Episodes
Friday Mar 30, 2018
Submit Your Feet
Friday Mar 30, 2018
Friday Mar 30, 2018
Submit Your Feet
A homily preached by Rev. Ginger E. Gaines-Cirelli at Foundry UMC, March 29, 2018, Maundy Thursday.
Text: John 13:1-17, 31b-35
Let’s talk about feet. Feet are among the humble members of the human body, for most of us they are weight-bearing, callused, veiny, sweaty, smelly, and frequently dirty. In general, feet are not considered among the flashy or beautiful parts of the body. We don’t tend to think about feet (unless we’re a Reflexologist or podiatrist) and we don’t even think of our own feet except, perhaps, if we can’t use them or unless they hurt—and this, even though in the design of the human body, feet are extraordinarily hard-working and important.
But tonight we hear the word “feet” eight times in our Gospel passage. Jesus was focused on feet. I wonder if Jesus had secretly given the regularly-scheduled servant the night off as his group of friends gathered for a meal. And I try to imagine what the disciples must have thought or felt as Jesus—the one with all the power, with all the acclaim, with the ability to calm storms and raise Lazarus from the dead—takes up the role of servant to them, kneeling and washing their feet. Peter gives us one response arising, I imagine, from a place of reverence for Jesus or, perhaps, from a place of outrage and disbelief: “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?” This is our primary question tonight. Jesus, are you really going to wash my feet?!
Yes. Jesus is going to wash your feet—that is, that part of you that you consider unsightly, unworthy, embarrassing... And, more than that, if Jesus doesn’t wash your feet then you “have no share with” him, or (according to other biblical translations) you “can’t share life with” him or you “can’t be part of what [he’s] doing” or you “won’t belong” to him. Jesus is determined, it seems, for you to share life with him, to belong to him, to be part of what he’s doing. And so tonight, along with Peter, you are invited to put aside your outrage, your discomfort, your embarrassment, or your delicate piety and submit your feet.
Submit your feet to the waters that Jesus offers. Submit to this different kind of Baptism. Submit to enter into the life that Jesus models for us, a life of service, a life of true humility, a life that gently cares for the lowliest of members with reverence, that holds the burden-bearing, dirty members with as much love as those members that are free and clear of conscience. Jesus washed Judas’ feet as well as Peter’s, you see. And if Jesus, the King of endless glory, has washed our feet, then who do we think we are that we should be exempt from doing the same for others?
Submit your feet. When you do, you’ll find yourself kneeling before others’ feet, towel in hand. What does that mean? It means that as one who shares the life of Jesus, you engage in your various vocations with humility and with a servant heart. No matter whether you are the janitor, the computer programmer, or the CEO, you are called by Jesus to do your work in a spirit of service. If you have a role in the church—with responsibility for a whole ministry area or one part of it, you are called by Jesus to offer yourself as a servant leader. This doesn’t mean that you surrender your authority—it was Jesus’ authority that made his humble act so transformative and powerful—it means that you don’t clutch or use your authority to lord over or control others. To be a servant leader doesn’t mean that you surrender your dignity, it means that you recognize that all persons have just as much dignity as you…and therefore all are worthy of patience, care and compassion.
Submit your feet. When you do, you’ll see where you are standing and with whom. Standing with others in the places of grief and suffering, standing with others who are lonely or afraid; standing in solidarity with the poor, the oppressed, the vulnerable, standing firm as an advocate for the sake of mercy and justice even in the face of persecution—this is where you’ll find yourself standing once you submit your feet to Jesus.
To submit your feet to Jesus also means allowing your feet to carry you into the place God calls you, to use your feet to walk into the future God has in store—even when that future may bring uncertainty, challenge, and grief. In the United Methodist Church we talk about our clergy being “itinerant” ministers—meaning we move from place to place, we are appointed and sent into different situations. Tonight I remind us that all of us are itinerant. We’re all on a journey. We all have feet; and God wants us to use them to walk forward into a future that God, and God alone, fully sees and knows. Submit your feet and walk into God’s future for you. Trust that the way will be made plain for you. Pay attention to where your feet carry you, for where your feet take you matters.
Tonight, your feet (literal or metaphorical) have carried you to this place. We are all going to be given the opportunity to submit our feet to a ritual washing tonight. You are here in the presence of the living Christ. And he is taking up your feet, washing them, and asking you the same question he asked Peter and all the disciples: “Do you understand what I have done for you?” Jesus has shown us what it means to share in his life, to belong to his Way, to do what he does. Namely: Serve one another with humbleness of heart; love one another, even those who do you harm; and pay special attention and offer your strong and loving presence to the ones who bear extra burdens, are calloused, bruised, ignored, or are deemed ugly or insignificant.
If you submit your feet to Jesus, then you share in his life. If you submit your feet to Jesus, then you stand, like him, with one foot in this world and one foot in the Kin-dom of heaven. Your feet, washed and beloved of Christ, are what carry you forward to receive the gifts of bread and new wine that are our sacrament of Christ’s saving love. Remember that Jesus loves and blesses your feet; and use them well in service of the Kin-dom. For where your feet take you reveals not only where you are, but who you are…and whose you are. Where your feet take you shows who and how you love.
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