning to God. 4 So he got up from the table and took off his robes. Picking up a linen towel, he tied it around his waist. 5 Then he poured water into a washbasin and began to wash the disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel he was wearing. 6 When Jesus came to Simon Peter, Peter said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?”

7 Jesus replied, “You don’t understand what I’m doing now, but you will understand later.”

8 “No!” Peter said. “You will never wash my feet!”

Jesus replied, “Unless I wash you, you won’t have a place with me.”

9 Simon Peter said, “Lord, not only my feet but also my hands and my head!”

10 Jesus responded, “Those who have bathed need only to have their feet washed, because they are completely clean. You disciples are clean, but not every one of you.” 11 He knew who would betray him. That’s why he said, “Not every one of you is clean.”

12 After he washed the disciples’ feet, he put on his robes and returned to his place at the table. He said to them, “Do you know what I’ve done for you? 13 You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and you speak correctly, because I am. 14 If I, your Lord and teacher, have washed your feet, you too must wash each other’s feet. 15 I have given you an example: Just as I have done, you also must do.

Two weeks after Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio became Pope Francis in March 2013, he shocked and scandalized the world by his choice of whose feet to wash in the annual Maundy Thursday ritual.  Prior to Francis, popes in modern times had only washed the feet of priests – meaning, all men – within the ornate spaces of the Vatican.  But on his first Maundy Thursday as pope, Francis went to a juvenile detention center in Rome and washed and kissed the feet of 12 young people – including two women and two Muslims.  Though unprecedented for a modern pope, in 2001 when he was Archbishop of Buenos Aires, Francis went to a hospice to wash and kiss the feet of people living with AIDS.  In 2005 he went to a maternity hospital and in 2008, he washed and kissed the feet of 12 people in a drug rehab center.  It would only be one of the first times people were unhappy with this radical cleric.

Peter was also shocked and horrified, scandalized by such an idea, that he refused to allow Jesus to wash his feet.  “You will never wash my feet!” Peter declared.  He and the disciples watched as Jesus got up from the table, took off his robes, and tied a linen towel around his waist.  Jesus poured water into a washbasin and one by one began to wash the feet of his disciples – reversing their roles.  Imagine the honored guest at a banquet getting on his or her knees to take on the most humble of tasks.  

But just six days earlier there had been another scandalous foot washing.  Gathered around the supper table, the disciples watched as Mary, the sister of Martha, who probably cooked that meal… They watched as Mary entered the room with a bottle of expensive perfume, so expensive it cost the equivalent of a year’s wages.  She opened the bottle, startling their nostrils and filling the room with the powerful scent.  She then loosened her hair, bent down in front of Jesus, rubbed perfume on his feet, and then wiped his feet with her hair.  Judas questioned the expense, a waste of money, he claimed.  But Jesus praised Mary.  “Leave her alone,” he said.  She bought this for my burial.  While the other disciples still refused to believe Jesus would soon be killed, Mary listened and had been busy preparing for it.

In the morning, Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey while people waved palm branches and shouted Hosanna.  Crowds gathered around him while he taught, “Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains only a single grain.  But if it dies, it will bear much fruit.  Those who love their lives will lose them, but if you let it go, you will have it forever.”  He was teaching about the necessity of his own death.

And so, six days earlier, supper at Mary and Martha’s, entrance into Jerusalem that next morning, and now it’s a few days later.  Jesus knew the time had come.  Because his disciples had repeatedly proven they couldn’t comprehend his teachings, he decided to teach them by example.  So, he got up from the table, took off his robes… The disciples stopped their chatting about the events of the day.  He tied a linen cloth around his waist…  What is he doing?  Why is he pouring water into the wash basin?  Why is he getting down on the ground?  No one dared question what he was doing.  No, not you, Lord.  This was something for only a servant to do.  

When Jesus came around to him, ever impulsive Peter demanded that Jesus will never wash his feet.  Rebuffed and always with a flair for the dramatic, he then told Jesus to not only wash his feet but his hands and head too.  But Peter has missed the point.  This isn’t a lesson in hygiene.  It’s a lesson in humility.  This is how my followers are to act.  

When he finished, Jesus put on his robes and returned to his place at the table and asked them, “Do you know what I’ve done for you?”  Wisely, Peter chose to say nothing.  “If I, your Lord and teacher, have washed your feet, you too must wash each other’s feet.  I have given you an example:  Just as I have done, you also must do.”

After this shock and scandal, he revealed to the group an even more shocking scandal:  one of them would betray him.  The disciples looked around at each other with horror.  Who would do such a thing?  Jesus replied, “The one who takes this bread.”  Just then, Judas took the bread and Jesus told him, go quickly and do what you are about to do.  When Judas left the room, Jesus reiterated again that he would be with them only a little while longer and so, “I give you a new commandment:  Love each other.  Just as I have loved you, so you also must love each other.  This is how everyone will know that you are my disciples, when you love each other.”

Peter asked, “But where are you going?”  Jesus told him that he couldn’t follow him now, but he could later.  “But Lord, why can’t I follow you now?  I’ll give up my life for you!”  “Not so quickly, Peter.  Before the rooster crows, you’re going to deny me three times.”  And with that the curtain closes and the chapter comes to an end.

But back up a minute.  Do you realize, Judas was at the table when Jesus washed the feet of his disciples.  Even though he knew what would happen very soon, Jesus washed the feet of Judas too.

This point was made by George Marion McClelland.  George was a Black Congregational minister born in 1860.  Interesting story.  George studied at Fisk University in Nashville, a school started by Congregational missionaries who followed right behind the Union Army and set up schools on what had been battlegrounds – a school still related to the UCC.  George graduated in 1885 and started work as a minister in Louisville Kentucky while also studying for what we now call a Master of Divinity at the Congregational seminary in Hartford, Connecticut.  George was a published poet and author of short prose while at the same time teaching Latin and English before becoming a high school principal.  Busy guy!  I wanted to give his background before reading his beautiful poem.  Born in a time of slavery, he was raised during the hope of reconstruction, hopes that were crushed when the federal government turned their back and gave free reign to the former enslavers to terrorize those who dared to live free.  And yet, McClellan said,

Christ washed the feet of Judas!

The dark and evil passions of his soul, 

His secret plot, and sordidness complete,

His hate, his purposing, Christ knew the whole.

And still in love he stooped and washed his feet.

Christ washed the feet of Judas!

And thus a girded servant, self-abased,

Taught that no wrong this side of the gate of heaven 

Was ever too great to wholly be effaced, 

And though unasked, in spirit be forgiven.

And so if we have ever felt the wrong

Of trampled rights, of caste, it matters not,

What e’er the soul has felt or suffered long,

Oh, heart! This one thing should not be forgot:

Christ washed the feet of Judas.

Those words were controversial then just as they are controversial now as they could be seen as excusing those who enslaved in the past or who persecute today.  Even so, his poem causes us to really consider:  How far did Jesus mean to go?

Jesus taught, You have heard it said, ‘Love your neighbor,’ and ‘Hate your enemy.’  But I say, love your enemies.  “God gives the sun for warmth and nourishing rain to everyone – the good and bad, the nice and nasty.  If all you do is love the lovable, do you expect a bonus?  Anybody can do that.  If you simply say hello to those who greet you, do you expect a medal?  Any run-of-the-mill sinner does that.  In a word, what I’m saying is, Grow up.  Live generously and graciously toward others, the way God lives toward you.”[1]

What does it mean to follow Jesus?  Well, what did he teach us by his own example in today’s text?

Christianity is about service, not doctrine.

We’re called to humility and sacrificial love, not power.

We’re invited to be vulnerable, not controlling.

Having one’s feet washed feels very vulnerable.  Few people feel comfortable with the practice, but it is just as sacramental as communion.  In fact, for John, this is communion.  This is the last supper.  In John there are no words of institution involving bread and wine.  In the first three gospels we remember Jesus by eating and drinking together.  In the Gospel of John, we remember Jesus by following his example to serve one another by washing one another’s feet.  Those who have never had this experience could come on Maundy Thursday and choose, if you wish, to participate in a foot washing.  I know it’s uncomfortable and makes us feel vulnerable, so it’s only an option during the service, but worth considering as we seek to deepen our faith – vulnerability, humility, sacrificial love.

Some are trying to make Christianity in America more powerful and dominant over society.  As I’ve said before, that is at odds with the actual teachings of Jesus.  Rev. Benjamin Cremer has a brilliant response:

Christianity in the United States doesn’t need more political power.

It needs less arrogance.

It needs less entitlement.

It needs less animosity towards those who are different.

Christianity in America needs more humility.

It needs more generosity.

It needs more compassion and understanding.  

There are few passages in the gospels that more powerfully teach this lesson.  “If I, your Lord and teacher, have washed your feet, you too must wash each other’s feet.  I have given you an example:  Just as I have done, you also must do.”  To even Judas.

I see it as a call to be a healing presence in the world.  What the world needs now is love.  Are you ready?

[1] Matthew 5: 43-48 – The Message