After he 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 Lord and Teacher – 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: 16-17)
A number of years ago, I attended a Maundy Thursday service in one of the largest Episcopal cathedrals in the United States. It was a huge, gothic structure with an enormous sanctuary that held multiple religious objects including , of course, a large free-standing altar covered with a full Jacobean frontal – a massive red silk brocade piece with a gold thread design emblazoning the center of this magnificent altar decoration.
The various seats and areas for kneeling were decorated with needlepoint covered cushions; prayer books and hymnals abounded, as did beautiful linens and multiple silver chalices and crystal flagons and cruets. The sanctuary also held a 32 member choir and 60 rank organ along with the music director/organist and a harpist. The east wall was dominated by three massive stained glass panels.
There was no foot washing ceremony at this service, but as the Eucharist drew to a close the many lanterns scattered around the church dimmed. The choir began to chant Psalm 22, and ever so slowly the priests, deacons, chalice bearers and acolytes began to “strip” the altar.
“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from helping me, from the words of my groaning? Oh my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer; and by night, but find no rest.”
Chalices and other vessels were reverently handed to Altar Guild members waiting at the sanctuary door. The Fair Linen was carefully folded and also handed to an altar guild member. Then the frontal, the cushions, the Altar Book, the Eucharistic vessels, the prayer books and the hymnals gradually disappeared, one by one. The ceremony proceeded slowly, gracefully, and tragically. All the while the choir was singing Psalm 22 ever so quietly.
“ My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from helping me, from the words of my groaning?”
As the music drew to a close, altar guild members handed the clergy transparent black cloths, and the rector reverently covered first the altar cross, and then the processional cross. With the processional cross leading, the choir, the clergy, the chalice bearers and the acolytes solemnly processed out in silence. As the rector, the last in the long line of mourners, passed by the first row, members of the congregation silently exited row by row.
No words, no music; the lights so very dim that it was hard to see the person next to me.
Out into the darkness went the cross; out into the darkness went the clergy; out into the darkness went the congregation – out into the darkness we all went, following Jesus to the Garden of Gethsemene.
I was not alone as I shed tears and felt a painful emptiness my heart; an emptiness that I had never experienced before. I was not alone when I thought, “Christ is gone; there is no Christ – what will I do?
I believe that this sense of desolation and loss is felt by all of us each Maundy Thursday evening as we re-experience the heart-wrenching moment that confirms the reality that Jesus will be betrayed; he will be scorned; he will be tortured; he will suffer agonizing pain; he will be crucified; he will die.
Our sense of desolation comes when, as we follow Jesus into the darkness of the Garden, we believe that we also are entering the darkness; we sense that we also are going to our death – our spiritual emptiness.
We believe that we are entering the darkness. But, in reality if we have truly heard Jesus’ words; truly paid attention to his teachings; truly followed his astounding journey from his birth to his baptism in the River Jordon to his betrayal in the garden – if we have paid attention, we know, in fact, that we headed for the Light.
As Paul so eloquently says in Ephesians 2,
“But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ – by grace you have been saved – and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness towards us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God – not the result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God is prepared beforehand to be our way of life.” (Ephesians 2:4-10)
This evening, Jesus’ task on this earth is finished. In a few short hours, he will depart this earth to become one with the Father. And we, if we have heard his message; have received him into our heart; have been truly baptized by his Spirit, will follow him into the darkness of the garden, through the agony of the crucifixion, and into the Light of the Resurrection and our salvation.
And what then? What is salvation? What does it mean to be saved – what does salvation mandate?
In John 12, Jesus tells his disciples, “Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will be my servant also. Whoever serves me, the Father will honor.”
Our Salvation - our Light –Jesus tells us, is made manifest through being the good servant; through moving in and through and with God in our lives, following the Way of his Son. Our salvation is made manifest in following the direction that Jesus has given us this evening when he said,
“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.”
As we follow Christ into the Garden of Gethsemane, we follow him into the light of his Father’s Kingdom by loving and serving Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in our humble lives here on earth.
If, in some small way, we can accomplish this task of serving one another as Jesus has served us - our call from Jesus - we will come to truly know the peace that passes all understanding; we will understand the meaning of our salvation; we will be true participants in the glory of the Easter resurrection – the life everlasting.
Just a few short months ago we celebrated the birth of Jesus. Tonight we follow him on the first steps towards his death – and, believe it or not, the star that lights the way, shines more brightly than ever,
A stable-lamp is lighted
Whose glow shall wake the sky;
The stars shall bend their voices,
And every stone shall cry.
And every stone shall cry,
And straw like gold shall shine;
A barn shall harbor heaven,
A stall become a shrine.
This child through David’s city
Shall ride in triumph by;
The palm shall strew its branches,
And every stone shall cry.
And every stone shall cry,
Though heavy, dull, and dumb,
And lie within the roadway
To pave his kingdom come.
Yet he shall be forsaken,
And yielded up to die;
The sky shall groan and darken,
And every stone shall cry.
And every stone shall cry
For stony hearts of men:
God’s blood upon the spearhead,
God’s love refused again.
But now, as at the ending,
The low is lifted high;
The stars shall bend their voices,
And every stone shall cry.
And every stone shall cry
In praises of the child
By whose descent among us
The worlds are reconciled
AMEN
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