Musings for Maundy Thursday:
In Jesus’ time, banquets were commonly structured on the form of Greco-Roman banquets, though did not necessarily include the debauchery. Upon arriving at a banquet, guests would be offered a bowl of water to wash their hands and a servant would wash the guest’s feet.
Tonight’s first portion of the reading from John’s gospel is the story of Jesus washing his disciples’ feet during dinner. Wrapping a towel around his waist, he takes the position of a kneeling servant and washes their feet. Not surprisingly, the disciples are a bit confused by this. Jesus even asks them, “Do you know what I have done to you?” Ummm, no.
What has he done to them?
One more time, not just with words, not with a parable that he would need to explain to them, but with action. Jesus showed them what love looks like…washing the feet of others. And when one lives in a dry climate and walks dusty roads while wearing sandals, those feet are going to be really dirty.
14So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. 15For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you.
And that is what he has done to them, to us. A standard, an example, of what love in action looks like that his disciples, and we, can understand. And replicate. Taking the position of the servant at a banquet whose task is to wash the feet of the guests, Jesus shows what love looks like…service to another. But this isn’t servanthood the way we often understand it…with large equity gap, with power hanging over the head of the servant. It’s really about mutual servanthood. And no, sometimes it’s not pleasant service, but necessary and for the good of the other.
Jesus’ ministry filled with stories, parables, going to the margins, spending time with all the “wrong” people, is summed up in the second portion of this reading:
34I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.
So simply put isn’t it? And yet, we struggle daily to do that. Maybe one way to practice more would be to gather around dinner tables more, both with loved ones and with new people.
Diana Butler Bass has a beautiful sermon she shares annually now on Maundy Thursday. It’s titled “Welcome to the Table”. You should read it, I’ve put the link at the end.
In this piece, she ponders if Christianity’s heavy focus on the cross all these years has been misplaced. She proposes that maybe the point is the table:
“I think of Jesus,” wrote theologian Beatrice Bruteau, “setting up these Suppers somewhat on the order of the ‘base communities’ of liberation theology.” Gatherings of the Kingdom of God.”
She goes on:
“A vision of the Kingdom of God. The meal reminds us and continues the promise.
What if Maundy Thursday was that? The Last Supper of the Old World. The last meal under Rome, the last meal under any empire. And it is the First Feast of the Kingdom That Has Come. Thursday is the opening meal of the new age, in a community of mutual service, reciprocity, equality, abundance, generosity, and unending thanksgiving.”
What would the world be like if the table had been seen as the more significant part of this week we call Holy Week, instead of the violent cross? What if the primary symbol of Christianity was a table that expanded as needed and was a place to have our bellies filled, our spirits fed, and our relationships nurtured? That would be the communion table would it not? Because every table can be a communion table.
But we Christians don’t wear pendants in the shape of a table around our necks. No, we wear a symbol of punishment, torture, and capital punishment and say that it represents the ultimate self-sacrifice. It is still steeped in violence no matter which words are chosen.
Bass points out that post-resurrection, Jesus returns to the upper room where that final supper happened…twice actually, but he never goes back to the cross. He also cooks his disciples breakfast on the beach, where many had their first encounter with him.
How many stories are there of Jesus and meals? Quite a few. As one who likes to gather family and friends for meals, I also wonder alongside Bass,
What if the table is the point?
A place of love, service in being present, and a glimpse of the Kingdom of God.
You can read her sermon here: https://open.substack.com/pub/dianabutlerbass/p/welcome-to-the-table?utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web
Blessings and peace on your gatherings around the table.
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