The Heart of God Revealed - Maundy Thursday
Author: Pastor Carolyn Hetrick
April 02, 2026
Every year Jesus asks, “Do you know what I have
done?” and in some ways, I can say,
“Well yes, of course.” But in other
ways, in truth, maybe not. Do we know what it means to be disciples, equal
parts learning and following? I wonder about it all.
As we see Jesus take off his robe and become a servant do
we know what that’s like? Do we know what it means to not clamor to be great,
or first, or right sometimes? Can we stay with Jesus here in this moment in the
gospel wondering, which is harder, to stay and learn or to stay become humble?
One of my favorite forms of devotion is called Art
Lectio. The creator produces short videos that slowly examine a painting to see
each part of what the artist is portraying. It does not rush but searches the
details and asks questions that become prayers to cultivate faithful looking,
without interpreting too early. We can try to go straight to the meaning,
rather than looking and seeing well. Slowing down and looking at the things and
people walking through the elements- noticing bodies, space, relationships,
emphasis and movement. Then we can let interpretation arrive honestly and pay
attention before we have an opinion.
Let’s slow down this gospel and treat it like a painting.
Jesus has gotten up from supper while others are still at the table. This means
they are in a semi reclining pose on the floor at a low table. Jesus has gotten
up and gone across the room and has taken off his robe. He has tied a towel
around his waist. He has poured water into a basin. He has now come back to
where the others are sitting. He begins to wash their feet. Imagine you are
there. Jesus is at your feet.
Some have had their feet washed. What is the look on
their faces? Is it confusion? Is it gratitude for gentle care, washing away the
dirt, and wear and tear, maybe nurturing a callous or blister?
Now come back to Jesus. What do you see in his face?
Jesus knows God the Father will not stop one of these from handing him over to
those who want to kill him. Jesus’ robe lies on the floor, crumpled, not far
away. He could just get up and put it back on, but he continues to wash their
feet. Even Judas’ and even Peter’s. Peter first protests, “Lord, NEVER!” but
then swings wildly in the other direction as they are face to face on the
floor. Imagine Peter’s face as they are so close and yet so far apart.
Jesus could simply stand up as Lord and be great and be
right, but he finishes washing their feet. Then he gets up, goes back and puts
his outer clothing back on. And if we think about the moment from when Jesus
first gets up from supper to take off his robe until when he puts it back on,
it’s like the Transfiguration in reverse.
In the Transfiguration, everyday Jesus is suddenly
dazzling on the mountaintop and reveals God’s glory. Here at this meal, Rabbi
and Lord Jesus in Jerusalem for Passover is suddenly a humble servant dirty and
crawling around on the ground to care for others, revealing God’s heart.
In the face of betrayal and disappointment, anguish,
grief, hardened hearts and misunderstandings, Jesus loves them. Loves them to
the end. Giving and example of what “Love as I have loved “means. In the most
common, gritty everyday role that they consider beneath them.
Can we stay with Jesus in this moment and not race on?
Not race on to judging Judas and the pieces of silver, the garden and the
guards or the arrest, or everything that the rest of Holy Week will be about?
Can we not just skip over to Christ is Risen and spare ourselves this week? Can
we soak in this moment in the water and humility and see that the reflection in
the water in the basin is not ourselves but Jesus looking at us in love?
What might we ask Jesus to help us strip away so that we
can live more fully as those who learn and to live more fully as those who
follow him? Those who don’t clamor to be great, or first, or as often happens
in our culture, those who clamor to be right?
Can we instead see in our places of disappointment or
betrayal, anguish or grief, misunderstandings or hardened hearts, that Jesus
still gives us an example?
He does not say that loving is easy. He doesn’t say that
loving only needs to be skin deep. He doesn’t say that loving only needs to be
for those we want to love. But he does say that when we love as he loves, we
all will be blessed.
And that others will see Jesus through us when we take on
and persist in embodying acts of love that defy our common or even preferred
understandings.
And now that we have spent this time with Jesus as those
who are also love to the end, we pray:
Jesus, we confess we do not fully know how you love the
way you do, or how to love as you do. We are overwhelmed by your love for us.
We confess that sometimes we DO know how to love as you do, but it feels too
hard and maybe we protest, “Lord, NEVER!”
Continue to be our teacher and Lord, and help us to stay
with you, and walk the depths of this week with you, as you lead us ever deeper
into humility and into your heart for the whole world. Guide us in our places
of pain and confusion to stay focused upon you.
In gratitude for your wondrous love, may we continue to
walk in the new life that you create and to be courageous in loving like you do
in a world that will continue to defy or misunderstand it.
May your will be done so that we might all be blessed by
a world shaped by your love.
Amen.
Copyright Rev. Carolyn K. Hetrick, 2026 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 decided that Judas son of Simon
Iscariot would betray Jesus. 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 supper, 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 reclined again, 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, slaves 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.”
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