Sermon for Maundy Thursday 2007
Now you just sit in your chair, and when these inane, silly and just plain stupid commercial come on – and sadly, this is true of most of them – all you need do is take up your remote and push “mute” – which is frankly want I do most of the time. I am sorry, but I really do wonder what a couple, scantly dressed and dancing to salsa music has to do with tires, or how a man, videotaping a woman who is not his wife while she is in labor makes him think about food at Arby’s. As one of our church staff said, “All these commercials do is send the message ‘Only stupid people eat at Arby’s.’” From time to time however there are some really good commercials – clever and witty – like a number of those which first air during the Superbowl each year. And then, once in a great while, there is a gem – a gem of a commercial. The one I have in mind first aired last summer, during the then new game show “Deal or No Deal” – that’s the show in which otherwise smart people try to win lots of money - and while they could have stopped and walked away with $300,000, in their greed they keep going and end up leaving with $300. This commercial came to my mind as I pondered these words from John’s gospel – words that we hear each and every year on Maundy Thursday, this holy night in which Jesus instituted what we now call The Lord’s Supper – Holy Communion – and this holy night in which Jesus took a towel and washed his disciples feet. Jesus tells us he is giving us an example, one that we should follow: “You call me Lord and Teacher – and you are right, for that is what I am. So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that your also should do as I have done for you.” (John 13:12b-15) Despite Jesus example here, we do not engage in the washing of one another’s feet. The only time we wash feet is by ourselves, in the shower or the bath tub. And thanks to other technological advances, like concrete and asphalt and macadam - and shoes and socks - our feet do not get all that dirty from walking – as they did in the dirt and dusty roads of Jesus’ time. But rather than dismiss this text, or ignore it as irrelevant for our time and place, we take this text and we interpret it for our own context. What does it look like to wash one another’s feet in our day, today, in the 21 st century, in our particular context? One answer to this question was revealed to me in this gem of a commercial – one that is clearly meant to advertise and sell a particular product – but one that contains, at least for me – a message of the gospel, and this particular story of Jesus washing his disciples feet. This commercial begins with some background music – a guitar and a woman’s voice, soft and gentle. I found out it’s a song by the group Hem – H E M. The first scene begins with a man walking on a sidewalk downtown. A small child in stroller, drops a doll – and the man reaches down and picks up and returns it to child. And the mom, whose pushing the stroller, notices this gesture, and smiles at the man. Later that same mom is walking out of a donut shop, and near the door she slides a cup of coffee away from the edge of table for a man whose reading the paper – and through the store window another man notices this. Later that same man comes upon another man who has slipped and fallen down on the rainy sidewalk - “you all right” he asks? The fallen man waves and says “thanks” - and a third man notices. Notice a pattern yet? Later this third man is in the elevator as the doors are closing – and he sees a woman running to catch it. He pushes the “open” button to let the woman in. The woman smiles, and another man in the elevator notices. Later this man is coming out of a grocery store, and he sees a pickup truck with a topper trying to parallel park - but the driver’s about to hit a parked motorcycle. So this man bangs on the truck – “Hey – be careful.” And a woman walking by notices. Later that same woman later is in her office – and she’s walking behind a fellow staff member, whose leaning back in his chair and about to tumble back. She pushes his chair up, stopping to potential fall – and a third woman notices, and smiles. Still with me? Later that woman is walking down a busy street, near a vegetable truck – and she sees several boxes of veggies - stacked high - about to tumble over, right next to a guy whose talking on this cell phone, with is back to these boxes. She pulls the man out of the way just as the boxes fall, and a third man notices. That same man is driving on a busy street – lots of slow moving traffic. He waves to another driver, letting her pull out into the busy street – and a third driver notices. Later that third driver is walking in his neighborhood – and walks by a man pushing a stroller with a small child – and the child drops a toy. He stops and picks it up and returns it back – and the man, the Dad, notices and thanks him. Finally we come to the last scene – and you know I missed this until I looked at the commercial over and over again – the last scene is a repeat of the very first scene – for the Dad pushing the stroller in prior scene is the same man who in the first scene picks up the doll for the child in the stroller and returns it to her – when the Mom notices and smiles. During that last two scenes you hear the announcer’s voice, a woman: “When it’s people doing the right thing, they call it being responsible. When it’s an insurance company, they call it Liberty Mutual. Responsibility – what’s your policy?” Now despite my long explanation, all of this takes places in the prescribed long commercial length of 60 seconds. And to be honest, if Judy and I did not already have insurance with Northwestern Mutual and State Farm, I’d be calling Liberty Mutual. The commercial actually strikes me as a modern day parable – far beyond what the advertising firm probably imagined. The announcer says it is “called responsibility” when people do the right thing. And I think we would all agree. What is also clear to me is this well done, top quality, insurance company commercial contains a gospel message, the same message Jesus is teaching in tonight’s lesson:
Friends - that’s the gospel – that’s want Jesus did for his disciples this night – that’s what Jesus did throughout in his earthly ministry – and that’s what Jesus does for us all through the events of this holy week - meeting our very real needs for love and forgiveness, for salvation and new life. One thing more - in the commercial, the person who does the act of service(?) - that person never knows that this third person is watching them, observing their act of help and kindness. That works for me and for you as well. As we engage in these daily, regular acts of service to others, other people will often see what we are doing - and we might never know it. What a way to live out and to demonstrate this gospel message. Through our acts of service, we set an example that others see – and like this commercial reveals, these things have a way of catching on – and spreading – and growing – and even coming around full circle. “For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done for you.” May all this be so – for you and for me. And all God’s people said. Amen. Note – this commercial can be viewed at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=76h8jbjZqOI
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