Servant-hood

March 20, 2008, Maundy Thursday

John P. Wilkinson

He rose from supper, laid aside his garments, and girded himself with a towel.

Then he poured water into a basin, and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel with which he was girded.

Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master; nor is he who is sent greater than he who sent him.

Grace and peace to you from our Lord and Savior, Jesus the Christ

The Lectionary for this Holy Week has dwelled on all the texts from the Gospel of John, so it is natural that we have John’s text for the last supper.

The John’s text differs greatly from the other gospels as he does not have the words of institution, but he does have the only account of the foot washing of the disciples.

It is that act of servant hood that I would like to look at this evening.

Jesus was trying to show the disciples that he came to serve. It’s interesting that in Raymond Brown’s commentary on John he says the Greek word for laid aside, or laid down, is the same Greek word used in chapter ten for laying down a life.

John was really trying to show that Jesus was a servant who was willing to lay down his life for the sake of humanity.

On the cross, Jesus spread out his arms and welcomed all the sins of humanity as the true servant of God.

Try spreading out your arms like that. What do you feel? Vulnerable, open, accepting. As a servant on the cross that’s what Jesus was. He opened himself to all the sinfulness of humanity.

And if you open your arms that way, you are also inviting. He is inviting us to come to him, to place our sins on him. That’s why today is called Maundy Thursday. For Maundy, means command. He commands us to eat and drink, he commands us to come, and he commands us to love as he loves us.

Lest we think that somehow our love and service to others should end at the church door, or that we have no responsibility to love and serve those who don’t reciprocate our efforts, Jesus washed the feet of Judas too.

Mother Teresa visited Phoenix in 1989 to open a home for the poor. During that brief visit, she was interviewed by radio station KTAR. In a private moment, the announcer asked her if there was anything he could do for her. He was expecting her to request a contribution or media attention to help to raise money for the new home for the needy in Phoenix. Instead, she replied, "Yes, there is. Find somebody nobody else loves, and love them."

Serving others, demonstrating our love in tangible ways is of first importance. Jesus considered it a priority. 

If we don’t understand who we are in Jesus we will be unwilling to humble ourselves as he humbled Himself for us.

The late Dave Thomas, founder of Wendy’s hamburger chain was known for his humble service within the multi-billion dollar empire he founded. When asked what made him so successful; he replied, "MY MBA." But he didn’t mean a graduate degree in business education; he meant "a mop- and-bucket attitude." In other words, no work task was too insignificant for him to tackle; he simply jumped in and got the job done.

Dave Thomas, was a high-school dropout, he was always ashamed of that and it would have been easy for him as he tasted success to demand every perk and privilege as a way of covering for his own inadequacies, but instead He lived by the creed of the Mop Bucket Attitude.

Bob Clark a friend of mine told me this:

The Cross is the place where grace and sin collide with a crash, but the wreckage is suffered on the heart of God. The sinner walks away free - free from sin’s penalty, free to walk with God, free to live in His Heaven for all eternity.1

Jesus came as a servant to lay down his life for us. On the cross of Calvary that servant hood was manifested when he opened his arms to sinners and we obtained eternal life.

A closing story says it well:

A story from Scotland tells of a mother’s dramatic rescue of her child. Workmen were blasting rock in a quarry. One day after they had attached the fuse and retired to a safe place and gave the alarm they saw a three year old child wandering across the open space where danger threatened. Every passing second meant death was closing in on the child.

The workmen called to the child and waved their arms, but he only looked on their strange antics with amusement. No man dared run forward knowing the explosion was only seconds away. The child most certainly would have been killed, had not his mother appeared at this moment of crisis.

Taking in the situation at a glance she did what her mother’s heart dictated. She did not run toward her son or yell to frighten him. Instead, she knelt down, opened wide her arms and smiled for him to come. Instantly the child ran towards her. A short later the area shook with the force of the explosion, yet the child was safe in his mother’s arms.

What a picture of the grace of God and of the cross. With outstretched arms on the cross Jesus gives his gracious invitation to the world. Indicating we are to come to him for eternal safety. Will you come to Jesus?

Amen