HOLY WEEK | TOWELS
During supper Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going to God, got up from the table, took off his outer robe and tied a towel around himself.” John 13:2b-4
I turned the corner, headed to the elevator with my luggage, when I noticed the housekeeper’s cart in the hall. Large, cumbersome, stacked with little soaps, shampoo bottles, coffee supplies, linens, towels — and Bibles. There tucked between the towels was the Word of the Lord… I thought about the people pushing those carts up and down the hallways, cleaning others’ toilets, doing physical work for not much pay — individuals with names and stories. Many, no doubt, fellow disciples who knew intimately and daily what it feels like to pick up a towel and serve. Perhaps that is why Jesus says the last will be first.
Jesus, during the last meal with his closest friends, with hours left of his earthly life, takes a towel, gets on his knees, and washes the disciples’ feet, even the disciples who will soon betray him. The Word and the towel, together, inextricable, in Jesus — and, Jesus says, in us. Maundy Thursday means that followers of Jesus serve. We are servants, servants of the Lord of all, who willingly ate with sinners, touched lepers, welcomed children, and washed feet.
Nothing is beneath us when Jesus is the rock upon which we stand. No one is “less than,” because Jesus died for all. If we do not put the Word alongside the towel and take them both door to door, house to house, town to town, to the ends of the earth, we are failing to follow Jesus. If we forget that those who push heavy carts down long hallways or wake up before dawn to pick up trash or get on their knees to scrub floors or carefully wash the feet of the sick for very little pay, if we forget that they have names and stories, we fail to follow the One who not only knows them by name, but numbers the hairs on their heads.
On this Maundy Thursday, pick up a towel — you can find it right alongside the Word of our Lord — and get moving.
Questions for reflection:
When have you served someone in a physical way, fed someone or washed someone? Who was it? Has anyone served you in a physical way? What was that like for you?
What might it look like to serve someone amidst the limitations of this pandemic moment?
Today, every time you use a towel, be reminded of Jesus’ instruction to wash others’ feet.
Servant Lord, on this day we remember your meal with your friends, your words of teaching, and your act of tender love. You, Lord of all, humble yourself and wash the feet of friend and betrayer and friend alike. You hold back nothing for our sake and we are awed by your grace. We seek only to be more and more like you each day, taking up a towel and sharing your Word, so that through our love the world will know that we follow you. Amen.
Thank you you for journeying through Lent with us. And thanks to Jill J. Duffield for allowing us to adapt from her book, Lent in Plain Sight: A Devotion Through Ten Objects.
