Exodus 12: 1–14 / Psalm 116: 1–2, 12–19 / I Corinthians 11: 23–26 / John 13: 1–17, 31b-35
This
is a homily given at Flohr’s Evangelical Lutheran Church (ELCA) in McKinghtstown,
Pennsylvania on Thursday, April 17, 2025 by Fr. Gene Tucker, Interim Pastor.
“OFF-LIMITS TO GOD”
(Homily text: John 13:1–17, 31b–35)
“Each one of us has a place in our
heart that we put off-limits to God.” So
said my first Bishop.
This is a startling statement. But, on
a closer look, I suspect it’s absolutely true. After all, don’t we want to have
a place all to ourselves, a place where we can indulge in whatever behaviors,
ideas and thoughts we’d like, free of God’s penetrating view?
I think so.
But, the event that we remember this
evening, at the Last Supper, remind us that our Lord Jesus Christ didn’t put
any limits on what God’s will was for Him and for the work God had sent Him to
do.
That’s the implication of the
foot-washing that Jesus did on this night (a part of the events of that
Passover meal that John, alone among the Gospel writers, relates to us).
Foot-washing was the job of servants or
slaves. It was not a task that leaders or teachers were to perform. No wonder
Peter recoils at the idea of Jesus washing his feet.
But our Lord makes it clear that,
though He is the disciples’ Lord and teacher, He is also sent to serve.
As the Lord and the disciples leave
that Passover supper, some of them go into the Garden of Gethsemane, where
Jesus will be betrayed by Judas Iscariot, will be arrested, and then will be
taken to the house of the High Priest, Caiaphas. A trial will follow, then an
appearance before the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate.
The events of Good Friday will follow.
In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus will pray, saying, “Father, if it is your will, allow this cup[1] to pass from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.”[2]
In these words, there is no holding
back, no “off-limits” to Jesus’ willingness to surrender all to God’s will.
In Holy Baptism, dear friends, we, too, surrender all to God. In essence, in Baptism, we are saying, “Lord, we can’t save ourselves, but we unite ourselves in a death like Jesus’, in order to be raised to a new life like Jesus.”[3]
As our walk with God begins in our
Baptisms, we commit ourselves to a radical self-emptying, again and again as
life goes along, saying to the Lord, “We lay down our pretenses, our own
selfish desires, our self-indulgent ways, so that you can remold and remake us into
your image and likeness.”
On this Maundy Thursday, may we ask
ourselves, “Do I harbor any off-limits places that I hide from God?”.
May the Holy Spirit open our eyes to
see ourselves as God sees us.
AMEN.
[1] The cup of suffering
[2] Matthew 26:39
[3] See Romans 6:3 – 9.
