Maundy Thursday

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." Simon Peter said to him, "Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!" Jesus said to him, "One who has bathed does not need to wash, except for the feet, but is entirely clean. And you are clean, though not all of you." For he knew who was to betray him; for this reason he said, "Not all of you are clean."
After he had washed their feet, had put on his robe, and had returned to the table, he said to them, "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. Very truly, I tell you, servants are not greater than their master, nor are messengers greater than the one who sent them. If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them.--John 13: 3-17

It is interesting that for the evangelist John, the biggest moment at the Passover meal was not the words of Jesus declaring the bread his body and the cup of wine his blood. Instead, it's the washing of the disciples feet, done in a way to make them understand that to lead means to serve... not the self, but others.
Much is made on Maundy Thursday about how, in this moment, Jesus humbled himself and took on the role of a servant. But as I thought about that, it would seem that this is merely an easy "paint by numbers" illustration he is giving them when, in fact, this is hardly the first time he has humbled himself to serve. The first time would be with his birth... as a baby human boy. God, the one whose thoughts are not our thoughts, nor God's ways our ways, became a servant by being born to a young girl and her not-quite-yet husband. His service continued through healing, through feeding, through teaching. This mission was never about Jesus saying, "Look at me!" This service was about "look into their eyes and have compassion and love."
And so, in case they haven't "gotten" it yet, Jesus washes the disciples' feet. And Peter, the eager one, insists on getting a full bath (what did I just say about "getting it"?) But Jesus insists that there's no need to clean the whole body, when its only the feet... which had been trodding about in the dust and dirt of Jerusalem... that needed to be cleaned. This is the city in which Jesus is going to be betrayed. Time to shake the dust off of the feet in the face of such a brutal "welcome".
During this Holy Week, one of our retired priests, Fr. Harry Douglas, has been talking about feet during our Evening Prayer service. As he noted, Mary anointed Jesus' feet. We were invited to consider our own feet, and our attitudes about our feet, and how our feet help us to take a stand. And then to consider that Jesus cleansed the feet of the disciples. Given the task ahead of them in the coming hours, days, weeks... ages... their feet were going to need to be ready to take difficult and important steps for the kingdom of God.
We are into the final hours of Jesus' time among us. In many churches, we are being asked to wait an hour with him. But what about the walk? Will we keep walking with him? Or, to put it another way, will we allow ourselves to accept the guidance from God, so that our feet may walk in the way of peace?