“Do you have any idea just who I am?!”
It is a greeting as old as lights and sirens.
In my 9 year career as a Police officer I heard it almost daily. One of my favorite responses was simply “No sir/ma’am but I am sure you are going to tell me!”. I heard it from politicians, lawyers, teachers, firemen, pastors…… and yes, other police.
We are all important. Yes, we are all precious in God’s eyes but in God’s eyes that is an equal level of esteem. Our earthly esteem on the other hand, well, that’s a different story.
Our educations, our vocations, our authority, our relations, are just some of the factors that make us slightly more important than other’s are ever fully aware of. Who knows, maybe I am going out on a limb but just maybe we aren’t as important as we think we are?
Today’s Gospel addresses the issue of humility. The word humility is defined as a modest opinion or estimate of one’s own importance or rank. Humiliation on the other hand is synonymous with dishonor or degradation. Humility regardless of Webster or his dictionary has become synonymous with humiliation for us in our context today. In fact I don’t think it was much different for the disciples in today’s Gospel.
Everyone is gathered into the upper room for a nice meal but a common custom of the 1st century has been neglected. Not only in the 1st century but today feet are looked upon with a sense of disgust and disdain in Semitic cultures . Even today, if you show the bottoms of your feet or you intentionally hold up a shoe this is perceived as an extreme offense in the middle east. Traditional washing of hands and faces took place before every meal but feet were also required to be washed in order to purify the most impure part of the exposed body upon entering a home or private room. The feet were the part of the body most exposed to not only sand, but manure, human waste, trash, and various other forms of filth present due to poor sanitation.
This was such a grievous task that a slave was most often expected to provide the service and not just any slave, it was usually a Gentile slave. Because even for a slave, if they were a Jew, this task was beneath them, it was a supreme act of humiliation and impurity. And yet Jesus rises from a reclined position, to perform the task no one else has yet performed.
The simple fact that Jesus rises from his place gives us a picture of these 12 men sitting around staring at one another waiting to see just who would be the one humiliated by performing the offensive chore. Most likely if we look to the Gospels of both Mark and Luke the responsibility would have fallen upon John and Peter. Although Mark and Luke don’t describe this event they do describe Jesus’ delegation of the task of preparing the room. This would therefore make John and Peter the hosts of this event and the task would certainly fall under their responsibility,
but no, I’m not sure the other 10 disciples know just how important John and Peter really are. In fact I am sure that each of the 12 is gazing around the room at this moment wondering if the other 11 really has just any idea of who he is.
In the meantime Jesus rises and takes the towel already in place and girds his loins after removing several garments. To gird one’s loins or to put it more simply, wrap a towel around ones midsection meant one was preparing for the worst, this was somewhat of a uniform for slavery. So now, Jesus is standing in front of 12 disciples who have not even thought to offer their assistance much less the task itself, with nothing but a towel wrapped around his waist as a slave, yes, a slave.
Now, this language has often been the subject of some debate and concern. Most of our translations of verse 16 refer to a servant rather than a slave but this translation is difficult to justify given the context. We have a difficult time with using the word slave for two reasons,
First, some argue that Jesus does not understand the negative views we harbor today against slavery because of our own experiences, especially the experiences in the United States from the 19th century. Certainly, this notion of slavery as justified through scripture has been grossly abused. So, rightfully we have grown sensitive to the implications of using the word in relation to scripture.
It is such a sensitive issue that when I went to watch 12 years a slave this past December a woman jumped up and screamed at the movie screen when in one scene Edwin Epps, the slave master quoted the bible in order to justify slavery to the main character Solomon Northup. By all means, it is truly a sensitive issue and rightly so it should be
A second issue is that certainly Jesus is not calling his disciples to a life lacking any freedom. Could Jesus be calling us to a life of only abuse and unrewarded servitude? How could Jesus demand that we be born through baptism into a life of submission to a dominating influence? Contrary to our own views, both the disciples and John’s audience know the abomination of slavery all too well.
Certainly Jesus and the disciples are aware of the defeat and crucifixion of the thousands of slaves that rose up against the Roman empire during the three Servile Wars that had taken place only two generations ago.
and
Certainly John’s audience knows all too well the Zealots who, rather than be subjected to Roman slavery ended their own lives at the siege of Masada when the Romans breached their stronghold.
No, Jesus understood this notion of slavery far greater than we and so did his disciples as well as John’s audience. What I would like you to consider for a minute is just what Jesus is doing in this moment, standing before his disciples, appearing as a slave, kneeling, as a slave, and performing a task only assigned to a particular caste of slaves, the gentile slaves. Jesus knows what outcome awaits, he knows he is in the final throes of his mortal existence and yet he humbles himself before these 12 men, one of which is the man that will hand him over for certain execution and has been plotting this betrayal for some time, now.
Sisters and Brothers, is Jesus not already a slave in the most abysmal sense of the word slave? Could it be this is why we fear this word, slave, in John’s narrative? Are we truly fearful that we are being called to the role of slave or is it maybe that we are being made aware of our roles as the slave masters? It is in our own sin and continued transgressions that Jesus chooses to be chained to a sentence of slavery. Perhaps that is where our discomfort lies and most certainly that is where our discomfort should lie.
Jesus Christ, Emmanuel, God made flesh, begins the great reversal at this moment in a series of explicit ironic events. He begins with the reversal of Lord of all, the Messiah, God among us, on bended knee as a slave washing the feet of those who have dedicated themselves to the service of Him. In the death of our Lord is another painful irony. God made flesh crucified and suffering the pain of death in the shadow of the temple dedicated to none other than; the ONE true God! And, in the ultimate twist, the one true Son of God is crucified for the sin that has plagued every human existence besides his own! This reversal illuminates the power of Christ in our lives, in our world, and all because of the humility of Jesus. His humility to suffer OUR humiliation! But if a washing why just the feet? Does Peter really ask such an odd question? In an age where ritual baths are a common physical practice and for Jesus and the Jews of his age a significant spiritual practice as well. Why does this take such a significant role in the midst of our Holy Week?
Yes, Jesus humbles himself in this task and obligates us to follow his example. He demands that we love one another and this act of humility shows the extent we are to go in showing that love. But just as Peter asks, why not another act? Why not command another sacrament?
In answering Peter’s question, Jesus answers our own. Jesus in this act shows that he alone is the one that can truly once and for all wash away the filth of our sin. No matter how clean one makes themselves their feet will always be made unclean in walking through the sin of this world. It is only through Jesus that we are made clean.
With that in mind I want you to take a moment and imagine a figurative circumstance to follow such an example. Imagine an older gentleman in the final stages of his life. His feet have become gnarled up due to arthritis and because of his illness he has not received the level of hygiene one’s feet usually should. His feet are not only appalling to your senses but his very character is as well. He is hateful and bitter and he has never shared a kind word for you, your family, or this congregation. In the love of Christ you are called though to wash the feet of this man, who in his confessed belief of Jesus Christ allows you the opportunity to wash his feet, in order to remind him of John’s narrative and Christ’s teaching. As you pour this water into a basin you have one last opportunity to change your mind and refuse this man this powerful symbolic gesture. As you place the basin onto the floor you look into the eyes of the pastor of the Westboro Baptist Church and I ask you Sisters and Brothers, what would you do?
I ask you, what are we called to do and is that any less than was done for us? You see, Jesus has more than just a good idea of who we are He knows EXACTLY who we are. As Baptized children of Christ dying and rising as the Body of Christ, He knows us better than we even know ourselves.
I thank God today and everyday for sending our Lord and Savior to wash our filth as a slave to our sin, in turn enslaving us to the gift of God’s love and grace.
שלום ,سلام, and Peace
