Maundy Thursday 2025

Grace, Peace, and Mercy from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

When it comes to rearranging things, human beings are stubborn creatures. Since we are creatures of habit, we prefer when things are set in a specific way, and we dislike it when that order is disrupted. In churches that happens a lot too. We like things to happen in a certain way and when things don’t happen the way we like, we become restless! I’ve heard stories of fiery conflicts regarding the replacement of chairs in churches. And in wider society even more so. Just picture all the resistance those in power have demonstrated to enacting justice. Today, it is appalling to see how the powerful of the world lack the will to perform even basic acts of human decency and fairness. The revolution of the heart that Jesus seeks, a heart that bends towards love and service, indeed goes against the grain of our sinful inclinations. We have a hard time taking in this revolutionary love of Jesus; and even then, the miracle that it is still given to us.

Part of the story of Maundy Thursday is that when God is making something new, when God is rearranging things, we can’t give just a little bit of ourselves, for Jesus gave Himself fully (as He will say in the Last Supper: This is my body, this is my blood, for you), even to the undeserving Judas. We have to go through the process that Peter went through. When Jesus, the great teacher stood down to wash the feet of the disciples, that act was considered unbecoming of the status of Jesus. He took the role of a servant, while being Himself the Master. He showed that God glorifies

Himself not in basking over one’s power and status, not in putting ourselves above others, but actually in shedding it away for loving and humble service. Peter witnessed this and was like: “Jesus what are you doing? This is not how things are supposed to be! There’s a way we do things, there’s a hierarchy!” But Jesus, when he’s going about his Father’s will, our little plans and social schematics can’t stop the revolution of the heart that He wants to provoke in us. With Him, things will be different, and we will all be made different by His example. Jesus does not equate divine greatness with being the one who is served, but rather, divine love is best seen in the task of service itself. Divine power is when those who have much give it up to serve those who have least, and that the least of these are uplifted in loving and equal fellowship. Once Peter recognizes that Jesus is making all things new, that this lowly foot washing is the sign of a love that has sought to disclose itself from the very beginning of time, and that it’s happening right now in his presence, through his very body. Peter then has the correct reaction: “Lord not just my feet, but my hands and my head!” Meaning, his whole body and self. We are invited to say: Lord, don’t change me or rearrange me just a little bit; Take the whole of me and make me new! Revolutionize me! Because where You are going, I want to go with you the whole way. Here we are witnessing how followers of Christ are called to live. To do as Jesus does, to love as Jesus loves, and to be transformed as Jesus wants. No longer are we the people divided by faction or ambition or agenda or money or power or status. We are the people that love each other as Jesus loved us, and we show that by being revolutionized from head to toe.

We are empowered to not be afraid to go, as Henry Nouwen would say, the Downward Way of God. We are not afraid of opening up more seats at our table for all people, to share in the feast of love and equity that Jesus sets before us. We become the people marked by the commandment: love each other, as I have loved you. So as Christians, we are invited to be fools for love. We are meant to be a little bit crazy for this widening mercy of God, that even though undeserving, we are made to belong to Him. We are called to say things sometimes those in power don’t like to hear, all because we are called to love each other as God has loved us. Things like: God loves the undocumented, God upholds the cause of the illegal alien, the refugee, the outcast, God is in solidarity with the poor, God embraces the rejected, God suffers with the suffering. That is the remembrance Jesus leaves to His disciples in this last moment. The remembrance of this new life that He will usher in by taking in His own suffering, and with Him, the suffering of the whole world.

So what aspects of our current life is Jesus calling for to be rearranged? What are we resisting? What are we stubborn about that Jesus is desiring to change? In today’s world, a lot of churches are concerned with the fear of losing relevance. And so we capitulate on our true calling and sell ourselves. We betray Christ and his way of life just to possess that golden calf of power. Rarely do we think that maybe our circumstances signal that Jesus is asking us to rearrange our priorities, to re-discover our faithfulness to God’s Kingdom . That perhaps we have forgotten that He is not in the realms of power, that He is not in the excess of wealth, He is not to be found

necessarily in success or large membership rolls or buildings, that he does not exert His power from any place of privilege. But in total difference, His power and grace is found in this humble table, His power is shown in the lowly washing of feet, that God does not see His divinity in worldly power, but rather in humble service. He is asking us to find him in the poor, in the marginalized, in the unjustly detained, in the sick and suffering. God in Jesus Christ is not afraid to be found in weakness and vulnerability.

So what matters above all is faithfulness. Faithfulness to His way, to His commandment: Do as I have done. Love each other, as I have loved you. That is how people will know you are my disciples, by how you love each other. God is asking us, are we with Him, as He seeks to re-orient our hearts towards Himself and our neighbor? Do we trust Him to change our lives towards fullness of love? In the end, this is the crux of the moment. We can’t circumvent His commandment. We can’t live a Christian life with cleverness. You can’t cheat or buy your way into God’s Kingdom. Christ is the One that has opened the door. The crux of the matter is to look at Christ and hear His question: do you Love? We know Jesus’ resolve to that question. That’s why He grabs the towel and starts washing His disciple’s feet. It is the reason why He took up the way of the cross. Because His answer to that same question, was an unyielding Yes. Thanks be to God for that Yes. Amen. Let us pray.