Reflection
Love is...what is love? We all have answers to that question! Sometimes love is mundane isn’t it? Or like it’s on automatic pilot? You know you love your partner, children, parents, best mate, but often the love is like the background music in the movies. Sometimes love is tested like being forced to listen to cheesy music in the elevator. Other times the music is barely heard,and at other times the music is harsh and angry as tempers flare. And when you hear Nat King Cole - unforgettable - well love is well and truly in the air! Or put on those 80s tunes and get on the dance floor with your best mate, dancing like nobody is watching.
I believe that if the saying is true that money makes the world go round, love is the glue that holds it together. And without a doubt, love is really sticky at the moment, and money is being shown the door.
The changes that Coronavirus has brought to our daily lives are beyond our comprehension, despite our ability to articulate what they are. The knock on effects of isolation are beyond our ability to truly articulate because how do you put into words the loneliness, the missing, the lack of human touch, the fear when we do have to be around other people, the boredom...the emotional anxiety overload, the grief...it is no wonder we can barely focus or indeed multi-task.
Yet despite all of this, so many have stepped up and stepped out. We face this crisis with stoicism and resilience and we get on with it. And we have learnt to appreciate one another in ways we never did before. And dare I say it, even serve one another.
Tonight’s story is about Jesus washing the feet of his disciples. Having loved his own who were in the world, that is his disciples and friends, he now showed them the full extent of his love. It’s curious this part. We talk about Jesus’ death showing the full extent of his love, yet here in the seemingly thankless task of washing dirty, dusty, sweaty feet is Jesus showing the full extent of his love.
Reflect on that for a moment - why is washing the feet of his friends showing them the full extent of his love?
The washing of feet before sitting down for the meal is the equivalent of coming home from a long day at work, changing out your work shoes and putting on your slippers and resting by the fire with your cuppa! So it was a normal practice to get comfortable for dinner. It was a task undertaken by the lowest slave in the home.
Jesus who was their teacher, their leader, their mentor goes from being the host to the slave. In fact the passage reminds us that Jesus is from God and will return to God. And this prompts him to get up, strip to his undergarments, wrap a towel around his waist and wash their feet. And the work he does is about making his disciples clean and comfortable before they have dinner together. The gift he offers them is for their well-being.
But he is doing the work of a slave. He washes their feet - and Simon Peter who is usually the first, is not the first on this occasion. He has time to get uncomfortable...this is no work for Jesus to be doing... Jesus has a position, a status to uphold. He can’t demean himself in this way. This is the job of a slave, not a Rabbi. Yet Jesus shows the full extent of his love by doing the work of a slave. He is willing to be considered as the lowest of the low and that is embarrassing for Peter.
Jesus can read Peter like a book. He knows exactly what Peter is feeling. Jesus reminds us that if we want to be like him then we should be willing to wash one another’s feet. And folks when I look about that is what I’m seeing. Obviously, not literally and certainly not everywhere. But suddenly we are appreciating those who ‘wash feet’ rather than those who ‘lord’ it over us. Our celebrities and footballers who earn a fortune are suddenly relegated as we clap hands, bang pots and ring bells for NHS workers and carers. We value the people emptying our bins and stocking our shelves as fast we are unloading them. We suddenly realise how much we need GPs and their receptionists we moan about so much, and there are just not enough pharmacists to keep up with demand. Clergy and other religious leaders are working hard to try and connect with their congregations and the community supporting people in this time of crisis.
And our community activists, many of whom have been working behind the scenes of the community are now up front and centre, co-ordinating food parcels, and deliveries to housebound and more.
CEOs who have lived in their own power bubbles have felt the onslaught of the community - being forced to make u-turns on keeping their businesses open. Or being strongly encouraged to treat their staff better by furloughing them rather than making them redundant. Suddenly, we are witnessing a real shift in understanding about who or what is most important. It’s no longer the size of your pay packet but what you actually contribute to the community at large that is being measured and rated. This event is making volunteers of so many, as we are torn away from the busy 24/7 life we had so embraced. Those who we have often taken for granted, just accepted as part of the fabric of life, the background music of life have become the concert masterpiece composed through love and resilience.
We are showing the full extent of our love when we are willing to get down of our pedestals, our high horses of self-righteous expectation, and get involved for the greater good. And if it is good enough for the Son of God, then folks it is good enough for us whether we are high court judges or older folks asked to baton down the hatches or weary households with voices asking ‘is it nearly over yet...’
The last part of the reading from John’s Gospel for tonight comes from John 13:31b-35
Jesus said, ‘Now the Son of Man is glorified and God is glorified in him. 32 If God is glorified in him,[c] God will glorify the Son in himself, and will glorify him at once.
33 ‘My children, I will be with you only a little longer. You will look for me, and just as I told the Jews, so I tell you now: where I am going, you cannot come.
34 ‘A new command I give you: love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.’
That love is epitomised by the willingness to serve and to follow that through. And Jesus never lost his status as the Son of God. Letting go of our pride to let love win the day doesn’t mean we lose who we are. If anything we will be blessed. Tomorrow we remember just how far that love was willing to go to serve us all.
God loves you from your feet to your heart!
Love Sarah
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