Humility

Sequence building throughout the week:

         Palm Sunday – entry into Jerusalem

today – Foot Washing

         The Last Supper, institution of the Eucharist, 

         Garden of Gethsemane – watching in prayer

 

Foot washing – from our Lord’s own example 

         of his own humility and self-giving.

But I would like you to notice

that not only does it take humility to bow down before another

                  and wash feet, the lowest part of the body,
                           the part closest to the grime and grit and contamination

                           of the world,

         it also takes humility to expose this part of ourselves to another.

 

We may be embarrassed by how our feet have aged,

         how our feet reveal the wear and tear of life on our bodies:

                  the corns and bunions, the twists in the toes,

                  the thickening of nails, 

                  the lingering odor of shoes made old by work and wear,

         no longer babies’ feet that once were kissed and played with – 

                  “This little piggy went to market…”

 

 

Now the feet describe metaphorically the wear and tear of life in general,

         how in need we are again of that loving touch in our lives

                  where there is the most grit and grime,

                  the most contamination of the world,

         that which, after our initial washing in baptism, we pick up habitually,

                           that needs Another to help us wash off.

 

One could say that letting your feet be washed by another 

         is sort of like going to confession.

 

And the one who kneels at the feet of his friends,

         silently washing their feet,

takes on the role of Jesus.

 

We serve one another as Christ’s Presence.

This foot washing can be a symbolic, sacramental-like action

                  in a very personal and intimate way

         where we are Christ for one another.

 

Two years ago I was again in the Garden of Gethsemane.

Five times I have been to the Holy Land

         (or perhaps we should call it rather the Land of the Holy One

                  for all the centuries of warring there make it unholy.)

Every time I have been in that country I have gone there

                  to the Garden of Gethsemane.

On one visit I had stopped there twice, 

         first when I arrived 

         and again         for one more visit before going home.

There is something about the place that draws me back,

         a prayerful oasis of olive trees in the midst of an intense city.

 

Since childhood I recall various pictures and representations 

         of Jesus praying in the Garden 

         with the exhortation to watch and pray one hour with him,

                  to repeat his prayer with my own lips,

         “Father, not my will, by thine be done.”

Garden – across the lane from the traditional Garden of Gethsemane

         is another olive grove, small, with paths among the trees

                  and with a profusion of wildflowers in the spring .

This place is usually ignored by tour groups,

         but I just happened to be there 

                  when the door was unlocked and a small group had been let in,

so in I slipped too.

This is the place where tradition has it 

         that the disciples were to keep watch 

                                    while Jesus went a little ways off to pray.

This was the site where the disciples slept,

         unable to follow through in heroic effort

                  worthy of their Teacher and Lord 

                  and what he was doing for them.

How human a touch this is inserted in the whole account

         of this central event of our faith.

They can’t even keep watch one hour.

But maybe this tells us of the possibility of something else,

         in the face of the life and death situation,

         in grave danger,

         they were not so afraid that they couldn’t sleep.

They must have been trusting that they were taken care of to some extent

                  by the One who was asking them for their care at that time. 

 

Even if we had been able to sit with Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane

         and not fall asleep,

even if we had been able to so focus and concentrate our minds

                  in prayer and meditation

         that attention did not waver,

even if we had been able to keep the law scrupulously,

                                                      we would not have saved our souls.

We would have secured a strong ego.

We would have been able to define ourselves

         as complete and sufficient in our isolated individuality,

we would have become our own separate god.

This is idolatry.

We have replaced God with self.

And even though we aren’t able to be so heroic 

in the observation of our religion,

         we live in a state of hypnosis – 

                  hypnotized by our own sense of successful living,

                  or adequate living even.

We are enthralled by illusion.

Let us no longer treat the cross as something ignored, disregarded, devalued.

This is the one, true, perfect and sufficient sacrifice

         that eliminates the need for all our spiritual and religious striving.

Or strive hard to please God with utmost scrupulosity 

         until you run into a wall and can go no farther.

Hurry to this point of utter frustration and failure, 

         so that you can then be broken into by the Holy Spirit,

         by grace pouring abundantly – 

                  not so that we can break through to grace,

                  but that grace will break into us,

                           into our conscious awareness.

 

Then we can value the Cross in all honesty and without illusion.

 

So let us come to the table prepared for us,

         this banquet of simple bread and wine,

                  which is none other than 

                  that which, if we were to consider what we are doing, 

         would shock the sensibilities – 

                           the very body and blood of the One we worship.

 

Strange things we do tonight,

         actions that link us physically, 

                  as well as emotionally, intellectually and spiritually,

         actions that link us to the Mystery of this whole week, the Holy Week.

You don’t have to understand it.

You don’t even have to like it,

         simply accept the invitation and participate,

and enter the gracious holiness of these actions,

 

and see what happens to you.