Maundy
Thursday Homily By The Rev. Marcia McRae
St.
John’s Episcopal Church, Bainbridge, GA, 24 March 2016
Exodus
12:1-4, (5-10), 11-14; Psalm 116:1, 10-17; 1 Corinthians 11:23-26;
John 13:1-17, 31b-35
Why
is this night different from all other nights?1
Our
Jewish brothers & sisters asks this question at the Passover meal
each year.
John
& I have been blessed to participate in the Passover meal with
friends & to ask: “Why is this night different?” The question
opens the opportunity to teach children [& remind adults] of
their heritage [our heritage] as the people God has delivered from
slavery in Egypt.
Our
lesson in Exodus says, “If a household is too small
for a whole lamb, it shall join its closest neighbor...” This meal
is to be shared in community. The meal
of Holy Communion that we share is shared in community.
Like
the unleavened bread of Passover, which is built on an earlier
tradition that nomads observed in their community,2
we share unleavened bread, which is made with little human
interference, an apt gift for a holy meal3.
It is made quickly so that people can move quickly to leave behind
the old life in Egypt & move into new life with God4.
Then
why do we move more slowly this night?
Why do we have more silence?
Why is this night different?
Tonight
we commemorate Jesus’ giving us a new meal based on the Passover
community meal. We leave the old life behind to live into new life
God offers us through Jesus. Sometimes this new life with God
challenges us. We see Peter face the challenge of letting Jesus wash
his feet.
Why
do we wash our feet tonight before we share the Bread & Wine? Why
do we strip the Altar? Why do we have no dismissal? We
have no dismissal because tonight we start
our Liturgy. We continue
it tomorrow. We conclude
it at the Easter
Vigil – that great celebration of Jesus’ Resurrection.
In
tonight’s part of this Great Liturgy of Jesus’ saving work, we do
what Jesus commands: to love
each other as Jesus loves us. This love is
strong enough to bend down & wash the feet of others.
Jesus takes
on a menial task to show us clearly how strong God’s Love for us
is. Jesus takes on a menial task to show us how to serve each other,
to give us courage to serve the least among us. To give us courage to
be served.
We
wash our feet because our Lord Jesus washes the Disciples' feet THEN
he gives the New Commandment.
This new mandate [in
Latin mandatum] gives us the name for Maundy Thursday, the day we
receive the new mandate, the new mandatum, the New Commandment.
Jesus
says: “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another.
Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this
everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for
one another."
Love is the central aspect, the essence of our
life as the Body of Christ. Love does overflow more & more in
this happening community where we live God's love.
God's
love is central to our calling as Jesus' disciples. This is true for
us, it was true for the Disciples & for the Christians in Corinth
to whom Paul writes. Jesus gives us work to do, serving where we are,
sharing Jesus' love. Sometimes this means we have to stoop to serve.
Sometimes this means we have to allow someone to stoop & serve
us.
We
see that impulsive
Peter has trouble with this new command. Is it surprising that he has
trouble letting Jesus wash his feet? We will see more of Peter’s
impulsiveness tomorrow. Tonight we see Peter's impulsiveness at the
community meal.
The
Rev. Arlette Benoit of St. Paul's, Atlanta, notes5:
“...Peter is the one who voices his uneasiness & disapproval
towards what Jesus is doing...” Maybe he's saying what other
disciples are thinking.
Put
yourself in Peter's sandals: you're watching Jesus washing your
fellow disciples' feet. One by one, Jesus gets closer to you. Closer.
Closer. Suddenly it's almost your turn!6
How do you handle this?
"[Peter]
probably [has] flashbacks...probably [thinks]: ‘Oh, if I had enough
faith to continue walking on that water…maybe I would be worthy for
Him to wash my feet...maybe I should have shut up & listened
more. Maybe that would have made me worthy for the Son of God, my
Messiah to wash my feet. Maybe I should not have outed him &
called him Messiah…I’m definitely not worthy. I am a sinner.’"7
Aren't
we all? How
impulsive are we in our response to one who is in a
different station of life than we are? One who is different &
offers us humble service?
The
grace we can gain from tonight’s being so very different can reduce
our impulsiveness. It can slow us down to think, to ponder, humble
service.
Why
do we strip the Altar, & move more slowly & have more
silence? We strip
the Altar to enter the time of remembering the stripping away of
Jesus from his friends, the stripping away of all that Jesus has: his
clothes, his life.
We
move more slowly & have more silence so that we can “hear” &
“see” God better. When we slow down & have more silence, we
are like a pond where water is stirred: Debris that has settled to
the bottom gets stirred up & obscures the water. When we let the
water rest it becomes clearer8
& we can see more clearly below the surface.
When we slow down &
have more silence, we can more readily “see” God. When we slow
down, we can make better decisions – decisions that can affect this
Body of Christ & beyond.
Slowing
down before reacting gives pro athletes the advantage of waiting
until just the right moment to move. I
learned this reading Frank Partnoy’s insightful study Wait:
The Art and Science of Delay.
He examines good & bad procrastination.
"We are hard-wired to react quickly. Modern society taps
into that...10
[We see this in Peter.] We like to believe there is wisdom in our
snap decisions, & sometimes there is. But true wisdom &
judgment come from understanding our limitations when it comes to
thinking about the future...11
A wise decision requires reflection, & reflection requires
a pause."12
Our
Lord Jesus takes time this night
to wash his Disciples feet.
Our Lord
Jesus takes time this night to share
a special meal in a new way.
Our
Lord Jesus takes time this night to give us
a new commandment.
Our
Lord Jesus does all this
in the context of community.
Bacon,
Ed. 8 Habits of Love:
Open Your Heart, Open Your Mind.
Boston: Grand Central Life & Style. Hatchette Book Group. 2012.
Benoit,
The Rev. Arlette. “Shareholders
and Partners with Jesus, Maundy Thursday (C) – 2016”.
http://episcopaldigitalnetwork.com/stw/2016/03/08/shareholders-and-partners-with-jesus-maundy-thursday-c-2016/
Accessed: 24 March 2016.
Harper’s
Bible Commentary.
General Ed.: James. L. Mays. San Francisco: Harper & Row
Publishers. 1988.
Holy
Bible. New Revised
Standard Version. New York: Oxford University Press. 1989.
Holy
Bible with the Apocrypha.
New Revised Standard Version. New York: Oxford University Press.
1989.
Jewish
Study Bible: Jewish Publication Society TANAKH Translation.
New York: Oxford University Press. 2004.
Long,
Thomas G. What Shall
We Say? Evil, Suppering, and the Crisis of Faith.
Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. 2011.
Michno,
Dennis G. A Priest’s
Handbook: The Ceremonies of the Church.
3rd
Edition. Harrisburg: Morehouse Publishing. 1998.
Mitchell,
Leonel L. Lent Holy
Week and the Great Fifty Days: A Ceremonial Guide.
Lanham, MD: A Cowley Publications Book. Rowman & Littlefield
Publishers, Inc. 2007.
New
Oxford Annotated Bible with the Apocrypha.
Eds.: Herbert G. May, Bruce M. Metzger. New York: Oxford University
Press, Incorporated, 1977.
Partnoy,
Frank. Wait: The Art
and Science of Delay.
New York: Public Affairs (Perseus Book Group). 2012.
Passover
Haggadah.. Winn Dixie. Miami: OneWorld Designs. 2009.
1
Passover Haggadah. Winn Dixie. P. 6
3
Ibid. Pp. 142-143.
5
Benoit,
The Rev. Arlette. “Shareholders
and Partners with Jesus, Maundy Thursday (C) – 2016”.
http://episcopaldigitalnetwork.com/stw/2016/03/08/shareholders-and-partners-with-jesus-maundy-thursday-c-2016/
Accessed: 24 March 2016.
6
Note: Idea paraphrased from Ibid.
7
Benoit,
The Rev. Arlette. “Shareholders
and Partners with Jesus, Maundy Thursday (C) – 2016”.
http://episcopaldigitalnetwork.com/stw/2016/03/08/shareholders-and-partners-with-jesus-maundy-thursday-c-2016/
Accessed: 24 March 2016.
8
Note: seeing my experience with our backyard water garden this way
is influenced by Bacon, Ed. 8 Habits of
Love:
Open Your Heart, Open Your Mind. P. 31.
10
Ibid.
12
Ibid. P. 246.
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