Thursday, March 29, 2018

Maundy Thursday


A Reflection for Maundy Thursday                           All Saints’ Church, Southern Shores, NC
 March 29, 2018                                                                Thomas E. Wilson, Rector
Foot washing in 1st Century Palestine was a way of welcoming honored guests to supper at a rich person’s house. The honored guest would be greeted by the host who would give them a kiss of Peace, Shalom, anoint the guest’s head with oil, and escort them to an honored place to recline around the table, eating their food with their right hand. A lowly servant, or wife of the host if there were no servants, would go around remove the guest’s sandals and washing his feet. It was a gift of honor. If the host felt the guest deserved fewer honors, upon entering he would be welcomed by a slave, given a bowl of water and a towel to wash their own feet, and shown to the main room. If the guest was thought to deserve no honor there would be no water, no oil, no kiss, and no welcome. 

There are two stories of Jesus and foot washing in scripture. The first ( Luke 7) was when Jesus was invited to a meal as a curiosity, to see what made this wandering Rabbi tick, and treated with no honor, but then a fallen woman snuck into the house and shocked everybody by weeping, washing Jesus’ feet with her tears, and drying them with her hair. The host laughed to himself thinking that Jesus was being made unclean by the touch of a fallen woman. Jesus called him on it and pointed out that the host, who was a big shot in his own mind, had done nothing to make Jesus feel welcome, but this woman, who realized she was broken, emptied herself out in love. The host knew nothing about forgiveness but the woman did. Jesus says she is forgiven of her many sins: “Your faith has made you whole; go in peace.”

The second story (John 13) was when Jesus had gathered his disciples for their last supper together, and he begins with his stripping down to a towel and washing the disciples’ feet as a sign of humility and love. His commandment was to love one another and he said he was their teacher and Lord, and as he washed their feet, he was setting an example of how they were to do the same for each other. The word “Maundy” comes from the word “Mandatum” meaning commandment, for what Jesus says: “A new commandment I give you that you love one another even as I have loved you.” He washes the feet of all his disciples, even Judas who he knows will betray him. He empties himself out in love as a sign that he will do that empting out on the cross for all.

In a world in which honor is given only if it is deserved, Jesus shows that all are honored, even sinners. The church kept this ceremony of foot washing as a way of reminding people to empty themselves out for all of God’s creation. Sometimes it became a tableau where Kings, Bishops, Popes, Abbots and Priests would show humility. The "mandatum" from 1600 said the custom was for bishops to wash, dry and kiss "the feet of 'thirteen' poor people after having dressed them, fed them and given them a charitable donation." Queen Elizabeth I was said to “keep her maundies” by washing the feet of twenty women. Pope Pius XII in 1955 laid down the law that it should be limited to 12 men symbolizing the 12 disciples. We are fortunate that Francis has changed that pattern.

In the passage from John, Peter initially says that he will not allow Jesus to wash Peter’s feet. When I started this practice, I was hesitant because while I had no problem washing someone’s feet as a sign of my humility, I had real problems with allowing someone to minister to me. In the Lenten program last week, we were talking about people having spiritual directors and it was agreed that we Americans feel like we ought to be self-reliant, able to do it all without help.

 I remember at an earlier church I kept an hour on Saturday afternoon for the Sacrament of a Reconciliation of a Penitent, or Confession.  Over the months I found that it was one of the quietest hours in my week because no one wanted to admit they sinned or needed help. I understood because for many years I want to give the illusion of being perfect and I did not need anyone to see my own brokenness. I still do not like it, but when you have ugly feet you have to admit that you are not perfect. My brokenness goes from the soles of my feet to the soul of my being, and it is only by grace that I receive more than I deserve.

The act of foot washing is not meant to be limited to a ritual once a year, but it needs to be a symbol of the inclination of our wills to open ourselves up to one another - and empty ourselves out for one another.

Maundy Thursday
Foot models are paid to make shoes look good,
slender ankles and toned legs setting the style
to sell the brand which makes investors smile
but that’s not a living ever open to me if I could.
Years of rough neglecting do tell different tales
of knowing that it was easier to hide my faults
than claim them as mine but treat them false,
pretending I don’t care about ugly toes and nails.
Maundy Thursday washing feet is humbling task,
not in doing washing of others but to them allow
to know the brokenness I usually hide and avow
that I’m perfect and for forgiveness I needn’t ask.
Healing in a community begins as we admit who
we are, accepting a loving laying on of hands too.

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