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February 25, 2007
The Rejected Sacrament
Genesis 18: 1-8/John 13: 1-17
February 25th, 2007
Over the years I’ve thought of Jesus’ words in John 13 a lot. After washing His disciples’ feet on Maundy Thursday Jesus said, “If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. I have given you an example in order that you yourselves do also . . . if you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.”
And then, as if anticipating the reluctance future disciples would have Jesus said, “Truly, truly I say to you all, the servant is not greater than his lord, neither the one who is sent greater than the one who sent him.”
The word for “blessed” here is the same as in the Sermon on the Mount. We don’t know what to do with the Sermon on the Mount. “Blessed are the poor in spirit—no way; blessed are the meek—yeah really; blessed are the peacemakers—maybe sometimes.” Is it any wonder that a Christian should mull these strange teachings of Jesus? They are so counter to our instincts that they must be guidance to more heavenly living than comes natural. Following Jesus doesn’t come naturally.
We might say that when Jesus said “you ought” to do this it’s just a bit less than “DO IT.” “Ought” seems just a bit less emphatic than “DO IT.” What did Jesus mean when He said, “You ought to wash one another’s feet?” We don’t see a stern look in Jesus’ eyes as a rule.
In the Greek text the word for “ought” is the verb opheilo, which means: “owe, be obligated, or ought.”
I looked in my chubby Moulton and Geden’s Concordance to the Greek New Testament, fifth edition to see what kind of obligation is intended when this word is used elsewhere. I can’t mention them all because it appears thirty-five times in the New Testament. Thirteen of these are in the Gospels; two in John’s Gospel. The other place in John is in 19: 7, where Jesus’ Jewish antagonists say to Pilate, “We have a law, and by that law he ought to die because he has made Himself the Son of God.” In this case Jesus’ enemies wrongly quoted Scripture, but their intention is obvious. They wanted Jesus killed.
“Ought” means far more than a suggestion.
We use the word variously. For example I might say, “I ought to go to the store before a blizzard to make sure we have milk and bread.” In fact we use the word carelessly, reducing its meaning to whimsy, as in—“I ought to get a haircut.” But when I say, “I ought to show up at the court when I get a subpoena,” I mean if I don’t respond to a subpoena I will go to jail for contempt of court. This is a bit worse than running out of milk and bread.
Do you think we should wonder how serious Jesus was when He said we ought to wash one another’s feet? It’s not a heaven or hell kind of issue—since we’re saved by grace alone. But is it a fair question, “What did Jesus intend for us when He said this?” Does this matter?
What’s going on in our intentions when we put Jesus’ commands through a filter to screen out the real commands from the mere “good ideas?” All the segments of Christendom, except the Brethren and a few others in the Anabaptist tradition have filtered this command of Jesus out of consideration. The Roman Catholic Church, with its seven Sacraments does not include foot washing among them, although on Maundy Thursday the pope has a ceremony of washing the feet of twelve people in Rome.
What is a Sacrament? It’s not a term found in the Bible. The Church made up the term as it pondered Jesus’ array of commands.
In the Reformed heritage we say that Jesus’ specific command is the qualification for a Sacrament. So we celebrate the Lord’s Supper because He said, “Do this in remembrance of me.” And we celebrate Baptism because Jesus commanded that when we proclaim the Gospel we are to baptize those who respond in the name of the Holy Trinity—and preach obedience to all that Jesus commanded to do. But how do our two Sacraments differ from other commands Jesus made?
I noticed something in re-reading Donald Baillie’s wonderful little book on the Sacraments that there is one further qualification we Reformed Christians have regarding the Sacraments. They must not only be commanded by Jesus; they must also contain a promise. What is lacking in foot-washing is that there appears to be no promise included with the “ought” Jesus mentioned. For this reason foot-washing is not a Sacrament.
Yet, if we did this most demonstrative act to one another is there not at least an implied promise” “If you do this for one another you will cultivate a servant’s heart.” That’s a promise. If we reminded each other how central mutual service is to being a part of a Christian community is there not the implied promise of a community committed to serving one another?
And so God has given commands to us that, though not strictly speaking required, if we do them the church will be better for it—indeed, it will be what He intended. When we treat as optional “odd” commands Jesus made, well, see the kinds of people-difficulties we wrestle with in the Church.
There are commands Jesus made that we see as hints at the direction our thoughts should go. Are the Beatitudes commands? Well, not exactly. The Beatitudes, all those “Blessed are you ifs” are just hints to guide us against our natural inclinations. It is not my natural way to bless those who curse me. It is not my natural way to pray for those who use me despitefully. It is not my way to feel fortunate if I’m persecuted for a righteous act. So when I read, “Blessed are you if . . .” it wasn’t exactly a command. I don’t have to obey this kind of teaching. I’m just blessed if I do.
Then there is another category of Jesus’ commands that blends with common sense. Because of this we take these commands less like commands than like wise advice. Jesus said, later in this chapter from John’s Gospel, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
We don’t have to look too long or far to realize that we have set up other standards for being identified as Jesus’ disciples. When I was examined for ordination I don’t recall any inventory to see how thorough was my love for others. I was scrutinized by some on matters of doctrine. I was tested by others in terms of my knowledge of church government. I was tested to see if I knew enough about the Bible—in a very superficial way. And even more superficially I was checked out to see if I knew an aleph and an alpha from an eggplant—that is, if I was acquainted with the languages of Scripture. But never was I examined to see if I loved as Jesus said was the standard for recognizing His disciples.
A like omission is evident with regard to Jesus’ command to forgive. Peter asked how often he ought to forgive. As many as seven times? You know Jesus’ answer well. “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy times seven.” Regularly in our public praying together we repeat the Lord’s Prayer with its “and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.” We know that there is a stern emphasis Jesus gives to the command to forgive. “For if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your heavenly Father forgive your trespasses.”
You know how we take the commands to love as Jesus loved and to forgive. We take them as suggestions too demanding to be considered at face value. What we believe is more important to us than taking Jesus’ commands of this sort to heart in a way that reshapes character.
But back to foot-washing itself. Perhaps we may see what happened in our reading from Genesis as an anticipation and rationale for Jesus’ teaching concerning foot-washing. There is an understood law of hospitality among desert peoples. When strangers come to you, wandering through the inhospitable desert, treat them with hospitality. It just so happened that when Abraham celebrated the desert sacrament of hospitality he was entertaining God. One of the three men who came to Abraham he calls by the name of God, YHWH, or LORD—capital letters.
And who knows what place Abraham’s celebrating the sacrament of hospitality meant in the plan of God. It was at this time, as the LORD enjoyed Abraham’s hospitality along with the two men who were with him, who were actually angels, that the LORD told Abraham and Sarah that in the spring she would bear a son. I wonder what would have been the case if Abraham had not offered the desert sacrament of hospitality to the LORD. We don’t know.
Before Abraham knew the nature of his three guests, he obeyed this “optional” law, this virtuous custom that God put into the hearts of desert people that made the lot of the traveler more secure and removed the fear of the vulnerability of desert-travel.
My impression is that there may be a parallel between the desert sacrament of hospitality and Jesus’ command, or should we say “strong recommendation” to His disciples: Wash one another’s feet. In days when it was as gracious a thing to do as to offer someone a cool drink on a hot summer day in our time, gracious hosts washed the feet of their guests. What is parallel to this in our day? What would it mean to you if you discovered you’d washed Jesus’ feet unawares—out of sheer obedience?
I have thought of these matters in terms of the questions, “Why the Sacraments at all? Why do we celebrate The Lord’s Supper and Baptism?” There are some Protestant bodies that don’t do either one. The Quakers, for example, and until recently the Salvation Army had no Communion and no Baptism.
Donald Baillie remarks that many “intelligent and educated Christians are content with the more reasonable and rational elements in public worship, preaching and praying and the reading of Scripture and the expression of praise in musical form.” Performing the liturgical acts of breaking bread, pouring out wine, and pouring water of the head seem to be vestiges of earlier days when people believed in magic. Indeed, in some churches I have seen these two Sacraments administered very casually. They are treated not so much as sacred moments when God is uniquely obeyed, but as casual gestures reminiscent of what was once important.
Which of the commands that Jesus gave do you think we ought to obey? And why should we obey them? I shouldn’t leave you with questions, I suppose. But it has been the way of the Church, particularly since the Reformation to so emphasize grace that we don’t know how to handle the idea of commands. The commands that coordinate with our predispositions we take seriously. The commands that put a strain on our natural behavior we put into a different category. We interpret them oddly. I know that Jesus’ command to wash one another’s feet is treated as essentially a reminder on the virtue of serving one another.
But I leave you with the question: “Do you think that Jesus may have more than this in mind? And maybe if we took to heart this command as well as the imperatives to love as He loved, and to forgive multiple times, along with the Beatitudes as more than impossible norms, something more supernatural might seem to be at work in being a Christian, a follower of Jesus? Think on these things.
Let us pray: O Lord, we who are fragile hear you speak and we ask your grace to take you at your word, that we may be faithful followers of Jesus. In whose name we pray. Amen.
Pastor Stuart D. Robertson
Faith Presbyterian Church
West Lafayette, IN 47906
Posted by faithpres at February 25, 2007 10:33 AM