Maundy Thursday Homily 2007

Abbot Paul Stonham

The Washing of the Feet, Eastern European Fresco

"Never!" said Peter, "You shall never wash my feet." From that fateful day when, on the shores of Lake Tiberius, he first set eyes on Jesus, Peter had been irresistibly drawn to the carpenter's son. Something deep inside told him that this was the Messiah, God's chosen one, the One who was to save Israel, indeed all mankind, from their sins. And yet, throughout the time they had spent travelling together, he and the other disciples, first around Galilee, then through Samaria and so on to Judea and Jerusalem, three years during which they had seen and heard such wonderful things, he was often puzzled, sometimes scandalised, by what Jesus said and did.

Led by Jesus he had been pushed to the edge, for now he too ate with sinners and entered Gentile homes, and he had done the crazy things Jesus did, like praying all night in some deserted place or walking on water. He was one of the three who had climbed Mount Tabor with Jesus and there saw him transfigured. He had seen Moses and Elijah speaking with Jesus and from the cloud heard the Father's voice, "This is my Son, my Beloved. Listen to him." And he had heard the warning, "Tell no-one until the Son of Man is risen from the dead." The disciples had discussed among themselves what this "rising from the dead" could mean and they had heard Jesus repeat over and over again that he would be taken captive and suffer death. In fact, on one occasion, when Peter had remonstrated with Jesus, he got the curt reply, "Get thee behind me, Satan."

And now, after that gloriously triumphant entry into Jerusalem, here they were at supper together. He couldn't possibly imagine what was about to happen. To tell the truth, Peter had often been scandalised by Jesus, and tonight was no exception. "He had always loved those who were his own in the world, but now he showed them how perfect his love was." Peter had been scandalised precisely by that love, God's own love that went way beyond human reason or experience.

Jesus had removed his outer garment, poured water into a basin, wrapped a towel round his waist and was now washing the disciples' feet. "Lord, are you going to wash my feet?" Simon Peter asked. "You don't understand now, but you soon will," replied Jesus. "Never! You shall never wash my feet." Typical of Peter. Typical too his speedy acquiescence, "Then, Lord, not only my feet but my hands and my head as well." Peter always went over the top! Then came the explanation and talk of a new commandment, "I have given you an example that you might follow. Love one another as I have loved you."

All this, however, could not prepare Peter for what was to come later that night: the agony in the garden, the betrayal by Judas, the arrest, the trial, the crown of thorns, then next day the scourging, the way of the Cross, the Crucifixion between two criminals, the death and burial. The scandal of the washing of feet was nothing compared to the scandal of the Cross. And this time Peter couldn't take it and failed bitterly. When asked by a maid, "Are you one of his disciples?" he denied it, "I do not know him." In fact, he denied Jesus three times.

Much later St Paul would write in depth of the scandal of the Cross. Indeed, to this day the Cross remains a scandal and a stumbling block. There has been much debate on the matter this week on the radio and in the press. Some of you might have heard the Anglican Bishop of Liverpool's excellent thought for the day this morning. For Jews and Muslims, even for many Christians, it is inconceivable, unacceptable that God should become man in order to suffer at the hands of human beings and die as a criminal hanging from a cross.

And yet that is exactly what the Gospels tell us and this has been the faith of the Church from the beginning. St John explained it this way, "God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life." St Paul, writing to the Galatians, said, "May I never boast of anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world is crucified to me, and I to the world." In First Corinthians he writes, "The Jews demand signs and the Greeks desire wisdom, but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the Greeks, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, the power of God and the wisdom of God. For God's foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God's weakness is stronger than human strength."

When we celebrate Mass, it is Christ crucified whom we proclaim and Christ crucified whom we receive. We celebrate the scandal of the Cross, the sacrifice that takes away our sins. Through the Sacraments of the Church we are conformed to Christ and share in his Passion and Death, so as to share as well in the glory of the Resurrection. Like Christ himself, whose Body we are, we Christians too, in the world today, are a scandal and a stumbling block. As disciples of Jesus that is what we are called to be, men and women marked with the sign of the Cross, who take up their cross every day and follow him. Like Peter, from time to time we might go off the deep end and even deny knowing him when the going gets hard, but like Peter too we repent and come running to the Empty Tomb and proclaim, "Lord, you know that I love you."

Tonight we thank God our Father for the tremendous confidence he has placed in us, calling us, in Christ Jesus his Son and through the gift of the Holy Spirit, to be his beloved children. In washing our feet and in shedding his blood for us, Jesus has shown us the very depth of God's love, that "love which moves the heavens and all the stars", that love which has redeemed us and prepares us now for heaven. To him, the God of love, be glory and praise for ever. Amen.