St Elisabeth’s Reddish
Maundy Thursday – Year C
Eucharist and Foot Washing
Exodus 12.1-14
John 13.1-17, 31b-35

Preached by The Revd Ian M Delinger on Thursday, April 5, 2007.
 

Tonight we come to recall the Institution of the Last Supper. The sharing of the Passover meal was central to the Jewish faith, recalling their escape from Egypt, led by Moses, which we heard in our first reading. This event was an important connection between the Old Testament prophecies and the role Jesus had to play and still does play in our salvation. For thousands of years, the Jewish people would gather on the Passover and sacrifice a lamb and share it with one another, remembering their freedom from slavery in Egypt under the Pharaoh. Additionally, the priests of the Temple would offer sacrifices for the sins of the people. The various animals that were sacrificed bore the sins of the giver of the animal, and the sacrifice earned God’s forgiveness.

During the Last Supper, Jesus told the Disciples of the offering of Himself as the Passover Lamb. Jesus was the sacrifice to end all sacrifices. No longer would people need to offer sacrifices in the Temple for the forgiveness of their sins. Because of the first Passover in Egypt, the Jews were no longer salves under Pharaoh. But because of Jesus’ sacrifice of Himself as the Passover Lamb, all people were no longer slaves to sin.

Jesus said to the Disciples: Take, eat. This is my body given for you. And He also said: This is my blood of the New Covenant shed for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins. They had no clue what He was on about. Amazing Grace. That’s what it was. Jesus gave to the Disciples and to us the amazing grace of Himself, sacrificed for our sins. And here we are 2,000 years later, still engaging with that amazing grace in our Eucharistic worship.

Tonight we celebrate Jesus’ Body and Blood in bread and wine. For the Disciples, and for their Jewish families and friends, it would have been a measured celebration, but a celebration nonetheless. We break out of the Lenten and Passiontide tradition of wearing purple or red, and we wear gold today, because it is a celebration! Christ is here among us in the breaking of the bread! We come to “feed on Christ in faith with thanksgiving,” thanksgiving that He gave us that amazing grace as Himself in this one meal…on the night before He was to die.


But Jesus’ words were confusing. What Jesus offered of Himself was not fully understood. I don’t think any of us fully understand it, either, and we have the hindsight of His Crucifixion and Resurrection. I don’t think we fully appreciate His releasing us from our “slavery to sin”, and we fail to really take on board “Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.” We need to fully understand “Just as I have loved you.” Jesus didn’t do all this because He had to. He did all this because He loves us! Jesus gave Himself to us in bread and wine, in Body broken and Blood shed because He loves us! And He washed the Disciples feet to underscore that, to say, “No, no, no…this is not about scoring brownie points with Me by washing My feet; this is not about proving loyalty…This is about emphasizing the fact that I am here for you, not the other way around. God the Father sent Me for your sake, not for Mine or for His.”

The Lord has promis’d good to me,
His word my hope secures;
He will my shield and portion be,
As long as life endures.

When you talk about why you come to church, when you tell your partner what St Elisabeth’s means to you, when you write the parish profile in search of a new vicar, what do you share? Fantastic building! Beautiful liturgy! Strong community! But do you share with your friends and neighbors, do you share with your partner, did you write in your parish profile, “We are a community bound together by the amazing grace given to us by Jesus Christ in the form of the Eucharist”?

Tonight we will spend over 3hrs gazing at the consecrated host in the monstrance, dwelling in the presence of Christ in the Sacrament as we keep watch in our own little “Garden of Gethsemane” in the Lady Chapel. Not all parishes do that. Not all parishes, not all Christians gather around the Sacrament to spend time with Jesus Christ! But at St Elisabeth’s you do! And why? Because you know the amazing grace that Christ offers to us in Himself in the Eucharist, the very Body and Blood that frees us from our slavery to sin. So, when you walk out of here, with your soul filled with that grace, your feet washed as a symbol of our common servanthood to one another, that is what you need to share with others.

The one thing you need to know when you leave here tonight, and every time you leave here, is that the Eucharist is Christ’s offering of Himself to us because He loves each and everyone of us! And that love, that grace, that freedom from sin is why you come. When people ask why you come, when your partner questions why you spend so much time here, when you find someone who just might want to be your next vicar, share with them a bit of that love, a bit of that grace, a bit of that freedom.

Tonight’s version of Amazing Grace comes from a part of the world where people still living know first hand about the need for freedom from slavery and about grace and love. So, as we listen to “The Soweto Gospel Choir” from South Africa, let us meditate on what tonight’s remembrance of the Last Supper and our own engagement with Christ in the Eucharist means for us.

[PLAY TRACK AFTER READING]

The foot washing took place during the playing of this track.