Maundy Thursday Sermon 2025

“Unless I wash you, you have no share with me” (John 13:8b). These words leap from the pages of Scripture as though daring me to remove my shoes and let Jesus wash my feet. But will I do it? 

Over the years, I have been both the celebrant at this service and a member of the congregation.  I have found that, depending on the church, people are often quite reticent about having their feet washed.  The whole idea is quite embarrassing for many of us.  Like Peter, our initial impulse is to say no: “You will never wash my feet” (verse 8). Yet that is what Jesus is asking us to do, to take off our shoes and let him wash our feet.  

John begins this story by inviting us to stand with Jesus during the most significant period in his life and ministry. In the first few verses of chapter 13, we learn that everything is changing, and Jesus is the only one who seems to know. Jesus knows, perceives, or is aware of the gravity of the moment and its implications for his life and for his disciples’ future. He is aware that his hour has come and that his ministerial journey in “this world” has come to an end. And he is confident that he has loved “his own” “to the end.”  

For years I thought that “to the end” meant to the end of Jesus’ physical life with his disciples.  Then I learnt that the phrase “to the end” in Greek is somewhat ambiguous. It can function as a description of time – how long Jesus loved his own. Or it can function as a description of how much Jesus loved his disciples.  Jesus loved them completely, wholeheartedly, irrefutably. In either case, John affirms that Jesus’ love was “without limit”.  We have come to know these disciples.  They are all flawed human beings.  In a few hours all of them will desert Jesus.  Despite all this, Jesus’ love for them is “without limit”.   

We, sitting here tonight, are Jesus’ disciples now.  We know ourselves to be flawed human beings who probably would run away, too.  Yet Jesus loves us “without limit”. 

Jesus loved his disciples to the end.  But Greek is a subtle language.  There are many different words for love.  John chooses the word for love that means action.  Jesus proved or exhibited his love through his actions.  Jesus proved his love for his own by engaging in concrete practices that transformed their lives in every way.  And he enacts a new one now – the washing of feet. 

Despite the backdrop of love, and betrayal, Jesus sits at table with his disciples for a final meal. Undeterred that the guests are already eating, Jesus leaves the table, removes his outer robe, ties a towel around his waist, pours water into a basin, and begins to wash his disciples’ feet and dry them with the towel. We don’t know if Peter was the first disciple Jesus approached or if he was simply the most reactive, but Peter will have none of it: “Lord, are you going to wash my feet? … you will never wash my feet”. 

Foot washing was an accepted and expected act of hospitality in ancient Palestine, towards guests whose feet were soiled from travelling the dusty roads of the villages and towns. The task was typically performed by servants in wealthier homes or by guests themselves in poorer homes. It was also common practice for servants to wash their masters’ feet or for students to wash their teachers’ feet. But protocol would not have supported a master washing his disciples’ feet.  

Peter’s objection, in other words, is not about foot washing per se, but about the fact that it is Jesus, his master, who is offering to wash his disciples’ feet. Not only does Peter view Jesus’ actions as a violation of protocol. He also views himself, and likely the others, as unworthy of such a great outpouring of love from the one they regard as Lord. And Peter was right: Jesus’ actions were improper. But he was also wrong: Peter’s awareness of the gravity of the situation was lacking, as was his understanding of the ritual’s significance as Jesus was doing it.  

In verses 8–11, Jesus reveals the significance of the ritual: “Unless I wash you, you have no share with me.”  In Greek the word “share” suggests division, portion, or piece, a reminder to Peter and the others that they are co-sharers with Jesus and, by implication, with one another. Now understanding what Jesus is doing, Peter offers Jesus his hands, feet, and head. And though Jesus gently chides Peter for going a bit overboard, he knows Peter finally gets it.  

Jesus also invites us to understand. “Do you know what I have done to you?” (verse 12). Jesus does not wash his disciples’ feet for the sake of instituting a new ritual. He is reminding us that a share with him includes following his example of sustained active love for one another and for the many others we will encounter along the way.  Now that his journey is ending, Jesus is inviting his co-sharers to live as an expression of his presence on the earth: To exemplify active love for one another, so that “everyone will know” we are his disciples. To embody his vision of ministry as our own and do the work necessary to bring that vision to fruition.  

On Maundy Thursday, we receive Jesus’ commandment anew: “Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.” May this be our prayer, our desire and our vision for our church as we move through this Easter season and beyond.