A Sermon preached on March 24th, Maundy
Thursday, at St. Augustine’s, Wiesbaden
Exodus 12:1-14, 1
Corinthians 11:23-26, John 13:1-17, 31b-35
Tonight is an
evening full of symbols in a week, Holy Week, which is already rich in
symbolism. What did we do or what will we do, and what ideas do our actions
represent?
We already had supper
together, though the main element of our meal tonight, soup, was not very
scriptural, but I fear our neighbors might not be happy if we roasted a whole
lamb over an open fire outside in the garden. I know for sure that the Denkmalschutz, the monuments’
commission, would not be happy if we started splashing blood all over
our recently renovated sandstone portal. But our shared meal is still, just like
the meal the Israelites had before the Passover of the Lord, a symbol of being
ready and prepared for a journey and a sudden call. That is why they had to eat
it with their loins girded, with sandals on their feet, and hurriedly.
Our next symbolic
act will be the foot washing right after the sermon. While it was often
something that happened after a long, dusty journey, in the context of
tonight’s service it is a sign of loving, humble service. I only recently
learnt that for many churches in the Anabaptist or Mennonite tradition foot
washing is an important sacrament and is celebrated more than once a year for
that very reason.
Then we will have a
second, even simpler meal, the one we share every week in the Eucharist: just
bread and wine. This meal, Paul tells is, is a sign of Christ’s death on the
cross: as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the
Lord’s death.
Then at the end of
the service we will strip the altar, all decoration will be removed, all the
hangings taken down. We will make the space as bare as possible. In doing so we
are reminded of how Christ stripped himself of all that was divine to become a
human and to share our lives with us and of how he was stripped of all his
clothing before his painful execution on the cross.
Finally, after the
service we have a symbolic all-night vigil as we watch and wait with Christ,
just as he asked the disciples to watch and wait with him during that long
night between his sacrificial meal, and his real sacrifice.
However, symbols
are more than just reenactment. If they are to have meaning, they must also be
a means of participation and transformation. If they are not to be empty
rituals then we must be able to make the symbol part of our lives.
So what is the
deeper meaning of the two meals and the foot washing that we heard about in
tonight’s readings, and how can we make that meaning part of our lives?
As I said a moment
ago, the Passover meal is a symbol of being ready and prepared for a long and
arduous journey – a 40-year journey of liberation. Celebrating Passover is a
way in which each successive generation of Jews, however comfortable their
existence might have become, could participate in the first escape from oppression
and tyranny. As we know from history however, far too often the existence of
our Jewish brothers and sisters was anything but comfortable, for which we
Christians have frequently also been responsible. So the Passover meal continued
to be a meal of hope …… of liberation and of release from the current version
of persecution.
Why should we
“proclaim the Lord’s death” as Paul writes to the Corinthians? What is good
about his death? Well, both his death and the Communion meal in and through
which we remember it are an act of liberation. In Communion, we participate
directly in Jesus’ sacrificial death, the giving of his body and the shedding
of his blood. Jesus’ death defeated the powers of sin and death for all time. Oppression,
tyranny, abuse of power, and terror are still around of course and death and
fear are their chief weapons. But Jesus’ sacrifice has conquered both: we do
not have to fear death anymore and without that fear, we are free from the
slavery to sin.
Then, after two passages
and events that have liberation as their core theme, in the Gospel we hear how
Jesus slips into the role of a slave to wash his friends’ feet. Not only that,
this act of is one we, like the disciples, should follow: “For I have set you
an example; that you also should do as I have done to you.” (13:15) Isn’t this a
bit strange – why should we make an act of slavery the center of our worship,
why should we relive the foot washing? Because it is also an act of liberation.
Washing someone else’s feet, a very intimate gesture, is a sign of humility and
of personal liberation from all that keeps us from fully loving God and the
other: from exaggerated self-importance, the illusion of complete self-reliance,
and the desire for control.
Jesus’ action is
symbolic of his coming sacrifice and of the love he embodies. He is proclaiming
by doing. No one is greater, no one is above loving service, not even the Son
of God. If we want to make this symbol part of our lives, then we have to
follow the new commandment he gives the disciples: “That you love one another.
Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.” (13:34)
The Passover event
and Paul’s account of the Last Supper remind us of God’s liberating power. God
has liberated us from death, and from the fear of death, and from all that
stands between us and God. In Jesus, we have received God’s greatest gift, God’s
Son – as our Lord, our Teacher, our companion, and our example. Finally, the
Last Supper and the Foot Washing remind us that the example we follow, through
simple acts of sharing and service, is self-giving, sacrificial, all-inclusive love:
nothing more and nothing less.
Amen
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