I declined an invitation to join a 10 pm conference call on Thursday. I told the chairman it was Maundy Thursday. He asked me “What is Maundy Thursday?”
Here I will provide a brief summary of what Christians remember about Christ every year on Maundy Thursday. Then I will discuss what it means for my engagement in politics.
The Gospel reading for Maundy Thursday is John 13: 1 – 17, usually headed “Jesus Washes His Disciples’ Feet.” This passage describes what happened at the passover meal. Verse 1 ends with “he now showed them the full extent of his love.”
The extent includes Christ, the God-man, submitting to the Romans and being horribly treated, humiliated and finally killed; in this post, I will focus on the foot washing.
In those times, homes had no bathrooms. If you were invited to a dinner, you would go to the public bath, have a good bath, anoint yourself and trudge on the dusty road to the dinner venue. When you arrived, the host would have a servant, or the lowest ranking person, ready to wash your feet. Then you would go sit on the floor with the rest of the party without dwelling on what others think of your dirty feet.
None of the guests would stoop to wash the feet of the others’; to do so would be to declare they considered themselves the least amongst those present.
Position was important: the guests would even be thinking about the order of seating at the meal. Who would be next to the Master? Who would be given the greatest honour? [At the meal, the places next to Christ were probably occupied by John and Judas.]
Christ had a splendid robe – a seamless one which may have had “tassels” signifying the wearer was a rabbi, a man to be treated with honour. Christ took off his classy robe and put on a towel, just like a slave. Christ went on to wash the feet of the disciples.
Christ did this to challenge the selfish ambitions of the disciples: we know (see Mark 9:34 and Luke 22:24) that while Christ was thinking of the last hours before his crucifixion, his hand-picked disciples were thinking about who would be greatest amongst them. They were thinking of greatness; he was thinking of servanthood.
Christians believe that Christ’s sacrifice obtained forgiveness and acceptance with God once and for all. Some ask why we constantly ask God for forgiveness – as we do in every service of worship. An answer can be provided by analogy.
When we recognize and submit to Christ as Lord, we are “bathed” and enter into relationship with Him. To remain in open, non self-conscious friendship with Him and others of His choice, we have to be constantly cleaned of the dirt we accumulate daily.
We declare that He, the generous host, recognizes our filth and concern. He comes to each of as Servant, to “wash our feet,” before we enter into His home to be refreshed.
When we repeatedly ask to be forgiven, we’re admitting all our feet are dirty AND cleaned by none other than Christ.
When we see other disciples, we should see Him washing their feet, just as He washes ours. We should also recall that like the twelve disciples, we do not know which disciple will betray the Master. [And, like Peter, we have to stop protesting and instead consent to being cleaned by the Servant-Master.]
“Maundy” is derived from the Latin root, mandatum, which means commandment.
The commandment is recorded in John 13: 14 “Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet.” And in John 13:34-35 “A new command I give to you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
As a Christian, I recognize all are made in the image of God. I recognize I am called to love and to encourage disciples of Christ. I recognize we have differing points of view. I recognize all are accepted in God’s family, and Christ, Lord of all, has made Himself Servant of all my fellow disciples.
As a human, I am called to recognize good and evil. As a Christian, I am called to treat people as blind and sick; and as sighted and recovering. As a church member, I recall that Christ does not check my party affiliation before washing my feet and inviting me in.
There is diversity amongst the disciples; some are more wrong than others.
Those who are willing to engage in passionate dialogue will have observed Maundy Thursday.
Whether they are rich or poor, educated or not, corrupted or not, the One who has invited them waits to wash their feet. He has issued a Law, and asks us to remind each other: “Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
How will Christians on both sides of the UMNO-BN divide engage each other about Sarawak, the Alkitab, Pembela and a host of other issues? Will we be passionate? Will we be respectful? Will we be indecisive? The world is watching.
Rama Ramanathan maintains the blog Rest Stop Thoughts
The Micah Mandate is a Christian-based public interest advocacy ministry that seeks a transformation of our nation through justice, mercy and humility.
