"You Will Never..." (John 13:3-8, 12-15)

“An Insulting Depiction”

In 2014, St. Albans Episcopal Church in Davidson, North Carolina, installed a statue on the church grounds that depicts a homeless person sleeping on a bench. If you get close enough to the statue, you can see that the homeless person is Jesus—there are the marks of crucifixion on his feet.

The response of the neighbors to this newcomer in the community was mixed. One neighbor called the cops on this homeless person. Another who got close enough to see who this homeless person really was, wrote in to the editor to express their displeasure. The statue, they said, was “an insulting depiction of the son of God.”

In the Beginning and at the End

“Insulting.” I imagine this word or a similar one flashed through Peter’s mind when he said to Jesus, “You will never wash my feet.”

There at that last Supper, Jesus’ journey to Jerusalem ends exactly as it started—with Peter (of all people) rebuking him.

At the beginning, Peter rebukes Jesus for talking about suffering and death. At the end, Peter rebukes Jesus for getting on his knees like a slave.

Of all the rejections that Jesus endured, perhaps Peter’s at the beginning and the end are the most important. They are a sobering reminder that Jesus’ closest followers continually mistake the messiah for their own aims. They confuse Christ with getting their way.

Peter’s Humiliation

Our familiarity with tonight’s foot-washing scene has domesticated it into an appealing illustration of what we have called “servant leadership.” Servant leadership, in our world, often masquerades as selflessness when it fact it serves its own self-interest. We only have to think of how individuals and companies make altruistic gestures as a way to build their brand, boost their profile, and get ahead. If we had done a foot-washing service tonight, whoever did the foot-washing (whether it was me or an elder) would likely win a little favor in the eyes of others, if for no other reason than being willing to handle the feet of others, which is an intimate and somewhat uncomfortable thing in our world.

But what Jesus is doing here is no publicity stunt. In the ancient Greco-Roman world, washing feet was something slaves did. (“Slave leadership” doesn’t quite have the same ring to it, does it?) We do not have slavery today in the form that we so shamefully did, so the meaning may be lost on us a little bit. But what Jesus is doing, is taking on the role of a slave. In Peter’s mind, Jesus has just overstepped the boundary. Jesus is not doing a good deed, like holding open the door or allowing others to first. Such things might buy a person the good favor of others. Jesus is humiliating himself.

The foot-washing scene is not a tender picture of a servant’s heart. It is a humiliating picture of a messiah who seems to have it all backwards. And this is why Peter rebukes Jesus. When he began following this rabbi, he yoked his identity with him. Jesus’ glory would be his glory. Jesus’ shame would be his shame. “You will never wash my feet,” is not merely Peter being a bit embarrassed for Jesus or trying to protect his reputation. It is Peter being embarrassed for himself. He’s protecting himself.

An Example of Shameless Love

“I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you” (John 13:15). The example Jesus sets us, is not just doing good deeds. It’s not just selfless behavior. It is unashamed love. It is a love that is willing to be identified with the wrong crowd. A love that is willing to be branded “insulting.”

In our world, the lines between social groups have shifted. We stand little risk of humiliating ourselves as a slave. But we do stand the risk of being caught watching the wrong channel, reading the wrong news source, rubbing shoulders with the wrong crowd. Our tribes demand loyalty. Our tribes say that it is more important to be right than to be caring.

But the example of shameless love that Jesus sets for us, is otherwise. Jesus invites us to care for others, even if it puts us on the wrong side of the fence. The “slave Jesus” invites us to see people before we see problems, to see Christ in them instead of our contempt, whether we’re looking at the homeless, the immigrant, the addict, the protester, the black sheep of the family, the counter-protester, the criminal, the atheist, the Russian—the list is endless.

As endless as Christ’s unashamed love.

Prayer

Dear Christ,
Your example sometimes looks like losing,
Like humiliation,
Yet you are unashamed.
…
Ground us in the same love
In which you are grounded,
That we might bear unto others
Your unashamed care.
Amen.