Scripture: Psalm 116:1-2; 12-19; John 13:1-17; 31b-35
Key Verse: "I will pay my vows to the Lord in the presence of all his people." (Psalm 116:18)
For me, going through the Season of Lent to Easter Sunday is like riding a roller coaster. We all begin this journey from the same place with the same posture as dust on Ash Wednesday. While the roller coaster is climbing up the hill slowly, we hold on tight to the bars by our shoulders. Some of us have our eyes wide open all the way up, trying to take in whatever we can see and experience; some of us have our eyes shut tightly out of fear; some of us are simply trying to survive, breathing in and out by following along the rhythm of the railroad track. It takes us 34 days and 5 little Easter Sundays to reach the top on Palm Sunday, and less than 6 days in Holy Week to go down speedily.
As we reach the top, we can see everything and everyone including our Lord Jesus who is above all, watching over us. How we wish we could stay on the top forever! And at the same time, we all are aware that the roller coaster is about to go down the hill speedily with some tight turns. Most of us might feel our stomachs sinking and dropping as we watch what Jesus has to go through for you, for me, for humanity this week - the Holy Week, so fast that we have a hard time answering our own many questions on Maundy Thursday. Then we pass through the longest tunnel on Good Friday. It is so dark and we can't see anything—even our own finger in front of our face; it seems no one was there but we all are next to each other, because we can hear each other breathing and our heart beats as the body of Christ. Then after a quick inversion, the roller coaster begins to slow down and reaches the destination - Easter Sunday.
Today is Maundy Thursday, I want to applaud you for staying on the ride as the roller coaster is going down speedily at this moment. If we keep going down fast, I don’t think we can take in everything Jesus said.
This makes me think of scenes or techniques that sci-fi movies like to use. When the protagonists are faced with difficult choices or life-altering moments, time seems to stop and the world around them becomes motionless. We are like those characters on this Maundy Thursday who are able to stop and reflect at any given moment when we feel the most puzzled. It is like God’s favor to freeze the space around us so that we might be able to find some answers that can carry us through the Holy Week until Easter and even beyond.
It always puzzled me what we as Christians should take away on this day--is it washing feet or loving one another, or both? If washing feet was so important for disciples to practice among themselves, why did Jesus wait until his last meal to demonstrate it? Or is washing feet the posture of loving one another that his disciples need to practice? Israelites, like many Asians in the 1st century, wore sandals. Since they usually went barefoot in the house, washing their dusty feet was necessary. And it was the first duty of the hosts to give their guests water to clean their feet before entering their houses. It was a sign of hospitality. Each culture has its own way to welcome their guests through hospitable customs. What we don’t want to miss is that people will remember we are Jesus’ disciples by loving one another humbly.
If we want to use one word or one phrase to summarize what God’s kingdom is about, I would say, ‘loving one another humbly.’
For example, the first foreign country I lived in was Japan. If I can only use one word or one phrase to summarize what Japan is about, I would say, ‘showing courtesy.’ That was the first impression and the only impression that I took away with me. I remember that every interaction I had in my first week, whether it was opening a bank account, renting an apartment, going to shop, was filled with courtesy. People talked to me kindly, handed back my change with both hands, and smiled and bowed, knowing that I was a foreigner with broken Japanese.
The second foreign country I lived in was here, the U.S. I will come back to that later and first share with you the third foreign country I lived in, Mexico. I would describe Mexico as ‘friendly and upbeat.’ That was the first impression and the only impression that I took away with me. Whenever I was introduced to friends of friends, they would kiss both sides of my cheeks and hug me tightly which I fell in love with after a couple of months living there. My different ethnicity and broken Spanish didn’t bother them. Actually, it wasn’t easy for me as an Asian growing up in a culture where kissing and hugging weren’t common especially among unmarried couples or people of opposite genders.
What word or phrase would I use for the U.S., where I have lived in even longer than the country I was born in, Taiwan? It is hard for me to come up with a word or phrase right away. Maybe I’ve lived in and experienced both countries for too long.
That was not an issue for Jesus at all. Jesus has given us crystal clear instruction, which is to love one another. By doing so, we can give others the first and the only impression about God’s kingdom. It is also a way to show where we come from and to whom we belong. Jesus is teaching us that our ability to love has nothing to do with how high our position is or how much power we own. By washing his disciples’ feet, he shows us that our way of loving is about inclusion, a posture that welcomes people in and encourages sharing lives together. We are not the hosts of God’s kingdom to begin with, but the guests that God has taken in as God's own. By partaking in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, we are blessed from being outsiders to insiders. Just as Jesus said to Peter in verse 8, “Unless I wash you, you have no share with me.” Likewise, unless we partake Jesus’ posture to welcome outsiders into our midst, we exclude their shares in God’s Kingdom.
If you haven’t read the letter Paul wrote to Colosse, it might be a good time to review it. St. Paul did a good job in this letter explaining that Jesus Christ is the embodiment of God’s love. By following Christ, each of us is woven into a tapestry of God’s love, a new life of love. St. Paul reminds us that while being insiders of God’s kingdom, we should not forget to pray that God will open doors for us to tell the mystery of Christ.
Will there be a time when we resist or reject love, or try but fail to love, or miss an opportunity to love well? Yes, yes, and yes. I've been there, done that and wished I could have done better. I’ve found that it is helpful to practice the embodiment of God’s love. There are many ways to do it but you need to find the best ways that work for you. For me, I will remind myself to God I belong, by God’s grace I live, and through following Christ’s embodiment of God’s love I grow. Through practicing it whenever I feel stuck, I find that I let go faster and am able to move forward. Thanks be to God for the power of Peace that Jesus gifted his disciples after his resurrection.
May God’s good news and Jesus’ humble service touch your heart, recenter and ground you as you get ready to go through the longest dark tunnel on Good Friday, and remember, you are not alone for we are the body of Christ. Amen.
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