Kahu's Manao

Keawala‘i Congregational Church
United Church of Christ (USA)

Maundy Thursday
Thursday, April 1, 2010

The Rev. Kealahou C. Alika

“Known By Love”
Matthew 26:17-29; 31-46; 47-56

Malia lived a healthy life when it came to eating and exercising. She was active in the community and in the church. She was surrounded by family and many, many friends.

So it was a bit of shock when the news came one day that she was diagnosed with cancer. In the months that followed she would undergo a series of radiation and chemotherapy treatments. But the cancer was moving quickly through her body and soon she was bedridden.

Except for the cancer cells she was healthy in every other way. I remember

on one visit hearing her say that she was not dying of cancer but living with cancer and that she was going to “work her death” and make the best of it. And so she kept a journal and spent time with family and friends and others whom she had come to know through her own hospice work.

Those of us who knew her were saddened by illness but it soon became clear that she was preparing not only herself but all of us for what was to come. At the time of her death, all of us mourned the loss of a dear friend, but in the process we had discovered each other.

As the sun set on this day, it marked the beginning of what is called the Easter Triduum, the three days from this Thursday night through the sunset of Easter day. Since the fourth century, Christians have gathered to mark this day as a time of remembering the Last Supper through the betrayal of Jesus.

The word Maundy comes from the Latin mandatum novum – a new commandment. The emphasis on this service for over sixteen centuries is on the actions and words of Jesus narrated in chapter 13 of The Gospel According to John.

The narrative includes what we also find in one of our reading from The Gospel According to Mark and that is the sharing of the Lord’s Supper. But the narrative in John also includes the washing of feet as a symbol of building a community of those called to serve others.

Malia kept a journal and spent time with family and friends. Jesus washed the feet of his disciples and spent time with family and friends. Both were about the work of preparing themselves and others for their deaths.

If any of you have attended a service where foot washing has been done, you know it requires an amount of preparation – containers are needed to hold the water and towels are needed for drying. It also requires letting those in attendance know what is about to happen and to offer everyone of the option of participating or not participating.

Inasmuch as Jesus set the example by washing the feet of the disciples, it is still a bit awkward for some today have their feet washed by anyone. So short of having to wash anyone’s feet tonight, it is enough for us to at least tell the story.

Whenever I think about foot washing two words come to mind – humility and intimacy. Some of us may think it nothing to complain, “Why would I want to wash someone else’s dirty feet?”

Others of us may protest, “I don’t want anyone touching my ingrown toenails?” Some of us may worry about how ticklish we are and worry that we would start to laugh uncontrollably during a moment intended to be a profound religious experience.

By the time we think about what foot washing meant in Jesus’ day and what it could mean for ourselves, we manage to talk ourselves out of even giving it a try. Yet despite our reluctance we cannot avoid the commandment which Jesus offered to the disciples in the first century and which he offers to us in this century.

“I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know you that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

We are reminded once more on a night such as this that everyone will know that we are his disciples - not because we share similar political or religious views or because we are of a particular gender, race, or class - but because we have aloha for one another as different and diverse as we are.

And because of that aloha Jesus said, “Everyone will know you are my disciples.”

Let us pray: We give thanks, O God, that you have called us to be Body of Christ here in Mākena. Mahalo for nourishing us at your table with the bread and the cup that we have shared. Thank you for feeding our hunger and relieving our thirst.

In the darkness of the days ahead we give thanks for the One who is the Light of the World. E hoʻonani ʻia i loko o ko mākou ola ʻana me ke aloha o Iesū Kristo. Be glorified in our life together through Jesus Christ. Amen.

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