Blessedness - Maundy Thursday
Author: Pastor Carolyn Hetrick
April 17, 2025
Tonight, we find ourselves in the midst of three “blessed’s.”
Three times “blessedness” will be connected with Jesus in the gospel of John.
On Palm Sunday we heard, “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the
Lord.” Almost completely the opposite of acting like a king, tonight we hear
Jesus tell his closest followers, “Since you know what I command, blessed are
you if you do this,” spoken as he has surrendered every symbol of authority and
is kneeling before them, serving them. The third “blessedness” will be spoken
on the other side of the events that begin this night and lead to the cross and
the tomb. That “blessedness” we will hear on the 2nd Sunday of
Easter, when the story of new life is unfolding and will be told to those who will
not have seen this night or Jesus’ ministry. That “blessedness” will come to
those to believe anyway in part because of the powerful stories like this one
tonight.
Every year if you have been here to hear me preach, I am
so captivated by this most tender moment Jesus has with his beloveds. It is a
blessedness that is “both/and” love. This blessedness is individual and personal as he focused upon each one
of them and as he commands them to do as he is teaching. Let’s be honest, life
is hard. All the more so for Jesus’ disciples who followed a man who was an
itinerant rabbi traveler in the region, dependent upon the hospitality of
others. His preaching and teaching and healing were all accompanied by the
disciples trying to learn while simultaneously navigating the shifting world of
physical and emotional, much less spiritual struggles. Worrying how to feed
thousands, how to survive a storm that churned enough to make seasoned
fishermen fear for their lives. Watching people by the thousands suddenly
reject Jesus because they didn’t like a sermon and suddenly Jesus was back to
just the twelve and Jesus begins talking about betrayal from within their small
group.
Now Jesus’ own brothers, who were unbelievers, tried to
encourage him to give this up. The crowds pressing in upon them were sometimes
barely able to be contained either in their numbers or expectations. And the
religious authorities were following and heckling and bent upon eliminating
him. Following Jesus in his three years of earthly ministry would have been a
draining series of highs and lows and across all of it, I can only imagine how
many miles and miles they walked to get this night. The night Jesus knows is
their last together.
I imagine he replays in his mind what each of them has
said and done, their missteps, where they most need his care as he caresses and
cares for their poor aching feet. One by one, looking at each one. Andrew, who
asked where Jesus was staying. Phillip who found Nathanael but wondered how on
earth thousands of people would eat. Nathanael, the one who wondered if
anything good could come from Nazareth only to learn he was seen under the fig
tree. Judas who would betray him, and Thomas who thought he should die with
him. Peter, always leading with his heart only to have Jesus give him
perspective, but who would in mere hours deny it all. John who had quietly been
taking in all Jesus said about love. These and the rest, each one, was loved,
cared for, tended and served as those who were not defined by their dirt, or
blemishes, but by Christ’s love for them to the end. And you know, three years
is really not all that long of a time that they have been together to create
that bond.
Blessed are you who are not defined by your dirt and your
blemishes, but by Jesus’ love for you, a love that goes all the way to the end
for you.
For all of those reasons, I don’t think it’s a stretch
for us to want to imagine that kind of love and care for us, even at times in
spite of us.
Jesus, who knows his first followers will go on to fail
in epic ways loves and cares for them reminding us that Jesus knows we will at
times also fail in epic ways but loves each of us so very deeply as the One who
chooses and even longs to care for us. This blessedness, the good news of this
love is such a comfort. Outside the world is chaos, but here in this moment is
peace.
May we however, not only seek the comfort of the gospel,
may we also yield to the challenge of it. This is the second part of “both/and”
blessedness. This “both/and” blessedness is also bound up in Jesus telling each
one now lovingly cared for, “you all call me your Teacher, and you are right.
Here is my example for you. You all ought to love and care and tend and serve
each one around you.
We can start with those who are there. I imagine Jesus
wanting to tell them, “You do not know it now but you will find it hard or even
impossible to love each other even mere hours from now.” Love, and care for,
tend and serve each other. If you have listened to me and since you know these
things, you all will be blessed if you do them.”
In mere days, they will be recalling their collective and
individual dirt and blemishes, the kinds of things we confess and things we
fear to- what we have done and left undone. It will take powerful love to hold
them together.
Jesus will go on to tell them this night, since you know
these things, you will be blessed if you do them among those you meet. Those who you will struggle to be among are also ones who in my eyes and in my heart are not defined by their dirt or blemishes,
but by my love for them. You might struggle to believe it. But worse, they might
not believe it without your witness to them. Without your embodying it. Yet
I assure you that you all will be
blessed if you do these things even among those you do not understand, or who
you have not known long or who you find it seemingly impossible to imagine love.
They, and we and those first disciples all fail in epic
ways.
Jesus knows as he speaks the promise of blessing. Jesus
sloshing around in the dirt of the world, reminds us that none of these
failings will be ones Jesus has not met, tended to, loved and forgiven or will
not meet, love and forgive.
SO let us ponder still our frailties and the fullness of Jesus
heart and trust him to lead all of us into blessedness in the way of the cross.
AMEN
Copyright Rev. Carolyn K. Hetrick, 2025 All rights
reserved. May not be reproduced in whole or in part without written
permission.
Sermon Text: John 13:1-17, 31b-35
1 Now
before the festival of the Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come to
depart from this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in
the world, he loved them to the end. 2 The
devil had already put it into the heart of Judas son of Simon Iscariot to
betray him. And during supper 3 Jesus,
knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had
come from God and was going to God, 4 got
up from the table, took off his outer robe, and tied a towel around
himself. 5 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. 6 He
came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my
feet?” 7 Jesus answered, “You
do not know now what I am doing, but later you will understand.” 8 Peter
said to him, “You will never wash my feet.” Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you,
you have no share with me.” 9 Simon
Peter said to him, “Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my
head!” 10 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.” 11 For
he knew who was to betray him; for this reason he said, “Not all of you are
clean.”
12 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? 13 You
call me Teacher and Lord—and you are right, for that is what I am. 14 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. 16 Very
truly, I tell you, servants are not greater than their master, nor are
messengers greater than the one who sent them. 17 If
you know these things, you are blessed if you do them.”
31b “Now the Son of Man has been glorified, and
God has been glorified in him. 32 If
God has been glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself and will
glorify him at once. 33 Little
children, I am with you only a little longer. You will look for me; and as I
said to the Jews so now I say to you, ‘Where I am going, you cannot
come.’ 34 I
give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved
you, you also should love one another. 35 By
this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one
another.”
BACK