Maundy Thursday Sermon

An Ordinary Day
Maundy Thursday 2011

It was an ordinary day. Breakfast was being served. The man of the house was off to work. The woman of the house was off to a meeting. Then, the nanny storms down the stairs and announces she has had enough, the children have run away for the last time and she quits. (pause)

The opening song sung by Dick Van Dyke in Mary Poppins begins with “Winds in the east, mist coming in, like something is brewin’ about to begin” It was an ordinary day that would not stay that way. For the Banks family, the ordinary was about to change.

For the disciples, their world was about to turn upside down. These are the stories that we will tell together as we enter the Triduum. The Great Three Days. The disciples had no way to know what was brewin’. They had entered Jerusalem a few days before with Jesus. Then the crowds had dissipated. Jesus had been teaching in the temple. Life seemed ordinary. They were preparing for the Passover. John’s gospel takes place as the disciples were gathering with Jesus for an evening meal. An ordinary evening meal just before the Passover. But what would follow would seem to be anything but ordinary.

They were sharing a meal, but during dinner, Jesus got up and did something they did not expect. He took off his outer garment, took a towel and took a basin and filled it with water and began to wash their feet.

Footwashing in the first century was ordinary. Footwashing was customary. People walked everywhere. Their shoes were no more than leather tied to the bottom of their feet. Feet were dusty when it was dry and muddy when it was wet. There were usually pots of water and basins and towels at the door so people could wash their feet. But washing feet was one of the most menial tasks. Usually given to a servant or slave, it was not for the master. The holy is under the ordinary.

The meal was ordinary. An evening meal shared with friends. The disciples probably ate meals together more often than not. But we know that like the footwashing this ordinary event was changed as Jesus took the bread and the cup and made them symbols. Bread and wine, now made symbols to help them re-member their time together. The holy is under the ordinary.

How many ordinary acts do we experience in a day? We stand with Peter as he protests Jesus’ act. Peter protests as he can only see the ordinary. He could only see his teacher, his Lord washing his feet, a job for servants. He could not see that to receive Jesus’ act of hospitality and love was to be included into the days ahead. Peter could not see that he was participating in the holy.

Jesus comments that Peter does not understand what is happening, but that later he will. As Jesus finishes washing their feet, he puts on his robe and takes his place at the table with them. He tells them that he has set an example for them to follow. That if he as their Lord and master can serve them in this way, then they too should serve one another.

As the evening goes on Jesus leaves them with a commandment to love one another as he has loved them. A commandment that he has enacted in the footwashing. It is a commandment not to wash feet as we might see at the surface, but a commandment to seek the holy underneath the ordinary. To find the holiness in an everyday act. When the holiness is uncovered for all to see, people will undoubtedly know these are Jesus disciples, there is a difference in the action, the people will see acts done in love.

We are given this commandment as well. Today was probably an ordinary day for most. Got up, went to work, went through our daily routines, but tonight we have joined together to mark the beginning of Triduum.

We have come to remember, not a first century scene of dinner and footwashing, but to participate in it, to remember it here and now, and to be re-membered into it.
We are here to seek the holy beneath the ordinary.
To seek the holy in bread and wine,
to seek the holy in water and basin,
to seek the holy in handshakes and hugs
to seek the holy under the ordinary.

In the midst of the ordinary, how do we know what the holy looks like? In Mary Poppins it is seeing the woman on the steps of St Paul’s feeding the birds, it is in the tupins that Michael gives to his father, it is in the act of mending a kite and going to the park where father and son enjoy the afternoon. So what about our lives?

The holy lurks in conversation over a cup of coffee.
In reconnecting by phone with an old friend.
The holy waits for us in being church, hosting IHN, providing for those in need, providing meals for families who are sick and for families who mourn,
The holy is here at the table,
in the bread and in the cup,
it is in the basins and water
and in those who will wash feet.

As we enter the Great Three days, where might you find the Holy lurking? Where do you see the love of Christ that calls us into community, that calls us to be disciples, to love one another as we have been loved by Jesus. As we remember, reenact, and relive the stories over the next three days be looking, the holy is under the ordinary.