Exodus 12:1-14
Psalm 116:1, 10-17
1 Corinthians 11:23-26
John 13:1-17, 31b-35
This sermon was preached at Christ Episcopal Church in Eureka CA on April 14, 2022
Last month, I spent a day hiking the Headwaters Forest Trail, a 5 ½ mile trail along the Elk River that winds up into an old-growth redwood grove. The trail was recommended to me (by the Gossards, the Prices, and Betty Chinn) when I first moved here 4 years ago. Now I believe any hike or saunter in the forest can be a spiritual experience, but it’s hard for me to imagine anyone hiking the Headwaters Forest Trail without it being a spiritual experience. No matter how hardcore of an atheist or reductionist you might be, you will likely experience some form of transcendence among the trees. I highly recommend it.
As I was descending from the top of the trail to hike another 5 ½ miles back to the trailhead, my body began to inform me that I was not wearing the best hiking shoes and socks because the bottoms of my feet were exploding with a burning sensation at every single step I took. As that heat in my feet increased, I started to hear the burbling sounds of the Elk River below as it flowed underneath the 3-mile bridge, which I was approaching. So, I promised my distressed feet that I would plunge them into that river as soon as I got down to the bridge, no matter how cold the water might be. And when I arrived at the bridge and maneuvered my way underneath it, I removed my shoes and socks and plunged my red, hot feet into the frigid water, and it felt a-mazing! When my feet became too numb from the cold, I would take them out for a few moments and then plunge them right back in and then I started to massage them a bit. As I did this, I began appreciating all the hard work that our feet do for us, all the heavy burdens they bear every day. Our feet bear the weight of our entire body every time we stand; and when we walk or run or carry extra weight, they bear between two to five times our body weight! Our feet deserve our deepest gratitude and love and respect and care. I know that I take my feet for granted far too often and I’m trying to make a more regular habit of simply touching my feet and saying, “Thank you.” And that is exactly what we are doing on this Maundy Thursday because that is what Jesus did for his disciples, who spent a lot of time walking. Jesus knew how much we take our feet for granted and how much they bear for us. So, I invite you to show some love and gratitude to your feet tonight by letting someone wash them, just as the disciples let Jesus wash their feet. And you can help others appreciate their feet by washing them.
Our feet function as a powerful metaphor for all those who bear burdens in our lives and in our world. In Galatians, Paul says that we fulfill the law of Christ by bearing one another’s burdens (Galatians 6:2). Who helps you bear your burdens in life? Is it your friends who offer you a listening ear and an empathetic heart? Your family? Your church family? The Christ Church Prayer Circle members who pray for you? Whoever it is, I urge you to fulfill the new commandment, the new mandatum of Christ which is to love one another by expressing love and gratitude to those who help you bear your burdens, those who help bear the burdens of extreme suffering in our town and in our world, those whom we so easily take for granted. This is partly why today we collect an offering for the Betty Kwan Chinn Homeless Foundation because Betty and the people who work with her bear so many of the heavy social burdens that we face in Eureka and Humboldt County, which is a rural area with urban problems. This is also we are collecting new socks for Betty Chinn’s ministry, for our siblings who live on the streets who might have only one pair of socks for their feet that bear so much.
The reading from the Hebrew Scripture today includes a description of the Passover Lamb. Many of our Jewish siblings are celebrating Passover Seder tomorrow night, which is our Good Friday; and the Passover Lamb is the symbol of our parish (Christ Church). It’s our parish symbol because it represents Christ the Lamb of God who bears the burdens and the blame for all our sins. By washing his disciples’ feet, Christ calls us to pay attention to and to express love and gratitude for all the burden bearers in our lives; and the most important burden bearer of all is Christ himself, who bore the unbearable weight of all sin and suffering to the point of death, even death on a cross. Just as the ancient Hebrew families enjoyed a delicious Lamb dinner while the spirits of death passed over their doors (a dinner that our Jewish siblings will commemorate tomorrow night) so too does Christ offer us spiritual nourishment in the Supper of the Lamb (the Holy Eucharist), in exchange for bearing the weight of our sin. We give Christ the burden of our sins and he gives us a meal. While we experience the foot washing this evening, may we also experience the washing and nourishment of the life-giving blood of the Lamb who bears our burdens, much like our feet, and who ultimately bears the sin of the world. Amen.
DANIEL DeFOREST LONDON 