wfn.org | Homily of Jean Vanier at Lambeth Vigil (Second Service)

["Lambeth98" <storm@indigo.ie>]

ACNS LC088 - 30 July 1998

Homily of Jean Vanier at Lambeth Vigil (Second Service)

Before the festival of the Passover, Jesus knowing that his time
had come to depart from this world and to return to the Father,
having loved his own, he loved them fully, he loved them to the
end. And then, in the middle of this rather solemn meal, he got
up and started taking off his clothes - the outer garment. You
can imagine the surprise of the disciples. 

Jesus is always surprising us. He doesn't like it when we fall
into little habits. He shakes us up. Imagine the disciples
looking at Jesus and saying, "What's going on?" 

Jesus took off his outer robe. We know in the nineteenth chapter
of John that Jesus had an outer robe, and under the robe what we
call the tunic. The robe must have been pretty dirty, the robe of
a poor person. The soldiers cut it into four, and they would use
it for cleaning up. But the tunic was particularly beautiful - it
had been woven from head to foot. It was one beautiful piece, and
so the soldiers drew lots to see who would have it. So when Jesus
takes off the outer garment he is dressed in this flimsy tunic
which could go down to the knees or the ankles, sometimes with
sleeves and sometimes without. He fills a basin with water, puts
a towel around his waist, and starts washing the feet of his
disciples. 

He comes to Peter to wash Peter's feet. Peter looks at him, 

"You? Wash my feet?" 

"You cannot understand now, you shall understand later."

"No! You shall never wash my feet!" 

You see, Peter has a sense of hierarchy. There are people at the
top and people at the bottom. He is quite prepared to wash the
feet of Jesus. That is quite a normal and natural situation. And
he would probably like people to wash his feet. That is to say,
he has a sense of what all our societies are about - the vision
of a pyramid. There are a few people at the top, and an immense
number right at the bottom. Those at the bottom are the useless
ones - people with disabilities, people maybe who are mentally
sick, people out of work, immigrants. So Peter has this sense of
a hierarchy. 

What would we do if Jesus appeared in our homes and started
washing the dishes, washing the floor, and maybe washing the
toilets? What would our attitude be? "No! Please go into the
sitting room. I will bring you some food. Don't do that!" Peter
has the same resistance, which maybe all of us have, to Jesus
kneeling down at our feet. Maybe a very natural resistance even
to have our feet washed. Peter had that resistance. "It is not in
the order of things - it is not according to the culture. It
shouldn't be like this!" So the attitude of Peter is a normal and
natural reaction. This is the reaction of a loyal person, who in
reality has a lot of difficulties with Jesus. (We see this
throughout the Gospels.) 

What is more surprising is the reaction of Jesus. "If I cannot
wash your feet, you shall have no more part with me." These are
very strong words and very powerful words. "If I cannot wash your
feet, you cannot share in the Kingdom. The Kingdom will no longer
be part of your heritage. You are no longer my disciple." In
fact, it can be so strong as, "If I cannot wash your feet, there
is the door!" These are very strong words. Sometimes it is
difficult for us to take them seriously. 

Peter panics. "Well then, not only my feet, my head and my
hands!" You see, he is a loyal person. But he is panicking. He
couldn't imagine that Jesus was going to put such a stake on the
washing of the feet. 

"If I cannot show that I want to be your servant, then you are no
longer my friend. Because you must understand that message turns
everything upside down." Those who are at the bottom come up to
the top. 

Jesus washes the feet, and then he puts the bowl of water aside,
takes off the towel, and puts on again the outer garment. And he
says, "Do you understand what I have done to you? You called me
Lord and Master ... so I am. So if I have washed your feet, you
must wash each other's feet. I have done this as an example for
you." This is the only time that Jesus says, 'I have done this as
an example'. "So as I have done it to you, you must do it to each
other. Verily, verily I say to you, the servant is not greater
than the master, and the one who is sent is not greater than the
one who sends. Knowing this, if you do it you shall be blessed." 

You know that in the Gospel of Matthew there are the eight
beatitudes or blessings. And in the Gospel of Luke there are the
four blessings, or the four beatitudes. And here and there
throughout the Gospels there are other beatitudes, other
blessings. In L'Arche and Faith and Light there are two very
special blessings. The first is in the fourteenth chapter of Luke
when Jesus says "When you give a meal, don't invite the members
of your family, don't invite your rich neighbours, don't invite
your friends. But when you give a really good meal - a banquet -
invite the poor, the lame, the disabled, and the blind. And you
shall be blessed. You shall have the benediction of God. God will
be with you." I say this is a special benediction for L'Arche and
Faith and Light because, as you know to eat at the same table or
to be invited to the same table, is not just to share roast beef,
spaghetti and so on. It is to become a friend. That is what it is
all about.  If you become a friend of the poor, the lame, the
disabled, and the blind - if you become vulnerable to them - you
shall receive the blessing of God. And if you wash each other's
feet, then you receive the blessing of God.

You know that in the Gospels of Luke and Matthew and Mark, at
this last important meal, Jesus institutes the Eucharist. Here in
the Gospel of John, it doesn't talk at all about the institution
of the Eucharist. He talks only about the washing of each other's
feet. It is a little sign that these two realities - the
institution of the Eucharist and the washing of each other's feet
- should not be separated. We are called to eat the Body of
Christ so that we can wash each other's feet, and wash the feet
of the poor and the lame, the broken and the blind. 

I would like to go a little bit deeper and ask why does Jesus
wash our feet? And why does he ask us to wash each other's feet?
What is the signification behind it?

I think I discovered that a little bit living in L'Arche. And I
said this afternoon that, after having been the leader in our
community, I lived in one of our small homes where there were
people with very severe disabilities. And I talked to you about
the Lucien - the screams of Lucien, who brought up the screams in
myself and brought up a lot of inner pain. We had also welcomed
into that house, Eric. Eric had lived for twelve years in the
psychiatric hospital. He was blind, he was deaf, he couldn't
walk, and he couldn't feed himself. He was a man with an immense
amount of anguish - a man who wanted to die. In the psychiatric
hospital the nurses rather avoided him because he wasn't
gratifying, he could do nothing. He came to our community, and in
him there was this terrible desire to die. He vomited everything
that he ate. He was just in immense anguish and immense pain. (I
mentioned this afternoon Moses with his pain.) But with Eric it
was even more painful. His anguish and his desire to die were
evident. 

I said that, for us in L'Arche or in Faith and Light, our mission
in welcoming Eric is to help him to move from the desire to die
to a desire to live. We want him to move from a feeling of being
no good to a sense of his value and his worth - from a feeling of
guilt to a feeling of trust. I said this afternoon that the only
way that this can come about is through the transforming power of
love. Through that love which reveals that you are beautiful;
love that understands your pain and your needs; love which
celebrates; love which empowers and calls you to be and to be
yourself; and a love that forgives. But for Eric, how will this
be revealed to him? He is blind and he is deaf. So the only way
of communication with Eric is through our hands. These are the
incredible hands that we have been given by Jesus - hands that
give security; hands that give peace; hands that manifest love.
But hands that also can hurt; can take; can abuse.

I had the privilege of giving Eric his bath every morning, and to
hold his little naked body in my arms. This was a fragile little
man of sixteen. And through our hands (because it was not just
me, but those of our community together) we revealed to him that
he is beautiful. We are to touch people with a deep respect - to
touch them with tenderness. Our hands, and not just our voices,
may become vehicles of the love of Jesus. The Word became flesh,
that our flesh may become word. Our flesh, through the power of
the Holy Spirit, can reveal to people their value - that they are
cherished and loved by God. 

Our hands are, in some mysterious way, a source of revelation of
communion. Jesus, as he knelt down in front of the feet of his
disciples, knows that tomorrow he will be dead. But he wants to
have with each disciple a moment. Not just to say goodbye. Up
until now he has just talked with the group. When you talk with a
whole group you don't have that individual contact with each
person. Jesus wants that contact with each one of these people.
He wants to touch them - to touch their feet; to touch their
bodies; to touch them with tenderness and love. Maybe to each one
he says a word; maybe looks each one in the eye. There is a
moment of communion. 

So there is communion through the Body of Christ, where Jesus
says "do this in memory of me". But there is also this communion
as he kneels at their feet. And later he will say "I have done
this as an example for you. And what I have done to you, you must
do one to another." So this is a gesture of communion, of
tenderness. 

Jesus touched their bodies - a realization that each one is the
Temple of God. "Do you not know that your body is the temple of
the Spirit. The Spirit of God is living in you." I believe that
Jesus must have touched these bodies with an immense respect and
love and tenderness. He was revealing to them, in a special way,
his love for them. But he also revealed to them that each one of
them is beautiful, is chosen, and is loved. To continue this
mission, which is his mission, to announce the good news to the
poor, freedom to captives, sight to the blind, liberty to the
oppressed, and to announce a year of grace and forgiveness. 

As you know water, in biblical language, refreshes but cleanses.
And when Jesus is washing the feet of the disciples, he is
cleansing their feet to show that he wants to cleanse their
hearts. That is Jesus. He doesn't judge, he doesn't condemn; he
cleanses. He just wants us to be people of the resurrection -
people who stand up; people who believe in ourselves and in our
gift; people who believe in the gift of Jesus - so that we can
bring this gift to our broken world.

I believe also that as Jesus knelt at the feet of Judas, it must
have been a particularly moving time. You see Judas has already
the thirty pieces of silver in his pocket; he has already been to
the priests of the Temple; he has already decided that he will
show the guards where Jesus spends the night. (Because you know,
they couldn't arrest Jesus in broad daylight or there would be a
revolt.) They have to find out where he is going to spend the
night, and here Judas tells them. So the feet of Judas (his whole
body) must be incredibly tense. This man must have hardened his
entire body in front of the incredible tenderness of Jesus
kneeling at his feet. Somewhere I wonder whether Jesus looked at
him and said, "whatever you do, I want you to know that I love
you." And maybe the next day when Judas commits suicide, and as
the noose tightens around his neck, maybe he remembers those eyes
of Jesus. And maybe then his own eyes begin to be tearful. He
remembers. 

So Jesus washes the feet in a sense of cleansing. But also, Jesus
is there on his knees as a servant, as a slave - to be there for
us. There is something inconceivable that the Lord and master, in
this flimsy tunic washing our feet, says to us "I want to serve
you; I want to empower you. Because you will receive the Holy
Spirit. And you must continue what I have done. You must be
filled with the Spirit of God, so that you can go out to the ends
of the earth, to bring that love to all people of all cultures." 

So Jesus is the servant. "Jesus who didn't keep equality with God
as something to be held on jealously. But he emptied himself." He
became just a human being. And he humbled himself even more. This
is the downward road of Jesus - going down and down and down. And
he calls us to walk with him in that downward path. 

I know, we all know, how difficult it is to exercise authority
and power. Either we are too controlling, and want everything to
be in order - preventing people, or not permitting them to be
empowered. We try in every way just to hold on to things. Or else
we run away - we do nothing. We want to be popular and want
everyone to love us, so we don't make decisions. And we hurt
people by making the decision of not making decisions. 

Jesus knows that to exercise authority is not easy. I know
myself. For many years I was responsible for my community. How
quickly I could hurt people by not taking the time to listen to
those who are weaker; to those who weren't of my idea; to those
who maybe had a different vision; to those who could criticize
things which were really citicizable in me or in things that I
had done. I saw a lot of fear in me. It is not easy to exercise
authority. It is not easy to be parents - to help children to
gradually come to freedom, and not to be there just to control
them. Instead to help each one to become themselves. 

Everyone one of us here, we exercise power in some way - as
parents, teachers, priests, bishops. And we know that it is not
easy servant leadership - to really give ourselves to others; to
help each one to rise up; to know when to make decisions. It is
difficult. We need that power of the Holy Spirit, because without
that power of the Spirit we will never be able to exercise
authority as Jesus exercises it.

And Jesus, as he kneels at our feet, is saying, "I want you to
exercise your authority in love. As a good shepherd who gives his
life for his sheep. Exercise authority with tenderness and love.
Exercise authority in truth and in forgiveness. So when Jesus is
at our feet there is something unacceptable. But he is teaching
us. He is teaching us how he wants us to exercise authority - not
from the top of the pedestal, but close to people. Confirm them;
call them forth; empower them; help them to grow to freedom in
truth. 

Then Jesus, washing the feet of the disciples is saying something
else. You see, Jesus came to transform the pyramid into a body.
The pyramid, we know what it is. Some few have power and
privileges and wealth. And at the bottom is the immense number of
the poor and the broken. And Jesus wanted to transform this into
a Body. That is why Paul, in the first letter to the Corinthians,
talks about the Church as Body. Where every person is different,
and everyone is important. Where the eye is different to the foot
and the eye is different to the ear and so on. And he goes on to
say that those parts of the body which are the least presentable,
the weakest, are necessary to the body and should be honoured. I
believe Paul is saying something about people with disabilities -
they are necessary to the body and should be honoured. 

And Jesus is saying something else. He wants us to discover the
Church as Body where each one is important - where leadership is
important, because the body needs the element of the leadership.
But we are all together as brothers and sisters in the same Body.
That we are one together in the Body which is inspired, motivated
and inhabited by the Spirit of God. 

Jesus is saying also something important about the relationship
between the master and the slave. He is reminding us that
henceforth we must look downward. Because God is hidden in the
weak, and the poor, and the disabled. God is in the Body. He is
saying, "be attentive to the littlest, to the weakest, to the
poorest, to those who are the most broken; for I am living
there." 

Jesus insists and says we are called to wash each other's feet.
Obviously this is symbolic. Jesus is saying that we must be, all
of us together, must be servants of one and other - serving each
other, empowering each other. We are not entering into that
competitive game of 'I know more than you' or 'My culture is
better than your culture.' But we are there to serve each other,
to love each other. 

So, the washing of the feet is symbolic. It is something about
service; something about communion; something about mutual
forgiveness, togetherness, and oneness. But at the same time
Jesus insists so much about the washing of the feet, about
touching the body, that I believe that this symbol is also
sacrament. It is something very special. It is not just to talk
with people, but to recognize that their body is the Temple of
God. Recognize that the Spirit of God is living in them.
Recognize that their body is precious. I believe that Jesus
insists on the washing of feet because our bodies are precious,
Temples of the Spirit.

We want to be in communion - one with another. We love each
other. We may have divergences in vision, divergences in
theological questions. This is normal. We come from cultures and
backgrounds that are very different. Each one of us, we have our
character traits. We have the wound in us. We have our fragility
and our need to prove that 'I am better than you'. So Jesus is
saying something about communion - how to be with each other with
words that our not flowing from our woundedness, our darkness,
and our need for power and superiority, but from a desire for
oneness. And oneness is not exclusion of difference. Oneness is
not fusion. Saint Paul says we are all different. It is the
recognition of difference. But that doesn't mean to say that we
crush difference. 

So we are called to be in communion, to forgive each other, to
serve each other, and to discover that together we are all called
to walk the downward path. 

We are all called to be small. "The camel cannot go through the
eye of the needle." But we who carry authority and power, in some
way we are called to be like little children. And we are called
to serve each other in rectitude and in truth as Jesus. And as we
become small, then maybe we can go through the eye of the needle.

And so this evening, that is what we are going to do. We do so in
a witness of our desire to follow the humble Jesus, the broken
Jesus, and the weeping Jesus - the Jesus who became little and
humbled himself even more. In some way we want to follow Jesus on
that downward path. This is the path which, as we go down, then
with him we rise again to be a sign of resurrection in our world.

For further information, contact:

   Lambeth Conference Communications
   Canterbury Business School
   University of Kent at Canterbury
   Telephone: 01227 827348/9
   Fax: 01227 828085
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   http://www.lambethconference.org