Maundy Thursday at Redeemer Episcopal Church

One of the things I sometimes forget about Jesus is that he was a rabbi. 

He was a spiritual leader and a community leader, he was a revolutionary, and a healer, and of course the son of God. But I sometimes forget that his primary role among his friends was that of a rabbi— a teacher. 

And he is such a good teacher. 

“Maundy” means mandate. Today is the day that Jesus gives his followers, his students, a new lesson, a new commandment. He knows that in just a little while, he will no longer be there to teach them. So he is wrapping up his most important lessons after 3 years of teaching his friends. 

After three years, he only has one evening left with the people he loved. So he teaches them the same way he has always taught them— by example. 

He kneels before each of them and washes their feet— teaching that in order to be a great leader for any, you must be a humble servant to all. 

And then he sits among his friends at a table and says that they, too, must learn to wash one another’s feet. They must learn to do the smallest, dirtiest, most disgraceful jobs, for the people who will deny them, betray them, and not deserve any of it. Because that is what God has done for us. 

And then I imagine Jesus leaning in close to the table, and the disciples all leaning in with him, heads close. And Jesus says, “I have one last thing I need you to remember. It’s important— a commandment.” The disciples hold their breath, awaiting the secrets of the world. 

“Love one another.” 

I imagine they all slump back from the table and utter “come on,” “we need something more than that.” 

“But that,” Jesus tells them, “is how people will know that you are my disciples.”

It will not be from your big buildings or your marketing campaigns. It will not be from your beautiful banners or gorgeous music. It will not be from the size of your staff or even the size of your congregation. 

“It is by this that everyone will know that you are my disciples. If you have love for one another.”

See, Jesus is such a good teacher because he understands that the way people learn is to see a thing being practiced. Jesus knows that he could tell his disciples to be a humble servant, but for them to really understand and learn what it means, they must see him on his knees in from of them, washing their feet. 

He could tell his disciples to be in community with one another, to provide for one another, and to remember all of the things that he taught them, but he knows for them to understand what it means to be in community, they would have to gather around a table to break bread together and drink the cup of the new covenant. 

It is why we come here to practice these things, to embody them— not because our feet are dirty and need to be washed, but because we need constant reminders of what it is to serve one another. 

It is why we gather at this table every week— not to fill our bellies, but because we need the reminder of what it means to be in relationship with God and with one another, what it means to be fed with spiritual food and kneel next to one another around a table. 

Jesus could have simple told his disciples to love one another, but he knows for them to truly understand and learn what love means, they must see him be nailed to a cross.