Homily, Jesus Washed Judas’ Feet
Maundy Thursday, Year B, 2024
Good Shepherd Episcopal Church
Tequesta, FL
The Rev. Derek M Larson, TSSF
Today’s Lectionary Readings:
In the name of God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.
There’s a beautiful fountain at the center of my alma mater’s campus, Southeastern University in Lakeland, FL. It has a large circular pool that’s filled with water that cascades down these steps which lead up to a statue of Jesus washing the feet of Peter. I think it’s official name is the Divine Servant, though we all just called it the Jesus Fountain, and it was intentionally placed in the center of campus to instill within the school community the idea of servant leadership. If we want to be leaders in the world, we have to be willing to get down on our hands and knees to serve others.
For the years we attended Southeastern, we passed by the fountain almost every day. Many scheduled functions throughout the year met there at the fountain. It was a certain stop on tours for prospective students. And often we, students, found ourselves spending time there, sitting on the benches that surrounded it.
On the path which circles the fountain are the names of the twelve disciples, Peter, Andrew, James the Greater, James the Lesser, John, Thomas, Bartholomew, Philip, Simon, Thaddaeus, Matthew, and…Judas. Yes, Judas, the one who betrayed Jesus to his death was permanently marked in pavement in the center of our Christian campus at the foot of the Jesus Fountain.
I’m told there was a debate about whether to include his name. He had, after all, not only rejected the Son of God with a backstabbing kiss, but he was replaced by the disciples in Acts 1 with another man, Matthias, to be an apostle. In fact, just recently Fr. Groff, Merike, and I were in Houston for an Episcopal Church conference and we toured St. Martin’s Episcopal Church, which has the most members of any Episcopal Church in the world, and saw that their stained glass depictions of the twelve apostles, included not Judas, but Matthias. Judas has never been recognized as a saint in the mainstream church, and thus he is often forgotten about. But there at the foot of the Jesus Fountain was etched his name. And why?
Because Jesus washed Judas’ feet too.
We see this in our gospel passage today where it specifically prefaces the story of Jesus washing the disciples feet with a sentence about Judas’ heart already being corrupted. And just to make sure the reader hasn’t missed this, in verse eleven it specifically states that not only was there a betrayer among them, but Jesus knew it. And yet, Jesus washed Judas’ feet.
As you might imagine, scholars have wrestled with this. Many have tried to say Jesus did not wash Judas’ feet. In fact, some have pointed to a variance in the early manuscripts of a single Greek letter in verse two which could potentially move the washing of feet to after supper instead of during supper, and thus after Judas had left (Genomenou means the supper was being ended, ginomenou means the supper was still in progress. There are early manuscripts which use each.). But in reality, even with the difference of a letter, the narrative seems to go out of its way to include Judas, even so that in verse twenty-six, he is given bread from the table directly from the very hands of Jesus. Jesus washed Judas’ feet. And that makes us uncomfortable.
I imagine it made Jesus uncomfortable. What may have gone through his mind kneeling before Judas? I wonder if his hands shook a little as he touched his feet. I wonder if a little sweat dripped from his brow upon Judas’ dusty toes. It’s one thing to wash the feet of your beloved and trusted friends, but it’s another to wash the feet of the one who will turn you over to death. And yet, Jesus washed Judas’ feet.
What does that mean? What does that teach us?
As Jesus stood up slowly from the floor to put away the wash basin and put his robe back on, he began to speak to the disciples, “I give you a new commandment: love one another. Just as I have loved you: love one another.”
For Jesus, love has nothing to do with being deserving. Love has nothing to do with worthiness. Jesus does not say, love those who treat you well. He simply says to love one another. And Jesus, even knowing that Judas would condemn him to death, never stopped loving him.
I wonder whose feet Jesus is calling us to wash today. I wonder who Jesus is calling us to share a table with, that we would rather keep at a distance.
Years ago when my son Barret was just a baby, I brought him to the Maundy Thursday service. And when the time came to wash feet I came forward and gently held him over the basin and washed his feet. And as I did you could hear the simultaneous intake of breath from the congregation as they watched, mesmerized by the sweetness of the moment. I still have a picture of it and it was a moving experience. But that is not quite what this passage is about.
Barret is easy to love, but this passage is about washing the feet of those who may be hard to love. This passage is about making space at the table for those who we may even consider to be our enemies. What does it look like to love those with whom we are at odds? What does it look like to serve those whom we believe to be causing harm in the world?
That’s not to say we ignore injustice or that we tolerate abuse, but a person’s deeds are never prerequisites to receiving love. A person’s deeds may have certain consequences, but withholding love should never be one of them.
Much like Jesus’ day, we live in a polarized and violent world that pits us against one another. And however easy it would be to stand in our corners, Jesus is calling us to wash one another’s feet. To love one another. To serve one another. Regarding not whether the other deserves it.
Who is Jesus calling you to share a table with today? Who is Jesus calling you to love today? Who is Jesus calling you to serve today?
Jesus washed Judas’ feet. Whose feet is Jesus calling you to wash? Amen.
Thoughts on Faith 