BACKTRACKING TO 'GOOD' FRIDAY, lesson 2

BACKTRACKING TO ‘GOOD’ FRIDAY, lesson 2
AKA - at least for me - as ‘BLACK’ FRIDAY (6 p m 'Thursday' - 6 p m Friday)
LESSON 2: JESUS WASHES THE DISCIPLES FEET
April 9, 2010

Reading for today:
John 13:1-17

I found a suggested order for the Passover Meal online. It is purported to be a likely order for what Jesus and his disciples did in their commemoration of this remembrance on that night – which is identified as ‘The Last Supper’:

1. The head of the group – in this case, Yeshua, opens with prayer
2. He fills/gives the 1st cup of wine for everyone in the company to drink
3. He washes his hands. This is where it is believed Yeshua washed his disciples’ feet.
4. Then he dips some of the bitter herbs into a bowl of salt water or vinegar and speaks a blessing, eats some of the herbs, and passes dipped herbs on to the others
5. He breaks the unleavened bread in half, reserving half to be eaten after the supper – the ‘after dish’
6. He fills the 2nd cup of wine and the youngest in the company (John) is instructed to ask questions about the significance of the Passover
7. Psalm 113 and Psalm 114 are sung
8. The 3rd cup of wine is filled, followed by prayer, and they all drink the cup
9. Everyone washes his hands
10. Supper begins by eating the unleavened bread and bitter herbs and the lamb. Everyone in the group must eat at least an olive-sized portion of the lamb. All of the lamb is to be consumed or destroyed. No bones of the lamb are to be broken
11. The ‘after dish’ of the bread broken earlier is eaten. It is believed that this is where Yeshua said, “Take, eat; this is my body.”
12. The 4th cup of wine is poured – this is the point when Yeshua told them to drink all of it, this was his blood.
13. They concluded with hymns and prayers. Psalms 115-118 and the Great Hallel, Psalm 136


It is only a suggested order – but it helps give me a picture for the framework within which Jesus conveyed the message of his New Covenant to his disciples – and provided us a model of being a leader/servant.

John is the only one who tells us this story – but he was there. Jesus – the master, washed his disciples’ feet. Foot washing was common in their day – but it was done by a servant. As guests came into a home, one of the servants would wash the guest’s feet. It was simple, common courtesy.

When the disciples came in that evening, it would have been absolutely plausible that one of them might have taken that role – might have washed the feet of the others – but none of them chose to ‘become a servant’ to his brothers. So, that normal courtesy was not offered. Jesus chose this moment as a teaching opportunity. He washed their feet. He, who was not just their Master, their Rabbi, their Teacher – but God – washed their feet, dried them, demonstrated his total servant-character to them. John says, “…he now showed them the full extent of his love.”

When Jesus got to Peter, Peter objected. Most likely because he felt enormous guilt that he had not offered this simple courtesy. Well – I’m conjecturing – the Bible doesn’t tell us – but it is clear from later discussion that very evening that the motley crew Jesus had called to be his disciples – those who would become the grass-roots movement for what would eventually be termed ‘Christianity’ – didn’t have their heads in the right place yet. They were competing for place –and Jesus modeled being the lowliest servant in the household.

And – in the act that is most humbling of all, he washed Judas Iscariot’s feet. Judas already knew he was going to betray Jesus, but he was still there, and along with all the rest Judas’ feet were washed. Jesus even addressed that in the comments he made in teaching them about being servant-leaders. ‘For he knew who was going to betray him.’

Jesus was a clear proponent of teaching us not to think more highly of ourselves than we ought. He never taught it more clearly than here – in washing the feet of those who should have been washing his…including the feet of his enemy.

Then he put his clothes back on and returned to his place – his own feet still not washed – and told them “You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you should also wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. I tell you the truth, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.”

Servant-leadership personified. Absolutely humbling. And he would say, ‘Go and do likewise.’

This one is for Genny:

REVISITED
by Lola Cain

Faint whisperings hover near my ear and o’er my shoulder drift;
Sifting through memories . . . filtering . . .
Memory wafting to the surface of the present,
rearranging echoes of what has gone before.

Past seems so final and over, yet in the present
what was is once more and is not past as I’d supposed.
Connected to the present, piercing now with then,
I find remembering enhanced and changed,
altered with new exposure, new thought.

So – it’s true that new words must be crafted,
arranged and said to fit that which forever changes:
that which connects our changing
pastness with our ever-changing present.


Written 2005