This week we are walking with Jesus and his
disciples through his last few days on his way to the cross. The journey to the
cross is difficult to understand and to accept. We know that the people of
Jerusalem at Jesus’ entrance into the city of Jerusalem were hailing him as
their king. Now just a few days later they have turned against him. They are
now prepared to reject him as their king, because he didn’t turn our to be the
kind of king they wanted. They want a
Messiah who will overthrow Rome and restore their political power in the world.
Their desires are much too small!
Even
the disciples, those who are closest to him, don’t understand the kind of king,
the kind of Messiah he is. How could
they? They, too, are concerned about worldly greatness and power.
They each
want to be the greatest in Jesus’ kingdom and they argue about it amongst
themselves. Mark’s gospel describes what
Jesus has been dealing with as he has been preparing the disciples for the
final journey to Jerusalem. It says in
chapter 9:31-37, “Jesus was teaching his disciples, saying to them, ‘The Son of
Man is to be betrayed into human hands, and they will kill him, and three days
after being killed, he will rise again.’ But they did not understand what he
was saying and were afraid to ask him. Then they came to Capernaum; and when he
was in the house he asked them, ‘What were you arguing about on the way?’ But
they were silent, for on the way they had argued with one another who was the
greatest.” So what was Jesus’ reply to them? “He sat down, called the twelve,
and said to them, ‘Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of
all. Then he took a little child and put it among them; and taking it in his
arms, he said to them, ‘Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me,
and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me.’”
This
is what greatness is. Greatness is humility and love. It is caring for the little
ones, the poor ones, and the weak ones. Children are not the ones who will help
you achieve power or wealth. The poor are not the ones who can pull strings for
you to help you get what you want. The
weak are not the ones who can give you a leg up in life. These are not people
who can be useful to you. Jesus says when you care about the little people of
the world and welcome them, you are welcoming him and his Father. Taking the
little child in his arms was a demonstration of what the kingdom of heaven, the
kingdom of God, is all about. This is Jesus’ kingdom. Even so, the disciples
still did not understand.
In
the next chapter of Mark, chapter 10, Jesus and his disciples are now on the
road to Jerusalem where Jesus will enter the city for the last time. Hear what
happens on the road. “Jesus took the twelve aside again and began to tell them
what was to happen to him, saying, ‘See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the
Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they
will condemn him to death; then they will hand him over to the Gentiles; they
will mock him, and spit upon him, and flog him, and kill him; and after three
days he will rise again.’ James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came forward to
him and said to him, “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of
you.’ And he said to them, ‘What is it you want me to do for you?’ And they
said to him, ‘Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and at your left, in your
glory.’ But Jesus said to them, ‘You do not know what you are asking. Are you
able to drink the cup that I drink, or be baptized with the baptism that I am
baptized with?’ They replied, ‘We are able.’ Then Jesus said to them, ‘The cup
that I drink you will drink; and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you
will be baptized; but to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to
grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared.’ When the ten heard
this, they began to be angry with James and John. So Jesus called them and said
to them, “ You know that among the Gentiles those whom they recognize as their
rulers lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them. But it is
not so among you; but whoever wishes to become great among you must be your
servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all. For the
Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom
for many.’”
So
now we have come to this Thursday evening during the Feast of Passover, the
last evening before Jesus will be betrayed and handed over to those in
religious and political power. All that he has been telling the disciples will
happen is going to happen. Jesus knows that out of fear and uncertainty and
misunderstanding about what is to come, the disciples have been jockeying for
positions of power. They are becoming
self-protective. They are jealous of each other and arguing a lot, taking Jesus
aside and asking for favors. They are not being humble and loving towards each
other. Yet these are his dearly loved ones, the ones who will carry on Jesus’
work, and who will bear his message into the world.
This
final night Jesus explains one last time what his kingdom is all about. Again
he teaches them that the greatest is the one who is servant of all. This time
he demonstrates for them what he means. He does what the lowliest slave of the
household would do. He takes off his robe, wraps a towel around himself and washes
the disciples feet. And when he has
finished he says to them, “Do you know what I have done to you? You call me
Teacher and Lord—and you are right, for that is what I am. So if I, your Lord
and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.
For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you.”
By assuming the position of a slave, Jesus teaches his disciples by example
that they are to be humble servants of one another. The greatest of all is servant of all. They
must put aside all imaginings of worldly greatness, all competitiveness with
one another, unless it is to “outdo one another in love” as St. Paul says.
On
this night of the Passover Jesus does something else of even greater
significance. At the Passover meal the
Jews commemorate when God remembered his covenant with Abraham, Isaac and
Jacob, and brought the children of Israel out of bondage in Egypt. On this
night Jesus institutes a New Covenant that is the sign of his kingdom. It is a
covenant of love, ratified with his own blood as he offers himself as the one
and only sacrifice that pays the price of ransom for our sins. We are set free
from another kind of bondage, our bondage to sin and death. From this bondage
we can only be set free by the one who is able to be the perfect sacrifice for
the whole world. It is the greatest demonstration of humility and love, so
great that it breaks the power of sin and death. Through drinking the cup of
his blood poured out for you, and eating the bread of his body broken for you,
with faith, God allows us to be participants in Jesus’ sacrifice, that we might
be raised with him in his resurrection. The bread and the wine become signs of
God’s love that he has show to us through Jesus.
Tonight
is called Maundy Thursday because it is the night Jesus gave us a new
commandment. The word Maundy comes from the Latin word for commandment,
“mandatum.” The commandment is what Jesus says to his disciples in John 13:34.
He says, “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I
have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know
that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” But love is not
just thinking nice thoughts about people. Love is shown through actions. So on
this night Jesus demonstrates for us that in his kingdom the greatest of all is
the one who is servant of all. As he has
demonstrated his humility and love for us through doing the work of slave, so
we must serve one another in love. And
the greatest love of all is when Jesus lays down his life for his disciples,
and for us, and for the whole world. There is no greater love than this. And so
he gives us a sign and a remembrance of this New Covenant of love. He gives us
the bread of his body broken for us, and the new covenant in his blood shed for
us, that we might become participants and sharers in his eternal and loving
kingdom.