Maundy Thursday

Maundy Thursday 2018

Homily: St. Paul’s, Monroe

There are a number of places in the NT where Jesus just comes out and says, “Do this.” Not a lot of them, mind you. I think because he knew that the human condition was such that when you order somebody to do something, our response is often, “Oh, yeah.”

But there are some places. Tonight we hear from a couple of them. “Do this in remembrance of me.” “Love one another.” It’s how the night gets its name.

Also, tonight we begin the longest liturgy of the year. You’ve heard me say that my goal with any liturgy is to hear the response, “I’m glad I came.” Among the most rewarding times for me was when I heard that response after a service that was ca. 2?? hours long. Well, tonight we begin a liturgy that doesn’t end until Saturday night.

Furthermore, tonight we hear together some of the most vivid scenes in all the Bible. The Passover / Exodus is evoked. Paul and 3 of the gospels recall for us the time that Jesus proclaimed that he was the new Passover, to be received in the Eucharistic meal. And from John’s gospel we are confronted with Jesus command to love on another in humility and vulnerability.

Mandatum

The English word “Maundy” comes from the Latin mandatum, which means “commandment.” As recorded in John’s gospel, on his last night before his betrayal and arrest, Jesus washed the feet of his disciples and then gave them a new commandment to love one another as he had loved them (John 13:34).

My first priest boss gave me quite a few commandments. Along the lines of “You will do this. Or you will not do this.” It started when I wore my Birkenstock sandals to an early morning mass I attended – even before I was employed. He said, “We will not have any ”hippy priests“ at this church.” – I’m wearing sandals tonight.

Another commandment he gave us was that we were never to sing the song They will know we are Christians by our Love because it was so patently not true.

Today we remember that we were commanded to love one another. To serve one another. To listen to one another. To be a community. Together. That’s pretty heavy stuff.

I think of the old wag from G. K. Chesterton: “Christianity has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and not tried.” It is not easy. But each one of us tonight has heard the commandment and responded. I commend you.

Vulnerability

I am particularly fond of Holy Thursday because it vividly puts before us the notion that to be a Christian is to get outside of our comfort zone. I pointed to this dynamic last Sunday when I spoke of my fondness for processions that got us out of the comfort of our pews in a church building and got us to proclaiming what we believed in the public square, so people could see.

Tonight it is a more intimate setting for a different kind of challenge. It speaks of intimacy and vulnerability, even nakedness, vulnerability, and relinquishing control. It’s amazing the challenge behind the symbol of washing another’s feet. It’s outside of our comfort zone. It was outside of the disciples’s comfort zone.

1. vulnerability
2. letting go
3. drowning to life
4. the sun rises

It’s Friday, but Sunday’s comin’

Symbol

As I said earlier, I’m wearing sandals tonight. It’s actually for convenience in moving to the foot-washing. But I relish the opportunity for another reason. I realized while in Hawai’i that for some folks going barefoot in church was a really big deal. I found it out – well, to back up just briefly – you may know that going barefoot is fairly common in Hawai’i. I cherish the memory of a good friend, elderly Japanese lady, who told me about in the 1930’s the public school passed a rule that you had to wear “slippers” to school. Nobody wore them inside – they were all stashed at the doorway – but somebody was trying to “civilize” the local kids.

Well, a priest at one of the downtown churches began celebrating Eucharist barefoot. It was amazing how dramatic the feeling was. He explained to me one day that he did it follow the commandment of God addressed to Moses in the cave – when the got acquainted for the first time. God told Moses to take his shoes off because he stood on holy ground. As time went on I discovered other people – some of them my friends who took their shoes off in church.

Christians, it turns out, like all other human beings, love symbols. One person wrote that we are “symbol-mongerers”. We need to celebrate that, not hide it. We have powerful symbols in tonight’s liturgy.

• 1st reading is Exodus 12 – "It is the Passover of the Lord
• “Christ our passover is sacrificed for us”
• Washing another’s feet. Letting another wash our feet.

These are powerful symbols. And as symbols always do, they have the potential to change us. In this case, to change us more and more into the likeness of Christ.

Richness of combined readings

There is a richness about us tonight. In the readings. In the gestures we make to night. In the celebration of the sacred meal we share as Christians.

Tonight is a night that unfolds our sacred story – it’s a big story. It begins at the very beginning – well, at the beginning. And it ends with the empty tomb and a new proclamation of a new life.

Dismissal

The tradition for this liturgy is that there is no dismissal. It is a 3 day story/liturgy and traditionally the next step in the sacred story would be vigil before the sacrament that would last until the Friday service.