John 13:1-17,
31b-35
Someone
I know once pointed out that there’s a built-in conflict when friends stay with
one another. It’s the duty of the host
or hostess to do everything they can to make the guest comfortable. It’s the duty of the guest to make sure that
they don’t put their hosts out too much. That's sort of what's happening
between Jesus and Peter in this section of
John's gospel.
And during supper Jesus, knowing that the Father had
given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going to
God, 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 and to wipe them with the towel that was tied
around him. He came to Simon
Peter, who said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?” Jesus answered, “You do not know now
what I am doing, but later you will understand.” Peter said to him, “You will never
wash my feet.” Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no share with me.”
[John
13:2-8]
Admittedly, Jesus was trying to demonstrate the
spirit of humble servanthood to his disciples, because this sort of work was
considered far from honorable, far beneath a great teacher or prophet. There's more to it, though, if you look at
things from Peter’s perspective. It
isn’t just a matter of Jesus’ willingness to serve. It's also about our openness to receiving what
Jesus offers us.
Human
beings both desire and resist love. We
like to think that when we find it, we value it above all else, but when push
comes to shove, we have our limits. In
1981, Hall and Oates had a hit song that was painfully honest.
“Yeah, I I-I, I’ll do anything
That you want me to do.
Yeah, I, I-I, I’ll do almost anything
That you want me to, ooh,
Yeah.
But I can’t go for that.
(No.)
No can do.
I can’t go for that, nooo.
(No.)
No can do.
…
I can’t go for that,
Can’t go for that,
Can’t go for that,
Can’t go for that.”
Now, I’m not putting Hall and Oates on the same
level as the apostle John, but we do treat God with the same mix of
wholeheartedness and distance.
Peter’s
first response to Jesus’ offer is to hold him at arm’s length. It isn’t that he doesn’t understand what
Jesus was doing, but that he understood it too well. He cared for and honored Jesus, and did not
want to presume on his deep friendship. Jesus
wanted to show his care, but Peter didn’t want him to have to do that. It almost seems like he was embarrassed.
“Lord, are you going
to wash my feet?” [John 13:7]
Jesus was pushing the limits, and Peter would
have none of it.
God’s
love in Christ goes well beyond the formalities, though, and maybe that’s what
Peter found threatening but that Jesus insisted on.
"Peter said to him, 'You will never wash my feet.' Jesus answered, 'Unless I wash you, you have no
share with me.'” [John 13:8]
There’s a challenge in that. Can Peter – can any of us – let ourselves be
loved by God so completely that we are loved from head to foot, inside and
out? Do we believe, and rejoice to know,
that he loves even the ugly, difficult, parts of us? Do we believe that he takes us, just as we
are? I cannot answer that for you. Only you can answer for yourself.
This
I can tell you, though, Jesus loves us totally, with a love that transforms the
bad part. When Peter gets it, that Jesus
is willing to wash his stinky, dirty feet, in fact that Jesus' love is an
all-or-nothing sort of love, his response is to go for "all".
It
was a good thing he did, because his weak side would be on display that very night,
when he followed Jesus after his arrest and waited in the courtyard of the
house where he was being tried. Mind
you, Peter had gone further with Jesus than most. But when he was asked if he knew him, three
times, he said, “No.” He had boasted at
one point, at least as Matthew tells it,
“Though
all become deserters because of you, I will never desert you.” [Matthew 26:33]
Others would show courage that he only thought
he had. As for Peter, when he realized
his boasting had been empty, it broke him.
Peter, the Rock, wasn't so solid after all.
But
Jesus loved him, loves us all, to the end, even his enemies. That is the kind of love that he offers. After his resurrection, the first words that
Jesus spoke to Peter was a question that would re-establish the connection
between them:
“Simon,
son of John, do you love me?” [John 21:16]
He could ask
that of someone who had said he didn’t have anything to do with him. It had hurt, but it did not destroy, the tie
between them. He’s like that.
On this night when we remember
what Jesus knew would be his last meal, we remember that the people he chose to
share it with were people like Peter, and even Judas. The people he continues to share this holy
meal with are people like us, who probably are not all that different from
them. The love that he offered then is
the love that he offers now; the forgiveness of sin, the same; the call for
singleness of heart, the same; the grace and care just as unfailing now as
then.
“'Unless I wash you,
you have no share with me.' …
'Lord, not my feet
only but also my hands and my head!'”
[John
13:8-9]
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