"The Master and the One Who Serves" Maundy Thursday April 2, 2015 John 13:1–15
There some things that just are the way they are. True, some things change. But good luck if you are the servant inserting yourself into the role of master. And if you are the master people will scoff at you attempting to play the part of servant. But this is exactly what our Lord has done. The master has become the servant. The Lord has stooped down to serve us, the ones who are beneath Him. There is so much to the action of Jesus stripping from His robe, putting a towel around His waist, and stooping down to wash His disciples’ feet. This one action encapsulates everything Jesus was about in those final hours before His crucifixion. He knew before celebrating the Passover with His disciples that it would truly be the ‘Last Supper’. He would be eating it with them knowing that He would be crucified shortly after that on the next day. He would give Himself in the bread and wine and then He would give Himself over on the cross. After the meal and before His death He stooped down to wash their feet. This is indicative of His serving them in His Meal and serving everyone on the cross. His entire life, His coming to earth as a baby, His ministry, all of it was to serve. As He had said, “The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve.” As He had said, “The Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” On the night in which He was betrayed, then, He not only encapsulated this service, but gave the impetus for our service. If I your Lord and teacher have washed your feet, so you ought to wash one another’s feet. As we have been served by our Lord, we serve one another. The Master is the one who serves, and because of that, we are ones who serve. We serve because our Lord has served us. We stoop to help others in their need because our Lord has stooped to help us in our need. The context of this is important. We must learn to serve from our Master. It is not that He is the master and therefore we who are servants must serve. It is that our Lord has served us and because He has done so we see life in a whole new way. We see that there are many people in the world who need to be served in the same way. Our Lord calls upon us to serve them. It is crucial, therefore, that we continue to be served by our Lord. He continues to come to us, wrapping a towel around His waist and serving us. His getting up from the table to wash His disciples’ feet was a symbolic action. The slave’s job was to wash the feet of the guests. When you wear sandals on dusty roads your feet get dirty. The master of the house should not be expected to wash the feet of the guests. The slaves, then, were the ones to serve the guests in this way. You can understand, then, Peter’s reaction to Jesus. Lord, you will never wash my feet! But Jesus knew that he was missing the point. His Lord was stooping down to serve him. Without Him doing so Peter could have no part in Him. Then Peter got the picture. Then Lord, not only my feet, but my hands and my head as well! But, as Jesus showed him, he actually still wasn’t getting the picture. It wasn’t about the washing of the feet. That was a symbolic action. It was about being served by his Lord. That is how one has a part in Jesus, by being served by Him. Not by refusing to be served by Him. And not, either, by missing the point of the symbolism. Jesus showed him how he missed the point. The one who has been washed is already clean. You are already clean. You don’t need to be washed over and over again. You are already saved. In My coming to you as your Lord to serve you I come to you to renew you. That is why His action before washing His disciples’ feet was an action that was not symbolic. It was an action in which He actually served them for their spiritual benefit. It was the way, He said, that He would continue to serve His people, often, to forgive them, renew them, and strengthen them. In giving His body and blood in and with bread and wine He was giving them Himself and they would have a part in Him. They who were already clean would be sustained in that grace and salvation they received when they had been washed in the waters of Holy Baptism. This is how He stoops down to serve you, by coming to you in the humble means of bread and wine. In these ordinary things that we eat and drink He gives us His body and His blood. We see after the fact that His body and blood He gives us in His sacred Meal are the very body and blood He gave and shed in His suffering and dying on the cross. The purpose of instituting His sacred Meal was to deliver to us what He offered there on the cross. His sacrifice on the cross was for all. It is actually delivered to you in His Holy Supper. He serves you in this way. Because He serves you in this way, you then are enabled to serve others. Obviously you can’t give them what Christ gives in His Supper. But you can love them as Christ has loved you. You can stoop down to where they’re at. You can love them with selfless love. This is impossible for you to do on your own. Your heart is filled with sin. Your actions often are selfish rather than selfless. You often would rather others serve you than you serve others. You can only serve others as Christ has served you by being served by Him. You confess your sins and you hear His forgiveness given to you. You hunger and thirst for His righteousness He gives you in the Sacrament celebrated here at the altar. When you receive Christ’s body and blood you have a part in Him. You are forgiven and you are freed from your guilt so that you are free to serve others. He is the master and you are one who serves. You are one who serves because you have been served by your Master. As you continue to serve you will at times falter. You will continue to need to be forgiven and renewed and strengthened to serve. That is why your Lord invites you often back to His Table where He stoops down to serve you, giving you Himself as He did on the cross; serving you. And in so doing, giving you life now and forever. Amen. SDG -- Pastor Paul L. Willweber Prince of Peace Lutheran Church [LCMS] 6801 Easton Ct., San Diego, California 92120 619.583.1436 princeofpeacesd.net three-taverns.net It is the spirit and genius of Lutheranism to be liberal in everything except where the marks of the Church are concerned. [Henry Hamann, On Being a Christian] _______________________________________________ Sermons mailing list Sermons@cat41.org http://cat41.org/mailman/listinfo/sermons
