DO YOU KNOW WHAT I HAVE DONE TO YOU?

   Dear Friends in Christ, Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

Suppose this is the last day of your life.  And suppose you know it, you know that you will die tomorrow. What will you on your last day?  I can name a few things I’ll bet you would not do.  You would probably not spend more time at the office, or clean the house, or pay petty bills. Because all those things on your “to do” list would blow away like dry leaves in the wind. As wind and rain strip leaves from a tree, so too death strips off all the things we thought we had to do, and all our belongings too…just as we will strip the altar at the close of this service. So what would you do on your last day—if you knew it was the last day?  

           Jesus knew that it was his last day. He knew that his hour had come, to leave this world and go to the Father.  He knew that Judas was about to betray him. He knew that he would be arrested, tried, and condemned to die. He knew this. And then some.  For, as the Gospel writer says, Jesus knew that the Father had given all things into his hands. Jesus knew that he had come from God and was going to God.  Yes—he knew!  So what did Jesus do this day before his death?  He could have tried to escape, skip town and fade into the hill country. He could have worked some miracles to demonstrate his power for one last time, like a fireworks display, a kind of grand finale.  But he does not do any of those things. Instead, Jesus washes the disciples’ feet.

    It is very mundane, this matter of washing feet. But have you ever walked a long way in the summer, when it was hot?  In Bible times, most people traveled on foot, and the roads were dusty and rocky. If someone arrived all hot and dusty at your house, if you were a good host you would give your visitor a basin of water to wash their feet. And if you were wealthy, and you wanted to honor your guest, you might even call one of your servants to wash the feet of your guest.  But you yourself would not wash another person’s feet, because that is degrading.  That is a job for servants. But Jesus washes the disciples’ feet. It is not the first time he does something that seems to be beneath his dignity.

       This strange story takes place at the Last Supper, when Jesus is with the disciples. He has a place of honor.  He is the Master, Lord, and Teacher.  He is the most important person in the room.  He is the one that others should wait upon, hand and foot.  He knows that tomorrow, the day we call Good Friday, he will die. And he knows what he will do now on Thursday.

         And as the scene unfolds, John the Gospel writer gives us a good long look—he shows the action in slow motion.  John replays the moment when Jesus gets up from the table.  The moment when he lays down his outer robe, and ties a towel around himself. The moment when Jesus pours water in a basin and begins to wash the disciples’ feet.  He wipes their feet with the towel that is tied around his waist.   And he keeps on washing. Peter’s objections do not stop him.  He knows his betrayer is there at the table, but Judas does not stop him. Jesus continues this grunge work until he has washed every foot.  Then he puts on his outer robe and returns to the table. And he says, “do you know what I have done to you?”

          Jesus asks his disciples: “Do you know what I have done to you?”  And what about us?  Do we know what Jesus has done for us?   Do we?  Jesus is not asking us to check the right box and get the correct answer. He is not asking us to fill in a blank with some bit of information.  Do we know what he has done for us, know it down deep?  If we would answer him truly and deeply, then we must search the Gospel, and let the Gospel search us.   

        And we do not have far to search, for Jesus says:  “You call me Teacher and Lord—and you are right, for that is what I am. So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you. For servants are not greater than their master, nor are messengers greater than the one who sent them.”  Jesus makes it very clear:  “I have set you an example” he says. 

          Most likely the disciples squirmed when they heard this, because an example is meant to be followed.  Not just observed, not just witnessed, but followed.  And in case they don’t hear it the first time, he says, “you also ought to wash one another’s feet.”  Jesus sets the example by his own act. The Lord and Master and Teacher, on the day before his death, washes his disciples’ feet.  He says: Do you know what I have done to you?  “I have given you an example.”  

       Well, thank goodness we don’t have to take that literally!  We live in a different culture now, and nobody is going to take off their shoes and socks , and get their hands dirty all because of some ancient custom.  So all we have to do is apply this principle—of washing one another’s feet-- to the rest of life, to everyone we meet, in everything we do, right?  And--it just got a lot harder.  A whole lot harder. Because if we are to wash one another’s feet—not literally, but in everything we do—that turns life inside out. Jesus might as well command the sun to rise in the west. He might as well make the Mississippi River to flow northward. Because we love the game: which one of us will be the greatest?   Score keeping and one-upmanship. Grudge holding—because you owe me something--isn’t that the way we are wired?  Can Jesus change all that?  Yes, he has changed it and he is changing it and he will change it. Do we know what he has done to us?
         He has given us an example, that turns life inside out—from living for ourselves, to living for others.  And there’s more.  He has given us a new commandment.  Jesus says: “A new commandment I give you, that you love one another.  Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.  By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, that you love one another.” (13:34, 35)  Servants are not greater than their master, nor are messengers greater than the one who sends them. If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them.”  (13:16,17) When Jesus says, “love one another,” this is not a mere suggestion. Not just an option, or even an example.  It is a commandment. A mandate.  It is marching orders. Washing orders.  Love one another, as I have loved you.              

        The day before he dies, Jesus washes the disciples’ feet.  We hear his question: “do you know what I have done to you?”  We see his example, and we hear his commandment. But like some traveler on the dusty road, we are not there yet. We have not yet come home to the center of the story.  So far Jesus’ question has only been partly answered.  Yes, Jesus gives an example.  Yes, Jesus gives a new commandment.  But remember the question he asks us:  Do you know what I have done to you?  What he has done is central.  He washed the disciples’ feet to show us his death.  He will be stripped of his garments.  He will lay down his life.  He is going to wash us, all over, with his blood.  Jesus washed his disciples’ feet to show his death.  Because in dying, he washes us. 

           The Gospel says that when Jesus is washing the disciples’ feet, he comes around to Simon Peter, and Peter says, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?”  Jesus answers, “You do not know now what I am doing, but later you will understand.”  Peter says to him, “You will never wash my feet.”  Jesus answers: “Unless I wash you, you have no share in me.” (13:6-9) Unless I wash you, you have no share in me.  Unless I die for you, you have no life with God.  Jesus died on the cross to wash away our sin and guilt. To give us a part in God’s life.  To make us clean, and righteous and holy.  Jesus took the form of a servant, and died on the cross, to give us a share in him. “Do you know what I have done to you?”  Yes Lord, you have died for us, you have washed us, you have poured out your life’s blood to make us clean.  All over.

           Peter does not understand all this, not yet.  And he blurts out, “Lord, don’t wash only my feet, but wash my hands and head too.”  If a little washing is good, then more washing is even better!  Jesus said something about giving him a share—well, if one share of stock is good, then a hundred shares must be even better!  Peter spoke as though God’s grace can be counted and measured. As though you can have more grace or less grace. But when Jesus loves, he gives it all away. Everything. There is no counting, no rationing here.  
      So Peter’s blunder does point us toward a greater truth: When Jesus gave up his life on the cross he gave everything.  No one can measure or put a price tag on it. To have a share in Christ is to have eternal life.  On the cross Jesus holds nothing back. He gives it all. And we are washed, cleansed, claimed, forgiven.

         On Thursday, the day before Jesus died, he poured out water for washing.  And on Friday he poured out blood for washing. Do we know what he has done for us? He has given us a share in God.