Sermons:
To Serve and Be Served John 13:1-17, 31b-35 Rev. Karen A. Goltz
Is There a Limit to God’s Grace? on Judas Iscariot, Matthew 26:14-16;
27:3-5;
Luke 22:3-6,
by Rev. Frank Schaefer
SURELY, NOT I?
, Mark 14:12-27,
by Rev. Rick Thompson
Something New,
John 13:1-17, 31b-35,
by Rev. Dr. David Rogne
Love
One Another, Serve One Another, John 13:1-17, 31b-35
with a suggested "hand-washing" rather than "foot-washing" ceremony
by Rev. Randy Quinn
-
Called to Love and Serve,
John 13:1-17, 31b-35
by Rev. Rick Thompson
-
A New Commandment, Holy Thursday, John 13:1-17, 31b-35
by Rev. Randy Quinn
-
Meals, Memories, and Mandates, Holy Thursday,
anonymous
-
Needing God's Help, A Holy Thursday devotion on Peter’s
Betrayall
by Rev. Frank Schaefer
-
He
never said a mumbalin' word, Luke 23:33-43, by Rev. Thomas
Hall
-
Washing One Another's Feet, John 13:1-17,
by Rev. Hose
-
Jesus
and Meals, John 13:1-17, 31b-35,by Pastor Moe
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To Serve and Be Served
based on John 13:1-17, 31b-35
Rev. Karen A. Goltz
It seems like such a noble calling, doesn’t it? “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.” We know we
fall short of showing that kind of love sometimes, but it seems like
for the most part we can take pride in the love we do show. Look at
all we do for others. Look at all we sacrifice in the name of Christ.
How many other things can we be doing at this moment, rather than
sitting in church on a Thursday night? Or on Sunday mornings? This
congregation right now is in a state of flux and turmoil. Look at all
you’re doing just to keep it going, to move forward, to continue to be
church. Surely that’s the kind of love that Jesus was talking about!
And you’re right. It is. There’s a lot of self-sacrifice going on here
in the name of Christ. There are a lot of you taking on the role of
servant, ready to wash the feet of your fellow disciples, just as
Christ said you should.
But how many of you are willing to have your own feet washed?
That seems like a much less noble calling, doesn’t it? Sure, it’s easy
to accept the humiliation of serving, because we know it’s better to
give than to receive, and we know that Christ calls us to serve one
another. So we can be the noble servant. But how easy is it to accept
the humiliation of being served? What do we tell ourselves then? How
can we feel noble when we’re watching someone humiliate themselves for
our sake, doing something for us that we’re perfectly capable of doing
for ourselves? After all, Jesus never had his feet washed, did he?
Actually, he did. In the seventh chapter of Luke’s gospel, we hear
this story: One of the Pharisees asked Jesus to eat with him, and he
went into the Pharisee’s house and took his place at the table. And a
woman in the city, who was a sinner, having learned that he was eating
in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster jar of ointment. She
stood behind him at his feet, weeping, and began to bathe his feet
with her tears and to dry them with her hair. Then she continued
kissing his feet and anointing them with the ointment. [Luke 7:36-38]
It’s bad enough imagining someone kneeling down in front of you with a
basin, putting their hands on your feet, bathing them with clean
water, and then drying them with a towel. Some of you may have
experienced foot washing services in the past where you did exactly
that, perhaps just before or just after doing the same for someone
else. But how comfortable would you feel if the person next to you, or
worse yet, someone you didn’t even know, knelt down before you and
began to weep and cry, their tears dripping on your feet, feet that
you didn’t wash yourself in preparation, and then dried your feet with
their hair. And then they began kissing your feet and rubbing oil on
them! If that had been part of the service tonight, how many of you
would have had someplace else more important to be? [continue]
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