From: Carol Borland Subject: I Have Set You an Example Maundy Thursday Meditation I HAVE SET YOU AN EXAMPLE John 13:1-17, 31b-35 Until a few years ago -[when I was asked to deliver the message for the evening at St. Mark's Episcopal Church in Newport and could no longer escape!] - I had successfully managed to stay away from the use of John 13 as the Gospel lesson for Maundy Thursday. That's because, in my tradition as a Methodist, footwashing - which is what John's Gospel tells us about - was not something I had ever experienced. And so it seemed strange to think of reading or talking about that lesson, when, as far as I was concerned, the emphasis of Maundy Thursday was on the institution of the Lord's Supper. That year at St. Mark's I had to come to grips with this foreign tradition and figure out what to do with it. It took some figuring! On the other hand, my mother's experience as she had shared it with me in story and conversation over the years was a totally different one. Mom grew up in an Evangelical Church with the awesome name of "Old Zion Church." And there the footwashing ceremony was a common experience. And not only on Maundy Thursday, but regularly throughout the year. It was almost like another Sacrament. My mom would often describe to me the customs of that little evangelical church and of some of its wilder members. Among them would be stories of the footwashing ceremony - and how the farmers and miners would come up to receive the footwashing, take off their heavy work boots to expose feet blackened with coal dust or dirt from the fields. There was no shame - but lots of dirty water. I viewed these stories with curiosity and fascination. They were right up there with her stories about the "NEW Zion Church" which had splintered off from "Old Zion" because its adherents practiced snake-handling - an experience abhorrent to mom who hated snakes. And so I have chosen to speak about John's account of Jesus at his last supper with his disciples, and specifically about footwashing. The Gospel of John is the only Gospel which gives the account of footwashing. It is also the only Gospel which does NOT give an account of the institution of the Lord's Supper as part of Jesus' last meal shared with his disciples. In John 6 we do find this verse: "Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life and I will raise them up on the last day." But in John's Gospel these words are Jesus' teachings about himself and not the actual account of the institution of the Lord's Supper as in the other Gospels. It's hard to know what to do with that - how to understand it and make it fit the pattern to which we are more accustomed. Some scholars suggest that John PURPOSEFULLY left out the institution of the Lord's Supper and placed \his emphasis on footwashing in an attempt to establish a balance in the developing Sacramental life of the early Church. It's interesting that our Revised Common Lectionary combines Paul's account of the Last Supper with John's account of footwashing - almost as if we are still trying to find that same balance. Changing the subject for a minute: I'd like to ask you if you could tell me what a METAPHOR is? (WAIT FOR ANSWERS OR EXAMPLES) A metaphor is a powerful image - a powerful figure of speech. It is MORE THAN just saying one thing is another thing. Sallie McFague, in her book "Models of God," has this to say about a metaphor: "What a metaphor expresses cannot be said directly apart from it. It is an attempt to say something about the UNFAMILIAR in terms of the FAMILIAR, an attempt to speak about what we do NOT know in terms of what we DO know." (McFsgue, p.33) Metaphors, then, become symbols - symbols of our reality. As such they become a PART of our reality. They mold us into something different. They change us and our ways of thinking and understanding. So when Jesus took bread and broke it and said, "This is my body which is broken for you" and when he took the cup and said, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood" - he was using a metaphor, and that metaphor is such a powerful symbol that we are enabled (as Sallie aMcFague says) "to speak about what we do not know" - the mystery of Christ - "in terms of what we do know" - bread and wine. We often refer to the bread and wine as "holy mysteries" - that's how powerful that metaphor is. The breaking of bread and the sharing of wine becomes a kind of metaphorical act which allows us to participate in the holy mystery which we call Communion. I'd like to suggest that the story of the footwashing is also a powerful metaphorical act. Jesus takes something familiar - at least in his time - to attempt to speak about the unfamiliar - to give it new meaning - a new reality. After many readings of the Gospel lesson, it occurs to me that there are two things going on in this account: It is the simple story of Jesus washing the feet of his disciples. But then there are all the theological references to Jesus' foreknowledge of his death, to the sort of predestination of Judas to betray Jesus, to Peter's pride, and even to the Sacrament of Baptism. I want to deal with the simple story. Listen to that portion again: "And during supper Jesus got up from the table, took off his outer robe, and tied a towel around himself. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel that was tied around him. After he had washed their feet, had put on his robe, and had returned to the table, he said to them, "Do you know what I have done to you? 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." (John 13:2b-5,12-15 NRSV). Footwashing in Jesus' time was a common practice. It was the custom, if no servant was present, to wash one another's feet before eating. The disciples probably had done this many times before. It was one of the common, ordinary, decent things they did to show respect and consideration to one another. But THIS TIME THE DISCIPLES DIDN'T DO IT. WHY NOT? Again, some scholars have suggested arguments, bitterness, over who would be first in Jesus' kingdom. Petty jealousy, lack of trust, just plain old disagreeableness. Maybe just too tired. But who knows. The Gospel of John doesn't tell us. John just says that during supper Jesus got up and washed the disciples feet. And then he asked them, "Do you know what I have done to you? I have set you an example, that you should also do as I have done to you." A simple and beautiful metaphorical act which completes the "holy mystery" of the Last Supper. When I participated at St. Mark's I had no difficulty washing other people's feet. Where I had trouble was in allowing myself to receive that gift from another. It was a very humbling experience for me. And what I finally figured out in my experience with footwashing at St. Mark's is that it's not feet really. It's TOUCH. Daring to touch and be touched by another. Daring to give and to receive signs of caring and love from another person. Tonight we will not participate in footwashing. In our world of shoes and socks and panty hose, footwashing is pretty difficult. Instead we will follow the suggestion of Heather Murray Elkins of Drew Seminary, who believes that in our age of germs and viruses and a kind of obsessiveness about cleanliness, we might follow Jesus' example just as well by washing one another's hands. And so, only as you are led to participate, please feel free to come with another person and share in the Service of Handwashing. During this time we will join in singing the two hymns listed in your bulletin.