Jesus had predicted his death to his disciples, not once, not twice, but three times. It was obvious they weren’t grasping it – perhaps they couldn’t put it together that Jesus had confirmed he was the Messiah, but he kept saying he would suffer and die.
Jesus knew that even within his own closest friends, one disciple would betray him, give up his location during the Passover so the Roman guard could arrest him and make an example of him. Look here, Jewish people. This is what happens to people who don’t toe the line.
What do you do when you know your time in this life is about to end?
Jesus invited his closest friends to a dinner party for the Passover. His Last Supper. He didn’t hide. He didn’t leave town. He invited all 12 – even the one he knew would betray him, and another one who he knew would deny he even knew him within hours after he was arrested. He invited them all to dinner in Jerusalem.
And before the meal started, he washed their feet.
Washing feet. A dirty, stinky job, usually left for the lowest ranking person in the group. A servant. Maybe even a woman or child. As a group reclined around the table to eat, they took off their sandals, sat next to each other. Hospitality required that they have the dust of their travels washed from their feet.
Maybe all the disciples came into the room, looking at each other. “Not my job.” “Well, I’m certainly not going to do it.” After all this time, they still didn’t get it, Jesus must have thought. And he removed his robe, grabbed a towel and basin, and got started.
Maybe his disciples didn’t think they personally should be the ones washing feet, but apparently, they didn’t think Jesus should do it either. Peter was downright put off by the idea. Nope, he said, Not having this. “You’re not going to wash my feet.”
Jesus insisted, and Peter then tried to turn it into a baptism. “OK, Jesus, if you insist, then wash my hands and head, too!”
Dear, dear Peter, always gung ho. Declaring that Jesus was the Messiah, then rebuking him when he told them he would have to suffer. Going overboard, sometimes literally, like when he asked Jesus if he could walk on the water with him. Dear Peter, he still didn’t get it. It must have showed.
Jesus put his robe back on, and resumed his teaching, even in his final hours.
“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."
Dozens of times in the gospels, Jesus gave his disciples the same message. Remember the Beatitudes: Blessed are the poor, the peacemakers, those who mourn. The first shall be last, the last shall be first.
When you “When you are invited by someone to a wedding banquet, do not sit down at the place of honor, … But when you are invited, go and sit down at the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he may say to you, ‘Friend, move up higher’; then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at the table with you. For all who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”
Over and over, Jesus instructed his disciples that they should aim to serve, rather than be served. And here on his final night before he would be arrested, tried, beaten and crucified, he told them again. Humble yourself. Take off your robe and set aside your pride and kneel down to serve other human beings.
What do you do when you know your time on this earth is short?
Doug Ruch, a San Antonio man, was diagnosed with Prostate Cancer in 2021. He underwent treatment and fought it. Prostate Cancer is a challenging cancer – oftentimes not diagnosed until it has advanced too far to be treated or metastasized within the body. Recently, the 55-year-old man received the worst possible news: the cancer was terminal. He had 12, maybe 18 months to live.
Many people would have traveled around the world, eaten the best foods and taken in the wonders of the planet. They might have explored every experimental treatment available, hooked up to IVs and in hospital beds until their last moment.
That wasn’t even on the table for him, since he had exhausted his savings fighting the cancer already. As he put it, "I thought to myself, I have two choices. I can sit at home and wait to die, or I can go out and live.” He decided on the second choice.
Doug is volunteering – with the goal of serving in all 50 states before he dies. He has already accomplished 11 states. He is raising money on GoFundMe, and tells people he is on tour, the “Dying to Serve” Tour, even setting up a nonprofit to inspire others in the same situation.
While nothing in the media talks about Doug’s faith, he’s taken off his robe, knelt down, and with his final acts on this earth, he is washing feet. Serving in soup kitchens, food pantries, and other organizations that serve the struggling and unhoused, Doug is creating a final chapter for himself and inspiring others.
What do you do with the time you have left?
And that brings this story to us. Our time on this earth is oh, so, short. Maybe 60, 70 years, 80 or 90 if we are very fortunate. In the scale of eternity, a blip. What are we going to do with our time on this planet?
I haven’t been here long enough to know each of you, and how you spend your days. I’ve only gotten a glimpse of life for those of you who have made Our Savior’s your faith home, decided that the mission here -- To Promote and Live God’s Word – connects with a fire inside you. You want to learn Jesus’ teachings, and follow them.
Whether it’s taking communion to someone who struggles to get out of their home, or dropping food off for the food pantry, or keeping the building in repair, or honoring our veterans, there’s something inside you that has heard the words of Jesus, and taken them to heart: So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. 15 For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you.
Maybe you’ve been to churches where a pastor, on this evening, will kneel down, take a basin, and wash the council’s feet. That’s fine. But in a day and age where most people wear shoes and have ready access to showers, it’s no longer the same ritual. It’s not the sign of hospitality it was in the First Century.
I wondered today, about what would have the same effect, would be humbling and servant like? What would take us out of our comfort zone to serve one another?
And then the pictures came into my head:
- The one who stops when someone has run out of gas or has a flat tire, because he can help.
- The one who finishes a shift, then takes someone to see their spouse in the hospital, because that person no longer drives.
- The person who goes and cleans up dog piles at their neighbor’s home, because the dog is the only companion the person has left.
- The person who helps someone create a resume and practice interview skills, because they lost the job they expected to have forever.
None of these make a good demonstration for a Maundy Thursday church service. No flat tires or dog piles in the Bible. But maybe they are the stuff of servant disciples in 2025.
What will you do with the time you have left?
What will this congregation, collectively, do with the time it has left? Tonight, as we ponder Jesus’ last acts of love for his disciples, his last teaching that he left us, each of us needs to sit with this lesson: how can we best take off our own robes, kneel, and locate the feet we were meant to wash.
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