It’s a very dark room, it was a loft converted into a rather large entertaining area with a large table in the middle and plenty of room to recline. Off to one side was where the catering would be done: not so separate that the heat from the stove couldn’t be felt throughout the seating area.

There was no electricity in the room . . . just the gentle flicker of lamps playing with the beams and casting unsettled shadows against the ceiling.

13 men had hired the place for a get together — a good meal with a bit of meaningful discussion following. They were going to follow a formal format for this meal and make it a real special night. Little did they know what was in store for them.

Later that night they would be sitting around telling jokes under some trees in a garden, while one of them bled in agony not too far from them.

They gathered together, soaked in the surroundings and proceeded to make themselves comfortable. The table was already set with the entrée and they began to pour the wine freely. This was going to be a long night.

It really was.

After a while, the host for the evening stared into space and considered something for a while and then stood up and proceeded to take off his clothes. The others were quite surprised at this and gave him some sideways glances. He looked around the room once he was in his grots and after spying a jug, a towel and a big bowl next to the door, he went about his task.

Jesus, now reasonably naked was about to perform a deed that would hammer a point home in possibly one of the most offensive ways imaginable. He was assuming the role of a half naked gentile slave.

What do I mean by half naked? I mean simply wearing his undies. Immodest. Very vulnerable indeed.

What do I mean by gentile? Someone who was despised by Jewish religious prejudice. Here’s some irony, in trying to think of an equivalent for us to relate to I couldn’t think of anything and so I had to resort to maybe how we think of some of our Christian fundamentalists who placard at funerals of gay men saying how much “God hates fags”. Perhaps some of the feelings we have toward those people is a good connector for us to understand how the Jews felt about gentiles.

Gentiles had no idea, were godless (i.e. had strange religious rituals), were outspoken and powerful, bigoted and barbaric. That was a gentile. A non-Jew, anyone who had no Jewish blood in their veins. And the prejudice was bolstered by the fact that the gentiles had conquered Israel and the Jews were paying taxes to them.

What do I mean by slave? Someone who has been bought to be treated like a smart animal nothing more than a well trained pet that will do what you beckon of it. A piece of human-shaped property with not a single right. A life where getting fed was a privilege. Being liked by anyone was a bonus. Even existing beyond having a name (followed by a command) was unlikely. You had been bought at a market and that’s it.

So here’s Jesus—you know, the one we sing songs to—thoroughly degrading himself here. No exaggeration. This was a pretty offensive act. The rabbi, the teacher of the law assuming a role of the lowest of the low type of person and then, not just as a symbol, but as a need, performing the humiliating duty of washing the visitor’s feet.

He wrapped the towel around his waist like a slave would. And knelt before the first disciple who was totally embarrassed.

We’ve talked about this before, but the reason why this act was such a low act to perform was because people wore sandals in Jerusalem. There wasn’t much of a sewage system there. The roads were full of animal crap, literally, garbage and possibly a body part or two from some leprosy infected beggar who hadn’t realised they’d lost it. So, it was smelly, and stinky and it wasn’t mud that you were walking on, it was a mixture of many unsavoury things. So when you came into a house the slave (if there was one) would be made to wash your feet so as to leave that stuff behind.

So it’s also a scrub. Not a gentle little paddle and a damp little pamper that some of you may exfoliate your pores with, nope, this is a grab the foot, get in between the toes and scrub them and make them clean, trying to avoid the unsavoury sores that were festering away if not between the toes, then just from simple infected cuts inflicted from day to day walking around stone things.

For whatever reason that it hadn’t been done ‘til now, Jesus scrubbed their feet. One by one. Each disciple embarrassed and not sure what to do. Looking around the room, maybe throwing the occasional joke out there to try and hide the awkwardness. But that soon stopped when Jesus just gave them that, “you know, joking isn’t really necessary” smile and look.

He came to Peter.

Peter wasn’t feeling too flash about this whole affair, and was quite indignant that some of the others had had their feet washed without objecting so when Jesus came to him Peter gave him a piercing gaze, well as piercing as you can give to the son of God.

“Jesus, you don’t have to wash my feet mate,” said Peter, “I’m good.”

Jesus looked back at him. “peter, you don’t know what I’m doing. You’ll understand later.”

“I’m not going to let you. Never. You will never wash my feet.” It was an ultimatum that peter thought would show his firm commitment and respect. He thought it was the right thing to do. To show his resolve.

What was his reason for not allowing God to humiliate himself? What are the consequences of seeing this? Did he feel unworthy? Or did he feel guilty? What was Jesus challenging Peter about here?

Have a chat amongst yourselves here. What was the deeper thing that Jesus was challenging?

Jesus then says firmly to peter, “John 13:8b. Unless I wash you, you have no share with me.”

That makes this an extraordinary act. It’s become more than a symbol or an example, it’s become a mode of being. A part of what it means to be a disciple. Where the world shifts in it’s fundamental order. What you thought was how things work is in fact not how they work.

This very act calls into sharp critique all of the social stratification of the culture in Jerusalem and indeed in the roman empire. Actually it challenges class structures in all time and in all places. Culture was being critiqued. It was saying, if your culture thinks it’s ok to despise someone, think again.

In this act, and in the forcefulness of Jesus saying that unless peter did this then he would have no share in him unless he allows his feet to be washed, in this Peter is challenged to really think again. Little does he know that this is just the beginning. little does he know that in a few days time, his entire universe would never be the same again, as he would witness the son of God the creator, being crucified, tortured and triumphed over by its created.

But let’s just have a look at that little phrase there.

John 13:8b. Unless I wash you, you have no share with me.”

It’s language that invokes an understanding of inheritance. Of family embrace, of belonging. It was a statement of identity, permeating every part of Peter’s body. It cut him to the heart. To his core. Because it basically said this,

“you’ve come this far, so far, three years of seeing all this stuff happen, of walking with me, talking with me, teaching with me, preaching with me. You’ve done miracles in my name, walked on water for a little while at least, seen the possibilities of a future with God and humankind, addressing the cosmic disconnect, that misplacedness that you feel. That disenchantment with the cosmos that runs deep within all people. Yep, all of that you have seen, and you will call it all a sham, by not letting me wash your feet?”

Peter knew though that at this point, if he acknowledged and endorsed what Jesus was doing, then what he knew about life the universe and everything was up for grabs. I think he could see where this was going. I think there was a meaningful pause at this point where Peter hummed and hahed.

The other disciples may not have thought that much about it. Gone with the flow even. And were just wanting peter to hurry up so they could carry on with their meal.

But much was riding on this.

And peter, really just not sure what to do, except do what he’s told, tried to find a way out, a way of redefining this event. A way of making this thing happen on his terms, to find a way to avoid the offensiveness of what is taking place here. This isn’t the way it was supposed to be. This was asking too much of him.

This was not a Jesus he wanted to know, or understand. So he musters enough courage for a compromise.

“ok Jesus, but do my hands and head also.” Perhaps it was a really honest attempt at getting Jesus to break out of just being a slave, and more of a rabbi. Take care of my feet that I may travel well, hands that I may help well, and head that I might think well. Maybe, but probably not because of what Jesus says next.

Jesus replied, “Mate, you bathe so you’re clean. I’m just washing your feet that are dirty from the journey.”

I expect that Peter conceded, knowing he wouldn’t get out of it. Perhaps he understood a little better, but it was embarrassing anyway. And Jesus carried on to the rest of the disciples.

When he had finished, he washed up, put his robe back on and sat back where he was sitting before. And he asked an important question.

“do you know what I have done to you?”

answer that in your groups.

I entitled this sermon as foot washing as mission because there’s a connecting point here between the two. So here are two experiences I want to share and then hopefully we’ll tie it back to gether.

I was talking to my mum who runs an op shop on the north shore. As we were talking, she was telling me that it’s really hard to find volunteers from her church. I suggested that the youth group would be good to approach, but only if it’s under the understanding that this is for mission.

How could working in an op-shop be mission? Well aside from serving the poor by giving affordable clothing, oh yeah, and the middle class university students who are in the op-shop phase of life (yep, I went through that too, and some of you would argue I’m still going through it). The op shop provided mission opportunity well beyond an exchange of cheap goods.

As we talked it made sense that one of the primary functions of the op-shop was actually to be a listening post for the community. People would wander in, regulars or fellow shop-keepers, and talk about life the universe and everything. All that needed to happen was to provide the listening ear. What’s interesting is the mandate of the shop is, let me clothe you. Isn’t there a verse somewhere that talks about us clothing the naked?

Sure there aren’t too many people who walk into the shop naked, in fact I’m sure it’s none at all, but the point is that the love that the op shop people show through generosity and even hospitality is enormous. To have good standing in the otherwise depressed shopping centre is quite significant. Because it’s happening by humbling themselves, become like those around them and treating people as created by God himself. In effect, they are washing the feet of these people by getting involved in the dirt of their journeys and offering some respite. Levelling the social strata and becoming more than an op shop.

How much do the staff get paid? Not a bean. Zip. Nada. The money goes to the overseas work of Tranzsend. Why would the youth get involved there?

If their youth group cannot get a handle on what it means to serve, then heaven help them. So point one here is that you are called to serve. As a Christian, your world is no longer like it used to be. Your priorities in life have shifted. You are not your own person anymore, you are accountable to the holy spirit, and also, yes, to the church. To the people around you who form the body of Christ, the incarnation in this world. If you cannot show love for one another, a radical cross-generational, cross-cultural love, then you are missing the point. That’s point one.

Point two goes like this. Talking with my parents again Dad was telling me of his childhood during the second world war.

The family were living on the isle of bute in the middle of the firth of Clyde in Scotland while his dad worked in Glasgow. They were living in a two room, not two bedroom, but two room unit and dad said his bed was the best because it would fold out right above the stove. His mum slept in another bed in that room and his sister in the other room. Dad stopped for a second, as we were joking about him having to share with a room with his mother and how that would be for a 9 year old boy. Dad looked at us and assured us that he had the better end of the deal, because his sister was sharing a room with her grandmother. What a choice for a young kid to make, “well, son, who ya gonna sleep with, ya mother or your grandmother?” WWJD?

There’s not really a point to the story, and it was probably funnier at the time, and actually doesn’t offer any insights whatsoever, but how far would you let yourself be stripped of your pride in order for someone to have life? How far would you go? And you can answer it, because your life at the moment is already answering it, and for many of us, it’s not very far at all.

What does it mean for us today to assume the role of outcast slave in this group of people?

Furthermore, what does it mean in this world?

And here’s where I’m not going to hold back. But simply put, Jesus is asking us to measure everything, every single value we hold, every single ethic we understand, every single attitude, virtue and vocation, everything. Everything. Measure everything against him. Now, if that is what you do, then you will come up against the horror of who you really are, and will need to make difficult and radical internal shifts as you honestly struggle with the things you hold valuable but ultimately destroy you.

They will be interrogated fiercely by Jesus, wrestled to the ground and beaten by his wisdom. And you will submit, you can’t escape it, or redefine it. It’s there. And you are either doing it or not.

Christianity is quite simple really. Love God, Love People, Love yourself. And if you are not in a constant struggle with that truth, you will meander aimlessly for years. Seeking and not finding, living vacuously as you try to come to terms with “what is this faith worth?” it will have no value until you allow yourself to be overwhelmed by a love for God that puts you on your knees in repentance, and finds peace in his care,

Allow yourself to be overwhelmed by a love for people that throws you into awful situations for the sake of other people’s well being and allows you to hold them and embrace them and heal them and nurture them, as well as admonish them, goad them and instruct them with wisdom because that’s what friends are for.

Allow yourself to be overwhelmed by a radical love for yourself, that wrestles with addictions, selfishness, reactions and has an accurate understanding about why you do things you do, doesn’t settle for ‘well this is just who I am’ when it’s not who Christ asks you to be, someone who is transparent and broken, and strong in the spirit, not power hungry or glory hungry but actually content with who you are because God is doing great work inside you.

When we stoop, as Christ stooped, to be slaves for this world, then two things will happen : you will encounter Jesus like you have never encountered him before, and you will encounter this world like you have never encountered it before.

Last year we made projects for Traction to do something for this neighbourhood, to improve the world around us. And to my knowledge none of that has happened. Here’s a moment to correct me if I’m wrong. I caught glimpses of this with a smaller group that met last year for breakfast. But it’s not enough. It’s not enough.

Why doesn’t that make us angry with ourselves? Why doesn’t it make us angry that we didn’t follow through on a commitment to improve this world? What happened to those dreams and visions?

and the grace of God resting on you like flames of fire?

Is this faith that you are experiencing now really the kind of faith that Jesus bled and suffered on the cross for?

Be agitated, angered or stirred, whichever you want. Take it out on me if you like. whatever, just don’t settle for anything than the best of God’s love for you.