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Hi everyone! Happy Maundy Thursday! I trust that you’re all having a blessed holy week, and looking forward to the various memorials and celebrations that come with Easter weekend.

For those who may not be familiar with the idea of “Maundy Thursday,” that’s the name old church tradition gave to the day when Jesus had His last supper with the disciples, right before the events of Good Friday. The word “Maundy” is a shortened old English version of the Latin word “mandatum,” which means “commandment.” You may recall that at the last supper, Jesus told His disciples, “I am giving you a new commandment: love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other” (John 13:34). So Maundy Thursday is the day when Jesus gave that new commandment to all of us who follow Him.

Churches that follow the old traditional calendar closely will often have a special service in the evening on Maundy Thursday, where the highlight is a foot-washing ceremony. Jesus’ instruction about loving each other comes after the part in John 13 where Jesus washed the disciples’ feet, so believers sometimes literally wash each other’s feet as a reminder. That hasn’t been a regular part of our tradition at West Vancouver Baptist Church - which is OK - it’s hard to follow every tradition that appears on church calendar! But whether we do the ceremony or not, it’s always healthy to remember Jesus’ example and instruction about being willing to serve each other and to put others ahead of ourselves. Few scenes in the gospel story help us to understand Jesus’ call to humility and service better than that amazing moment where He took the basin of water and lovingly scrubbed the feet of all the disciples (even Judas!).

As I’ve reflected on the last supper story again this past few weeks, I’ve found myself thinking about what a 21st century version of that foot-washing act might be. In today’s Vancouver, most of us wear shoes and socks and our feet stay pretty clean. We might remove our shoes when we come into someone’s house, but we don’t feel a particular need to peel off our socks and hose down our heels and toes. So it’s a bit of a foreign image for us. What might be a better contemporary cultural equivalent?  Here are a few possibilities:

  • Taking out the family trash and sorting the recycling and compost.
  • Scrubbing the baked-on mess in the pots from dinner.
  • Changing the baby’s diapers. (And washing the diapers if you don’t use disposables.)
  • Changing the oil in the car—if you do it yourself.
  • Picking up the doggy doo-doo from the grass in the back yard.

Maybe there are some other better examples, too. There are many things in life that none of us really like to do, that we’d rather have someone else do - and would require our servants to do if we had servants. Some are just unpleasant. Some also imply that the person who does this thing is at the bottom of the totem pole—an important person wouldn’t do this or that.

Of course, in our world, few of us have a staff of servants to do the lowly things around the house. So, the contemporary examples we come up with tend to be things that we still have to do from time to time, even though we don’t enjoy them. The trick is to imagine a task that none of us “normal” people would ever be expected to do, because it’s such a lowly act. Then we get the idea.  

In the end, it’s not the examples that really matter; it’s the attitude. Jesus is always most concerned about what’s in our hearts. So, He calls us to develop hearts full of humility and a love that is willing to serve others. He models that mindset by washing the disciples’ feet. Then He models it even more powerfully by giving His life for us on Good Friday. This whole weekend is not only a celebration of our salvation, but also a profound lesson in selflessness. Paul captures it well in the famous passage from Philippians 2:1-11, where he invites us to have the same mindset as Christ Jesus when we relate to each other. Jesus took on the form of a servant and humbled Himself even as far as death on a cross. That should be our model as we live together with one another.

Well, that’s a sermon in itself, and I don’t mean to turn these weekly news bits into sermons. So I’ll quit there. But hopefully, whether or not we think about “Maundy Thursday,” and whether or not we actually wash anyone’s feet, the example of Jesus will still be on our minds this week.

Speaking of sermons, this coming Easter Sunday, we’ll finish our short series on “Dinner with Jesus.” This week, we’re looking at the story of Jesus serving the disciples breakfast in Galilee, from John 21:1-22. We’ll focus on the first 15 verses, though the remainder will be familiar too. We sometimes separate this account from the rest of the Easter story, but we shouldn’t—it really is part of the Jesus-back-from-the-grave narrative in John. I think it will be a good way to reflect on Easter together this year. You can pray for me as I prepare, and especially for guests who may join us for the Easter service. Pray as well that those who join the Good Friday service will find it meaningful and enriching.

That’s my news for this morning. Again, have a blessed week, full of the joy of our Lord. It’s not Easter Sunday quite yet, but it’s still true:  He is risen!

—Pastor Ken