"Dirty Jobs" by John Fitzgerald
"A Deeper Love" by Keith Wagner
"A Pledge of Dedication and Service" by Keith Wagner
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Dirty Jobs
by John Fitzgerald
I Corinthians 11:23-26
A popular television show on the Discovery Channel a few years ago featured host, Mike Rowe performing difficult, strange. disgusting, or messy occupational duties alongside the typical employees. “Dirty Jobs” is the name of this hit sensation that ran on TV for eight seasons from 2004 until 2012.
I think of Dirty Jobs because this is essentially the task that Jesus commanded His disciples to engage on Maundy Thursday. The word “Maundy” is derived from the Latin word for “command.” The command given by our Lord in John’s Gospel refers to an ethic of service toward each other. This is made clear in John 13 where Jesus washed disciples feet as an act of humility and service, thereby setting an example that we should love and minister to one another in similar fashion. Some Christian churches observe a foot-washing ceremony on Maundy Thursday to commemorate Jesus’ washing the feet of His followers.
It must have been a dirty and menial task to wash the feet of another human being after they had walked on dusty roads of Palestine. This would have been in the time of Jesus a work given to servants or slaves. The Master is teaching in this scripture that we must serve each other in the most humble of fashions. It is quite a come-down from the cleanliness we normally associate with church attendance.
The church is inclined to proper dress not dirty feet. The Savior instructs that we need to get off our high horse and take on the towel of a servant where people live and work. Sad to say, but Christians in America are often confined to the ornate four walls of a building meant only for Worship. An offense may be given in the suggestion that 21st Century American Christians need to have dirty hands. Christ modeled a new kind of behavior.
Our New Testament portrays God’s Son as meeting on a regular basis with sinners and outcasts. The Messiah endured intense criticism from religious folk of his day for a willingness to be with those outside their circle. It is a challenge for us in following this example of gathering with those who are not part of our church.
Loving your enemy, feeding the hungry, and taking care of an elderly population are specific ways that Christ Jesus commands to be involved in dirty jobs. We often downplay or ignore this ethic in an attempt to remain cozy in our expression of faith. Moving past a comfort zone and into dirty hands and feet stands as the Maundy Thursday challenge.
Our Bible reading from I Corinthians 11 marks a second form of witnessing to Maundy Thursday. This lesson witnesses to Jesus celebrating the Last Supper with His disciples and thereby instituting a practice of Communion. Some churches observe a special communion service on Holy Thursday.
Communion is God’s outreach to us by inviting participation in the body and blood of a Living Lord. We are not left alone in this sinful world. Christ is present in Communion and offers us His nature and essence. Every Christian throughout the world can be a part of the Body of Christ by receiving Communion.
The Body of Christ is made concrete and visible by putting into teaching God’s commandments. Dirty jobs is a viable avenue for demonstrating our commitment to Christ. The Last Supper of Jesus took place prior to His death on a Cross. On Good Friday, the Lord removed penalty for our sin and granted forgiveness. We have been redeemed to follow the Saviors steps. Christ calls us to bear His Cross in a sin-sick world.
Cross-bearing includes being with those who are enduring heart-ache, suffering, and pain. It is a matter of doing Dirty jobs for the sake of Jesus. St. Teresa of Avila has captured well the spirit of what is required in this poem:
Christ Has No Body
Christ has no body but yours,
No hands, no feet on earth but yours,
Yours are the eyes with which he looks
Compassion on this world,
Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good,
Yours are the hands, with which he blesses all the world.
Yours are the hands, yours are the feet,
Yours are the eyes, you are his body.
Christ has no body now but yours,
No hands, no feet on earth but yours,
Yours are the eyes with which he looks
Compassion in this world.
Christ has no body now on earth but yours.
John Fitzgerald lives in Leesburg, Ohio, with his wife Carolyn and has served as pastor at the Leesburg Friends Meeting for the past 27 years. Cornfield Cathedral (Fairway Press, 2013) is the second book authored by Pastor Fitzgerald. John has earned a Master's of Ministry Degree from the Earlham School of Religion in Richmond, Indiana.
A Deeper Love
by Keith Wagner
John 13:1-17, 31-35
This story describes one of those rare moments when Jesus was very intimate with his disciples. Most of the gospel has to do with his ministry to others and his teachings. But here we find Jesus becoming "one" with them. By washing Peter’s feet Jesus disregarded the conventional idea that he was in an authoritarian position. He squelched any perception that he was above them or over them. Instead he demonstrated that the disciples were on the same level and wanted them to see one another in the same light.
Foot washing has to do with intimacy. Peter was struggling with this too. He thought that Jesus wanted to wash his feet as to cleanse him. But, foot washing isn’t about water, it’s about a relationship. Think about how lonely your life would be if you didn’t have relationships with other people. Think about how meaningless your life would be if you had no one to share your secrets, your problems, your joys and sorrows. Jesus knows that his ministry will continue when his followers have built strong relationships.
What Jesus did was an act of gracious hospitality. It was the custom in that day to welcome a stranger into your home and wash their feet. This was ordinarily performed by servants. But, Jesus wanted his followers to understand that by putting themselves in the place of the servants, they would experience the kind of love that was needed in order for them to truly understand what it meant to be a disciple.
When I had my 50th birthday celebration, we invited our Japanese neighbors. They came and stayed for about an hour. Here they were in the midst of mostly "church" people and relatives but very much a part of the event. They brought a gift which the woman, Keoshi, had made especially for me. They even took pictures, many pictures. Later they returned with the pictures they had taken. They were very proud of the one where I was holding there little two year old daughter. I must confess that they seemed more hospitable to me than I had been to them.
When Jesus washed the feet of his disciples he was also demonstrating unconditional love. Later in this chapter Jesus said these words; "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 men (and women) will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another." In other words, you can wash the feet of anyone, but when you love someone unconditionally you make no judgments about that person nor do you have any bias.
Karl Menninger once said, “Love cures people, both the ones who give it and the ones who receive it.” He organized the work of the Menninger Clinic around love. “From the top psychiatrist down to the electricians and caregivers,” Menninger said, “all contacts with patients must manifest love.” And it was “love unlimited.” Consequently the hospitalization time for patients was cut in half.
One of the patients at the clinic was a woman who sat in her rocking chair for three years and never said a word to anyone. Her doctor called a nurse and said, “Mary, I’m giving you Mrs. Brown as your patient. All I’m asking you to do is love her till she gets well.” The nurse accepted the challenge. She got a rocking chair of the same kind as Mrs. Brown’s, sat beside her, rocked with her and loved her morning, noon, and night. On the third day, Mrs. Brown spoke. Within a week, she was out of her shell and well again.
Love on a deeper level includes intimacy, gracious hospitality and unconditional love. But just in case you missed it, Jesus washed every one of the disciples feet, including Judas. (vs. 12) Jesus did not exclude Judas from the foot washing. Nor, by the way, did he exclude him from the Passover meal. What makes this so extraordinary is the fact that Jesus knew what Judas was up to. He knew he would reject him, but that didn’t prevent Jesus from washing his feet. Not only that, Jesus excused Judas from the meal without embarrassing him.
The inclusiveness of Jesus was simply beyond our comprehension. Everyone is included in the kingdom of God: sinners, adulterers, tax collectors, prostitutes, thieves, lepers, children, women, the poor, the deaf, the blind, even Judas, and even you and me.
A Pledge of Dedication and Service
by Keith Wagner
Psalm 116:1-2,12-19
The psalm begins with the psalmist declaring love for God. The word "love" (āhab) does not connote an emotion as much as a commitment of loyalty. The psalmist pledges fidelity to God because "he has heard my voice and my supplications" and promises to "call on him as long as I live."
For me the heart of the psalmist’s message is his willingness to be a faithful servant, to make a commitment to God through sacrifice and love.
I believe we all strive to dedicate ourselves to God but because we are human we fall short. Sacrificial living is often difficult since we are so focused with our own agendas.
Three years ago my wife and I were waiting in the Hospital Family Waiting area during her mother’s surgery. At one point some volunteers arrived with a cart. They were serving free coffee, juice and cookies. I was getting hungry and I got in line for some refreshments. While I was standing in line, a woman asked “Who are you here for?” I replied that my wife and I were waiting for her mother who was having surgery. We had been there since 6:30AM and it was almost noon. Then the woman got a call on her cell phone. I received my refreshments and returned to my seat. Later I thought, “I never asked her who she was waiting for.” A total stranger has shown concern for my family and my mother-in-law but I had not returned the favor. I saw her awhile later and wanted to respond but she was still talking on her cell phone.
I was humbled by the fact that some stranger actually showed empathy for us. I wish I had responded when I had the opportunity. I should have waited until she had finished her conversation and went back to her but I was eating my cookies and forgot about it. I did not return the act of love. When we are consumed with our own agendas we miss opportunities to make sacrifices for others.
The sacrificial love the psalmist describes is much deeper. It represents a commitment of sacrificial love in spite of difficult circumstances.
One time there was a Far Eastern missionary, named Sadhu Subhar Singh. He was climbing a mountain road in Tibet. With him traveled a Buddhist monk. The two wayfarers were well aware that a storm was rising and that they must reach a monastery before dark or perish in the piercing mountain cold. As they hastened up the mountain in the icy wind they heard a groaning voice. A man had fallen and lay in a ditch, badly hurt and unable to move.
The Tibetan said, "In my belief, here we see Karma; this is the work of fate, the effect of a cause. This man’s doom is to die here, while I must press on upon my own journey." But, the missionary replied, "In my belief, I must go to my brother’s aid." So the Tibetan hurried on his way, while Sadhu clambered down the slope, packed the man on his back and struggled upward again to the darkening road. His body was dripping with perspiration when at last he came in sight of the monastery. Then he stumbled and nearly fell over an object on the ground. He stood there, overwhelmed with pity and amazement. Huddled at his feet, lay his Tibetan companion, frozen to death. Sadhu had escaped the same doom because of his hard exercise in carrying an injured brother on his back which kept his body warm and saved his life. (By FultonOursler, Wellsprings of Wisdom, C.R. Gibson Co., Norwalk, CT)
Rev. Dr. Keith Wagner is the pastor of St. John's UCC in Troy, Ohio. He has served churches in Southwest Ohio for over three decades. He is an ordained minister of the United Church of Christ and has an M.Div. from Methodist Theological School, Delaware, Ohio, and a D.Min. from United Theological Seminary in Dayton, Ohio. He has also been an adjunct professor at Edison Community College, Piqua, Ohio. He and his wife, Lin, live in Springfield, Ohio.
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StoryShare, April 2, 2015, issue.
Copyright 2015 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
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