John 13: 1-17
1 Thessalonians 5: 12 -28
‘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.’ (John 13.4-5)
On Maundy Thursday it is the tradition for priests in cathedrals and churches around the world to take off our vestments wrap a towel around our waists and wash feet. This year I washed the feet of members of the congregation in Canterbury for the first time.
But I have to say in the past I have often struggled to find people wanting to have their feet washed. There are many reasons why people don’t want to have their feet washed - it makes them feel uncomfortable and self-conscious – it means having something done to you – in public – it’s exposing.
The disciples’ feet would have been hot and dirty after a long day - they needed cleaning and cooling – usually a slave or servant would have done it for them. Watching and experiencing Jesus washing their feet would have been shocking for everyone. Peter’s response is not surprising as, effectively, he says to Jesus ‘surely you’re not going to wash my feet’, and, of course, that is the point. It was demeaning – usually the role of the lowest and most unimportant – the slave or the servant.
As Jesus washed the disciples’ feet, he took on the role of the servant. We hear that “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?” That is a question we need to hear Jesus asking us today too. Do we really understand the profound example that Jesus shows us as he washes the disciples’ feet?
Jesus goes on to say, "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.” This is the model we follow on Maundy Thursday. This is the model of servant leadership set by Jesus.
We see this model of servant leadership again and again in the ministry of Jesus. Unafraid to touch the untouchables – Jesus touches the leper and enters into the social and spiritual isolation of leprosy. Unafraid to talk to the isolated and unclean – Jesus talks to the Samaritan women at the well offering her living water and risking social impurity. And, unafraid to follow the path of suffering – Jesus offers the ultimate act of service as he is hung on the tree to die.
Jesus himself serves, and he shows us the way to serve. We are called to be a servant people – a foot-washing people. We are called to serve one another and to serve the world as Jesus did. This is how the love of God is shown in the world – through acts of service.
Later in this chapter of John’s Gospel, Jesus gives his disciples a new command saying “I give you a new commandment, 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, if you have love for one another.”
This is our call as disciples to love and to serve. And as we follow the path of love and service, we are changed by it. As we show the love of God to the world, we ourselves become more and more like Jesus. But this call to love and serve is costly. It is only through the strength and empowering of the Holy Spirit that we can respond to this call to love and serve.
It is this call to love and serve that we see in those around us this evening as we gather to celebrate and give thanks for the Clergy Support Trust. We are gathered here as clergy who are called to serve. We are gathered here as clergy spouses and families who are called to support the family member through service. We are gathered here as those who serve in many other ways in parishes, chaplaincies and cathedrals up and down the country. And we are gathered here as the benefactors, trustees and staff of the Clergy Support Trust which provides vital support to clergy and their spouses and families.
For all those here who are called to this costly ministry in whatever capacity, we need also to care for ourselves. We cannot keep on giving, loving and serving, if we aren’t sometimes at the receiving end – being loved, cared for and served by others. If we are to wash the feet of others, we must also allow our feet to be washed. If we are to sit to and listen to others, we must be willing to sit and be listened to. The demands of ministry often feel relentless.
My Christian vocation first led me to become a nurse – then later a priest, then a bishop, and now an archbishop. The theme that has run through all those chapters of my life has been washing feet and serving and caring for others. And so, I believe that I have been called to love and serve in my new role as archbishop by being a shepherd, caring for the flock with calm, compassion and consistency, enabling others to flourish. I can’t follow that calling alone – I need those around me to care for me so I too can care for others.
We heard in the final chapter of Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians, “But we appeal to you, brothers and sisters, to respect those who labour among you, and have charge of you in the Lord and admonish you; esteem them very highly in love because of their work.”
This evening - let’s acknowledge those who work hard among us and in the world to follow God’s call to love and service – whatever their role.
I give thanks for the work of the Clergy Support Trust. I am hugely grateful for this ministry of service just as I am hugely grateful for the costly ministry offered by clergy in so many different contexts. I also want to acknowledge and give thanks for the often unrecognised contribution and service of clergy spouses and families.
Jesus said, “Very truly, I tell you, servants are not greater than their master, nor are messengers greater than the one who sent them. If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them.”
Amen
