“You do not know now what I am doing, but later you will understand.”  Life happens, and we wonder what God is up to.  What is He thinking?  There is so much we do not know, do not understand, with our human limitations, not the least of which is the sin that still clings to us, clouding our sight, clouding our thoughts, clouding our will, clouding our hearts.  We can take heart, however in what we do know: whatever God may be doing, the result is our salvation.  Whatever times and events God may lead us through, He is with us.  He is with us because He loves us; He wants us to live and know His love: the beauty, depth, and purity of His love for us.  He will bless us with His own divine joy, His own divine peace.

Jesus knows more than he tells his disciples.  He does not tell them everything.  He tells them what they need to know for what they are to do, for how he has called them to live on this earth.  Learning happens best when we are able to do one thing at least somewhat well before moving on to the next thing.  I wouldn’t want to go to multiplication without knowing addition.  I certainly would not want to go to division without knowing subtraction.  We cannot read if we do not know our alphabet and the sounds of the letters.  Get the site prepared, get the foundation laid, and then start building the structure.  Preparation can take a long time.

These are ways to speak about spiritual matters, about our education in discipleship.  Jesus knows, and we do not know.  Life happens, and we wonder what God is up to.  We are learning.  We will understand, later.

We are here tonight remembering that Jesus’ hour was coming: the fulfillment of his purpose on this earth.  We are feeling ready for Easter—eager for it!—but we aren’t there, yet.  Neither we, nor Jesus, get there without being here.  Jesus came into the world for his own who were in the world.  He came to his own to tell them, to show them, to teach them his love for them, the Father’s love for them, God’s love for us, broad and deep, deeper than we know, though we are learning.  Jesus will demonstrate that love, see it through right to the end, to the finish, never wavering, never faltering.  Beloved, he is our rock, indeed.

“The devil had already put it into the heart of Judas son of Simon Iscariot to betray” Jesus.  What has the devil put in your heart?  Doubt?  Greed?  Anger?  Grief?  Lust?  Envy?  Fear?  Such feelings, such cravings, do not come from God!  Let’s recognize these things for what they are: temptations.  The most terrible temptation is not the temptation to do wrong.  The most terrible temptation is to fear.  Even Jesus had to deal with that temptation: he was tempted, just as each of us is tempted; only Jesus did not sin, did not give himself to fear, doubt, or any of the rest.  He gave himself to God.  He prayed.  People wonder about prayer.  What is prayer?  Prayer is giving ourselves to God, putting our lives in His hands, trusting that He is lovingly preparing us for eternal life.  Reading the Gospel accounts, we learn that Jesus prays, often.  He prayed in faith, trusting that his Father was with him.  God is with us and in us to deal with our fears, our doubts, our faltering and failings.  God’s love is active, engaged, and transforming—grace, amazing grace.

The change that God works in us in Jesus Christ, through the power of the Holy Spirit, can surprise us: God comes to us in humility, to serve, to give an example.  John was shocked, moved, broken, seeing Jesus wash the disciples’ feet, watching, hearing, and feeling as Jesus washed John’s feet.  Did Jesus wash the feet of Judas, too?  Jesus knows, remember.  Did he wash Judas’ feet?  What does your heart tell you?  Humble, loving, service, not putting himself ahead of others but placing himself at the service of others, even those who do not love him, even those who betray him.  Foolishness?  Or love beyond the limitations of our imagination?

People can be funny about their feet.  Embarrassed.  Feet aren’t especially lovely, yet we cannot stand, walk, or run a race without them.  Peter is not eager to have Jesus get anywhere near his feet.  I can just imagine those feet: gnarly.  “You will never wash my feet.”  Peter doesn’t know, now, but later he will understand, and I’m confident that he did, just as the other ten also came to understand.  What Jesus does for them really isn’t about feet.

We are baptized.  We have been washed, in Christ, by Christ.  We were cleansed.  We don’t walk perfectly.  We stumble.  We make detours; we get into the mud.  None of these detours is pretty; some are quite ugly.  We need forgiveness, mercy, grace; we need that assurance that peace has been made in heaven.  We need the touch of Jesus to cause us to stand.  We need the help of Jesus to walk.  We need Christ’s encouragement to run this race.

Even as we walk on the way, our feet get dusty: the world touches us.  The journey is difficult, demanding, long, tiring.  It is good to stop, to rest, to be refreshed, to wash off the dust of the journey.  It is good to eat, to drink, and have the joy of the company of friends.

This is the example Jesus gives us, shows us.  Here, tonight, by this bread and by this wine and juice, he refreshes us, washes off the dust of the journey; gives us a taste of the joy of salvation, the joy of our destination.  Here, he touches us.  Here, he helps us.  Here, he encourages us.  Christ offers himself to you, here, because you matter to him.  Here, he positively commands us to offer these same blessings to one another.  In Christ, we matter to one another.  Jesus calls us to be his Church: where the weary are refreshed, where the dusty may be washed, where there is rest and comfort, help and encouragement, where there is supply for our need on this journey.  We must continue, keep on; we do not continue alone: we have one another, and we have Jesus Christ, with us, in us, for us by the Spirit, by the Word, by this Sacrament.

“If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them.”

Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!