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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