Holy Thursday Homily

Jesus washing his disciples' feet: by Ford Maddox Brown

Homily for Holy Thursday 2009
Exodus 12:1-8, 11-14
1 Corinthians 11:23-26
John 13:1-15

For centuries, there have been those who seek Holy Grail,
the cup Jesus used at the last supper.
Others claim to have a piece of the cross on which Jesus died.
One church treasures what it believes to be Jesus’ burial shroud.

If I could find or have some relic,
some memento of Jesus’ life,
I think it would be the towel he tied around his waist
and used to dry his disciples’ feet after washing them.

Imagine holding in your hands
the towel Jesus held in his hands…

Imagine having the towel that dried the feet of the apostles,
even of Peter who protested his Master’s servant gesture...

Imagine tying around your own waist a towel,
woven of cotton, yes,
but also woven through with the love and humility of Jesus,
the love and humility of our God,
who did not hesitate to come on bended knee to serve us
who, by every standard, are undeserving of such love...

Of course, the danger in having that towel,
Jesus’ own towel,
would be that I might frame it,
keep it under glass, or in a cedar chest,
or, worse yet, under lock and key.
And if I did that,
might Jesus not come and say to me as he said to Peter,
“Austin, don’t you realize what the towel is all about?
Don’t you understand what I have done for you?”
Well, I do understand what the towel is about,
it’s just that I don’t always tie it about my waist
and do for others what the Lord has done for me.

And often, like Peter, I am reluctant
to allow others the opportunity to serve me.

It’s so much easier, so much neater, so much cleaner
to make a souvenir of the love of Jesus
when what he wants to teach us to do
is to tie on the towel,
to gird ourselves in the towel of Christian service,
and to bend down and face the grit and grime of another’s feet:
the tired, calloused soles of feet hardened, toes gnarled
and hearts parched by long journeys along paths of pain.

The towel Jesus hands us in the gospel tonight
is a tool meant for working, not a trophy meant for display.
That Jesus gave us this towel at the last supper,
on the eve of his death,
draws us, as does the Eucharist,
to the humble service Jesus offered
not only when bent down at his friends feet
but even more, when he was lifted up, on the wood of the Cross.

The humble service to which Christ’s towel calls us
is but an introductory lesson on the self-giving love
he teaches us from the tree of his Cross.

The Eucharist, whose institution we remember and celebrate this night,
the Eucharist is the perfect sign of Jesus’ humility
for in the bread and cup of this altar
we receive the sacrifice he offered us in his suffering and death.

A towel is for tying around one’s waist and wiping dry another’s feet.
The Eucharist is for us to eat and drink, to consume
in the hope that it will consume us
and make of us humble servants of Christ and one another.

This night, then, the Church invites us
not only to receive the sacrament of Christ’s sacrifice
but also to wash one another’s feet, in humble service,
doing for others what he has done for us.

You are invited to watch as feet are washed
and towels dry them.
You are invited to have your feet washed
and to wash another’s feet
and to take a towel to dry them.

Whether we come forward or not,
let each of us tie the Lord’s towel around our hearts
and pledge to do for others as he has done for us.

-ConcordPastor