The Rev. Joseph Peters-Mathews is the vicar of St. Hilda St. Patrick. The sermon for Maundy Thursday, April 1, 2021, was preached in response to John 13:1-17, 31b-35.
Having loved his own who were in the world,
he loved them to the end.
“‘I give you a new commandment,’
Jesus said,
‘that you love one another.’”
Jesus and the disciples are gathered together,
sharing a meal before the Passover.
Jesus knew that his hour had come
his hour to depart from this world
and go to the Father.
In his final time with his friends,
he sets an example for them
and builds on the foundation of their Jewish faith.
This foundation,
their eternal covenants with God as Jews
would have been at the fore of their mind
as they prepared to celebrate the Passover.
Jesus and his friends
remember covenants
with Noah
and Abraham
and Moses.
Knowing those covenants,
knowing the roles of teachers and followers,
masters and disciples,
Jesus changes the game.
Before laying down his life for his friends,
Jesus lays down his ego.
He debases himself by washing his disciples’ feet,
something only a generous student
would offer a rabbi.
No student could be forced
to wash their master’s feet,
and yet Jesus washes his disciples feet.
He does so as an act of humility
and a sign of how he expects
the disciples to live.
Having loved his own who were in the world,
he loved them to the end.
“‘I give you a new commandment,’
Jesus said,
‘that you love one another.’”
Our love for one another
has so often failed
through the history of our religion
through the history of our country.
In his book White Too Long
Robert P. Jones
writes about the history of white supremacy
as a close and easy bedfellow
of white Christianity in the United States.
He documents how individualized salvation
rose to prominence to protect Jesus white followers
from the systemic issues
facing enslaved people
or those suffering under Jim Crow.
He tracks how
the Lost Cause narrative
and the hopeful redemption of the South
were baptized
and staunch slavery defenders recast
as Good Christian Men.
Most importantly for us,
a predominantly white congregation
in a predominantly white tradition
in a predominantly white region,
he shows that region and flavor —
Southern or Northern or Western,
Mainline or Evangelical or Catholic —
don’t change the likelihood of racism
among the followers of Jesus.
This hurts to hear,
it hurts to read,
to know how much we collectively —
preachers and leaders in particular —
have failed at teaching and preaching
true, deep, love of neighbor.
Having loved his own who were in the world,
he loved them to the end.
“‘I give you a new commandment,’
Jesus said,
‘that you love one another.’”
Gathered with his disciples,
preparing to celebrate the Passover,
Jesus offers a new covenant
and a new commandment:
Love one another.
“By this everyone will know that you are my disciples,
if you have love for one another.”
Remembering God’s eternal covenants
with Abraham
with Noah
with Moses,
Jesus offers his followers
a new covenant, too.
“If you know these things,”
Jesus says,
“you are blessed if you do them.”
“Keep my commandments,”
Jesus tells his friends in farewell,
“and you will be blessed,
as I am returning to the Father
because the time has come for me
to be glorified.”
Not only does Jesus give
a new commandment
a new covenant,
Jesus gives the ultimate gift:
the gift of love.
Having loved his own who were in the world,
he loved them to the end.
“‘I give you a new commandment,’
Jesus said,
‘that you love one another.’”
The disciples do nothing
to earn Jesus’ love.
Peter wants to demonstrate
how much washing he needs.
Jesus, rather than let Peter show off,
only shows love.
“You have bathed,
only your feet need washing.
“I love you.
“Let me show you my love.”
Having loved his own who were in the world,
he loved them to the end.
“‘I give you a new commandment,’
Jesus said,
‘that you love one another.’”
We have been bathed
washed in our baptisms,
which Nolan will undertake on Saturday night.
But our feet need washing.
There’s some post-cleaning
that need to keep happening.
Jesus gives us the example
for how we can do that:
by loving one another.
Jones, in White Too Long,
doesn’t only track the history
of baptized white supremacy
Christianity upholding
the powers and principalities
of systemic racism.
Jones points to the work of the Spirit,
the advocate Jesus tells the disciples he will send
in the wake of the Mother Emmannuel shooting
in 2015.
Had it not already been to press,
he undoubtedly would have noticed
the Spirit blowing through last summer
after George Floyd’s death.
We’ve started to learn
the ways we are complicit
in systemic racism.
We have much learning to do.
We will,
with God’s help.
We’ve been bathed,
washed in our baptisms,
but our feet need washing.
Jesus is here,
ready,
to take off his outer robe
tie a towel around his waist,
and wash our feet.
Jesus is here,
ready to wash our feet,
not because of anything we’ve done.
Jesus is ready to wash our feet,
to lead us into repentance
and reconciliation
because he loves us.
Having loved his own who were in the world,
he loved them to the end.
“‘I give you a new commandment,’
Jesus said,
‘that you love one another.’”
May Jesus’ love keep teaching us
how to love one another
especially in the ways we’ve failed
for so, so long. Amen.