The Maundy Thursday and Good Friday Homilies - April 18th-20th, 2019

Jesus Washes the Disciples's Feet

"Feet, feet feet!"

I.

Left foot,
 right foot,
  left foot,
   right...

Feet in the morning!
 Feet at night!

Left foot,
 left foot,
  left foot,
   right.

Wet foot, Dry foot.
 High foot, Low foot.

Front feet, Back feet.
 Red feet, Black feet.
  Left foot, Right foot.
   Feet, Feet, Feet.
    How many, many feet you meet.

Slow feet, Quick feet.
 Trick feet, Sick feet.
  Up feet, Down feet.
   Here come clown feet.
    Small feet, Big feet.
     Here come pig feet.
      His feet, Her feet.
       Fuzzy fur feet.

In the house,
 and on the street
  how many, many
   feet you meet.
    [The Foot Book by Dr. Seuss]

Some of you may recognize
 "The Foot Book" by Dr. Seuss.
  Maybe you've read it to your kids or grand kids before.

But never is it more important to think about
 than on a night like tonight.
  Because I'm about to ask you to do something uncomfortable:
   if you would please, take your shoes and socks off.

- pause - 

Now, look at your feet.
 How many places they have been?

Anybody have sock fuzz?
 I mean, I sure do.

Anybody uncomfortable right now?
 Wondering if others are looking at your feet?

Do you find yourself wondering what people may think of your feet?
 Do you worry that they are smelly from being stuck in a shoe?
  I wear boots when I work, and I guarantee you I think about that.

Now look at those feet again.
 And recognize, brothers and sisters.
  That God incarnate,
   Man Divine,
    Jesus Christ your Lord
     washes your feet tonight.

Jesus your Lord loves you so much
 that to demonstrate that self-less
  sacrificial love,
   he becomes a servant for your sake
    and stoops down to wash your feet
     to clean the dirt,
      the sock fuzz,
       the smell
        and to wash you through and through
         from all infirmity.

But many of us internally are probably like Peter.
 We look at Jesus, and think that God Almighty is not supposed to be a servant!
  God's not supposed to wash feet!
   "Lord you will never wash my feet!"

And yet, friends, if we are not washed, how can we be clean?
 If your Creator, the Most High God
  loves you enough to demonstrate that love by washing your feet,
   touching the dirty, muddy, fuzzy feet
    that we carry with us day in and day out,
     we are also are to do as God has done:
      we are to wash each other's feet.

Because, friends,
 servant-hood is not optional if you are a follower of Jesus Christ.

God came to show you true love,
 and that love looks like a servant washing someone's feet.

As we get ready to join with Our Lord in washing each other's feet,
 know:
  that Jesus has given you a new commandment, that you should love one another
   just as Jesus has first loved you.

And when you see your feet the way Jesus does,
 whether they be wet feet, dry feet,
  low feet, high feet,
   his feet, her feet,
    fuzzy fur feet,
     you will learn the Way of Love
      found in the Divine Servanthood
       of Your Creator who loves you.

Draw nigh, friends, and take off your shoes.
 For where you are standing is holy ground.

In the name of the +Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. 

The Crucifixion of Jesus Christ Icon

"Jesus Dies for Us"

II.

I pass onto you, friends, what was first passed on to me
 many many years ago
  by many faithful followers of Jesus, some now reposed in death:

That Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures
 and that he was buried
  and that he rose again the third day, according to the Scriptures.
  [I Corinthians 15:3-4]

One of the words we use to describe what Jesus did
 is called Atonement.

What Jesus Christ accomplished on the cross,
 what God incarnate, Man divine accomplished for us on the cross
  is the ultimate atonement for our lives
   which are caught in the snare of evil, sin, and death.

To atone for us means that Christ took on all of our weakness and death
 upon himself, the sinless and innocent victim
  and ascended the cross of Calvary
   to win a war that we could not win:
    the war against death itself.

And God through Jesus Christ accomplishes this ultimate act of sacrificial love
 through his own death on the cross.

So many questions come to our minds at this moment:

What does it mean for Jesus Christ,
 God incarnate,
  man divine,
   to die?

Why does God choose to accomplish our salvation in this way:
 through scourge
  and pain
   and brokenness
    and being hung by iron nails on a cross
     and to die an excruciatingly painful death?

Why do we have to look upon Christ
 in so much pain, and agony,
  tortured and killed
   when we desperately wish that Jesus could just send angels down
    to show his power and save himself?

Why,
 why,
  why this way, God?

I don't confess, friends, to be a terribly intelligent person.
 I'm not good enough with words to describe what many Christian theologians
  have said about what and how and why Jesus endured the cross.

But this one thing I know, dear ones.
 This one thing I know.

Jesus loves me, this I know,
 for the Bible tells me so.

This one thing I know friends,
 only one thing:

That God so loved the world
 that he gave his only begotten Son
  that whoever believes in him will not perish
   but will have eternal life.
    For God didn't send Jesus into the world to condemn the world
     but rather that the whole world may have life through him.
      [John 3:16-17]

This one thing I know brothers and sisters in Christ,
 this one thing I cling to until the day I die:

That God demonstrated so much love for us
 that even when we were still sinners
  Christ died for us.
  [Romans 5:8]

Jesus chose this end for you and for me.
 That we might be saved through his sacrifice of himself
  a fragrant offering unto God.

And that though sorrow may spend the night,
 unexpected, unimaginable, inconceivable
  joy
   awaits us
    shining from a soon to be
     empty tomb.

In the name of the +Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.