Sacred Conversations
John 13: 1-17, 31b-35
Now before the festival of the Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart from this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. The devil had already put it into the heart of Judas son of Simon Iscariot to betray him. And during supper Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going to God, got up from the table, took off his outer robe, and tied a towel around himself. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was tied around him. He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?” Jesus answered, “You do not know now what I am doing, but later you will understand.” Peter said to him, “You will never wash my feet.” Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no share with me.” Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!” Jesus said to him, “One who has bathed does not need to wash, except for the feet, but is entirely clean. And you are clean, though not all of you.” For he knew who was to betray him; for this reason he said, “Not all of you are clean.”
After he had washed their feet, had put on his robe, and had returned to the table, he said 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. Very truly, I tell you, servants are not greater than their master, nor are messengers greater than the one who sent them. If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them.
When he had gone out, Jesus said, “Now the Son of Man has been glorified, and God has been glorified in him. If God has been glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself and will glorify him at once. Little children, I am with you only a little longer. You will look for me; and as I said to the Jews so now I say to you, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come.’ 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.”
It has been my experience that some of the most sacred and profound conversations I’m invited into are those with someone who knows that they are about to die. Sometimes I’m invited to a hospital bedside, to a hospice bed, maybe a bedroom, maybe around a kitchen table. While the places may vary, I’m always cognizant of the fact that I’m standing on holy ground and that the conversation that I’m invited into is when things get really real.
It is in those times that people speak of the things that are the deepest. Sometimes it’s a reflection on their life. Sometimes it’s an expression of some regrets. What undergirds all those conversations is love. They speak of the things that are eternal, the lasting things, the enduring things, the things that make a life matter and give it meaning. It is sacred and holy ground and sacred and holy conversation.
On Maundy Thursday, we, too, are invited onto sacred ground and a holy conversation that Jesus has with his disciples, knowing that he will soon be crucified; knowing that one of them will betray him; knowing that one of them will deny him, not once, not twice, but three times. Knowing that virtually all of them, when he makes his way to Calvary and the cross, will desert him. Jesus knows these things, and this is his last meal and his last conversation with the disciples.
He speaks of the things that he wants them to remember when he is no longer physically present with them. And he speaks of love. He gives them a new commandment, a mandate from whence we get Maundy Thursday: to “love one another, just as I have loved you. So you also should love one another. By this, everyone will know that you are my disciples, that you love one another.”
On Maundy Thursday, we stand on holy ground. We are invited into a holy and sacred conversation and an invitation to live our lives modeling that of the One who sacrificed everything out of love. At the end of the farewell meal, Jesus prays to God that God will stay with the disciples and that they will be one and that their community will be known by its love. Jesus invites you and me to follow him. Knowing what that means, what will your answer be?
Blessings and in faith, Jan+
prayer
Almighty Father, whose dear Son, on the night before he suffered, instituted the Sacrament of his Body and Blood: Mercifully grant that we may receive it thankfully in remembrance of Jesus Christ our Lord, who in these holy mysteries gives us a pledge of eternal life; and who now lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
—Collect for Maundy Thursday, Book of Common Prayer page 221