Peter doesn't get it.
It's been his story all along – he tries, really tries hard, to understand Jesus' mission, he is first off the mark with an answer, or a comment, and yet he's not quite correct.
You may remember the whole walking on water moment; steps out of the boat, walks to Jesus, then, looks around like Wiley Coyote and sinks like a stone.
This is Peter's reaction in the Gospel portion we heard tonight.
Jesus has taken a basin of water, a towel, and started washing the feet of his disciples.
Strange behavior for the great teacher. This is the work of servants, the work of the household slave. In a culture of people walking everywhere in sandals, or barefoot, in dust and mud and muck your feet get very dirty. When you arrive in a home, the slave bends down and washes your feet, so the dust and muck from the outside doesn't get all over the house.
Same then, same as now. Except Jesus, the teacher, has taken on the slave's role to wash the feet of his disciples. Washing the feet – an intimate action, if there ever was one. Washing the feet – reversing the roles
But Peter misses the point – he says – what does his say first – No, you don't wash my feet - but he's corrected by Jesus – I must wash your feet.
Peter's reply; wash my head and hands too! Hey, if it getting closer to the God, don't stop at the feet!
Peter wants to know – he really tries hard to get it. The message the messenger brings is not easy to hear and even harder to understand.
I feel like Peter, I think we all do in some way – we want to be closer to God, and we know following the way of Jesus will get us there. If a foot wash is good, then the whole bath is better, right? We want to do the right thing, the right word, the right action, and we follow in the way of Jesus Christ.
Jesus wants us to follow in the path. He explains what he does – washing the feet – and what it means – I wash your feet, you wash each other. No one, teacher or student, master slave, 'messenger or the one who sent him', is greater than the other. And this simple action is love.
Love this is the message Jesus gives us. Love one another – that is the finally commandment He gives us. Washing the feet is a sign of this love, we do this because of the final commandment – means no one is greater than another, we all are in this place together. We all care for each other as followers of Jesus Christ.
Love one another – Jesus knew it was his time to depart this world; the disciples with him were 'his own who were in this world' and this was the message he wanted them to understand. The parting Gift. As followers of Jesus, it is the message we try to understand this parting gift he has given us.
Love one another – we show the world we are followers in the way of Jesus because of how we act with each other.
Love one another – we recognize we care for each other because we want to to follow Jesus, the Son of Man, the messenger of God, and this is the example He gives us.
And in this house of God, we are sisters and brothers in Christ, following in the way of Jesus.
Peter doesn't get it, but he wants to. I don't get it, but I want to, just like Peter, This love commandment is more than washing feet, more than saying I love you – it is words turned into action. Like our motto – Faith – Action – Community; they are words lived out by how we treat each other is how we love each other.
How we treat each other – working together building community in this house of God on the corner of Turk and Lyon, taking care of each other here and serving ours who are homebound.
How we treat each other – coming together when the Christmastime fire left scores of our neighbors homeless and we hosted a fundraiser, and attended fundraisers for them
How we treat each other – marching with our neighbors protesting the violence in our community that took the life of a young man mere blocks from here
How we treat each other – coming together on a windy thursday night to share bread and wine and our presence
There's a hymn I remember from Newman Center days 'They will know we are Christians by our love, by our love.'
The Peter in me doesn't quite get it, but wants to understand. This simple gesture has meaning more than the water in this basin and our own incredibly imperfect feet; it means we live out this Gospel message by how we treat each other, the beloved of Jesus when we go into the imperfect world outside.
Tonight, I invite you to join us in showing the love, sharing the love, by coming forward to participate in the foot washing, and after that – sharing the bread and wine at communion. We need to embrace and release the Peter inside of us, that wants to understand and live out the last gift of Jesus, the love commandment. Come forward, be a servant minister here, and go outside these doors and change the imperfect world we are in.
Yes they'll know we are Christians by our love.
Amen.
a blessed Easter to you! see you at turk and lyon
-eric
