Speaking of Faith with Bishop DeDe

Jesus's Humanity in Fear and Anxiety: A Maundy Thursday Episode

• The Episcopal Diocese of Central New York • Season 2 • Episode 6

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Summary

In this episode, Bishop DeDe discusses the significance of Maundy Thursday and the humanity of Jesus. She explores Jesus' response to fear and anxiety and reads from John chapter 13, which focuses on the washing of the feet. Bishop DeDe emphasizes the moments of sacrifice and suffering in Jesus' life and the hope of resurrection. She also highlights the relatability of Jesus' fear and anxiety and the importance of community and God's presence in times of loss. Bishop DeDe concludes by discussing the significance of foot washing and the importance of honoring our bodies.

Takeaways

  • Maundy Thursday is a time to reflect on the humanity of Jesus and his response to fear and anxiety.
  • Jesus' sacrifice and suffering are central to the Easter narrative and remind us of the hope of resurrection.
  • We can relate to Jesus' fear and anxiety and find comfort in knowing that God is always with us.
  • Foot washing is a symbolic act that represents servitude, inclusion, and healing in our relationships.


AI Disclosure: To support our staff in their limited time, many of our episode summaries are first generated by AI and then edited by the Communications Director to accurately reflect and preview our podcast episodes.

You're listening to Speaking of Faith with Bishop DeDe Duncan-Probe of the Episcopal Diocese of Central New York. I'm Rachel Ravellette, or RomComm, and we're glad you're here. Hey, friends! Welcome to the podcast, Speaking of Faith. My name is DeDe Duncan-Probe. I'm the diocesan bishop of the Episcopal Church in Central New York. That's Canada to Pennsylvania, Utica to Elmira, and the beautiful people and places in between. And I'm joined by Rachel Ravellette, our Communications Director. Now, this week is Holy Week and we are starting off today's podcast Speaking of our faith in Jesus. And for those of you who may have a different faith or who may have been raised Christian, but may not - you may - you may not have known about the practice of Maundy Thursday, the great maundatum, the commandment of Jesus.“Maundy” does sound like “maudlin,” but it actually is named after the Latin word for maundatum which is about this is the night when Jesus commands his disciples to “love one another, that your joy may be full” and also the commandment of Eucharist:“Do this in remembrance of me,” and the washing of the feet and so in the Episcopal Church, in the Anglican tradition, the Great Maundatum this Maundy Thursday is a moment where we really draw close to the humanity of Jesus. I mean, the washing of the disciples’ feet for another podcast and another Maundy Thursday, we'll talk about the significance of the foot washing and how Jesus isn't, Jesus isn't lowering himself. He's raising Peter up. And it's a beautiful movement. So I invite those of you who are interested to do some learning about that. But for today, I'm really thinking a lot about our humanity and our fears and anxieties and how in this time in this world, there is so much pressing in on us. And sometimes hearing God's call produces a great deal of fear. And I think with Jesus in these passages for Maundy Thursday, we have an opportunity to see a bit behind the divinity of Jesus or kind of all the things we usually say about Jesus to see the, the human being who's going to the garden with his friends and becoming more and more isolated, and and how Jesus responds to the fear and the anxiety of this moment. And so I'm going to start - I, I don't normally do this - but I am going to start today and read a little bit. Our reading for Maundy Thursday in the church is from John chapter 13. And so I'm going to read a little bit of this because I really want to draw closely to, to what is happening for Jesus. And this is about the washing of the feet. So I just - it sounds like - but we'll get there. Just bear with me. So after he'd washed or after he had washed their feet and returned to the table, Jesus said to them,“Do you know what I have done to you? You call me teacher and Lord, and you're a 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 set you an example that you should do as I have done to you for very truly. I tell you, servants are not greater than their master, nor are messengers greater than the one who sent them. If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them.” That's an interesting passage there in a moment, in a way, because I think we, if we're listening closely to the passage, we hear Jesus is all invitation. These are this last moment with his disciples. Jesus is leaving it all on the floor, as you say, in basketball. Jesus is trying to say,“Look what I'm doing, I'm now giving to you so that you will do it and it will be a blessing to you,” fully knowing that what's going to happen is also about sacrifice and about a suffering and dying. I often think that the, the truth in the in Jesus's life, which for the gospel narratives, is all about the living of this life. That's a very small section of the gospels. It's really about the passion and the resurrection, which often is what we spend so much time really focused on in Holy Week is the end and the beginning parts. But in this middle, in this Maundy Thursday, this is really about the relationship Jesus has with the disciples and about His relationship with God and the invitation we have into this place of relationship. And so after this meal and this wonderful moment of, “Hey, I'm doing these things to you, and I'm, and I say to you to go and do them, and you will be blessed if you live by the examples I've set you,” then they go from this table out to the Garden of Gethsemane, because, for Jesus to pray. And if you remember in the different gospels - and we won’t go into this too much because there's I want to get to the the, the end of this podcast - that the disciples, you know, one gospel they fall asleep, and you know they’re - and Jesus is, here Jesus is inviting to them to this new way of being saying to them,“This thing is happening,” commanding them to love one another. And they're like, “Yeah, but you know, it's kind of late and I'm tired.” And so Jesus is in the garden praying. And even in one gospel it says sweating blood. I mean, it's a high level of anxiety and human suffering there for Jesus even before what's to come. And those famous, infamous words of Jesus,“Father, if it be your will, let this cup pass from me.” And that's what I want to focus in on, giving you kind of the context than the flow of Maundy Thursday. But this moment of“let this cup pass from me” is so profound for us, for you. And I, because often when God calls us, there's really sacrifice and suffering and “I just don't want to.” And that is a holy process of any discernment. In fact, I think any discernment that doesn't have some piece of that might be something to question whether it's just we want to do it or if we're really called to do it, because those places, when we are called to walk in the footsteps of Jesus, to take up the cross, there will be a moment when it's,“Let this depart from me.”“Call me to something else.”“I don't want to do this.”“Please, not. Anything but this.” And then also Jesus, turning around saying,“Where are the disciples?” They're asleep.“Could you not even stay awake here? I'm trying to, you know, give this... and you... Hello?!” And you know, and the isolation. And the, the that moment. For us as people of faith, and whatever your faith may be, we have all experienced that moment in our life. We go along and we're learning and we're kind of trotting along, and then there's an event and something happens and we realize what's coming next and we don't want to do it. And we, and there's just that, that death of our expectations or of a person or of an opportunity or whatever it is. And there's a sorrow in that death and it's real. And, you know,“Let this depart from me, Lord. Fix this.” But then when we say with this gospel narrative this week from that humanity, that human response of this is so much “I can't do it.” The next becomes, and then there's and there is the real suffering of Jesus, the torture, the crucifixion, which is a horrific way to die: naked, bare before the world, suffering in horrendous, torturous ways. And for those of us who have gone through tragedies or loss of - and especially I think of people who've lost children or a beloved spouse or or who - really whatever the sense of loss may be in your life, that feeling of so isolated, so cut off and no one even cares. And the good news we have today in Jesus is that God always cares. Simone Weil is a philosopher who in the 20th century was highly regarded, and she has said that the distance between Jesus on the cross and God the Creator, encompasses all of human brokenness, sorrow, suffering and sinfulness. That it’s greater than all. And so when we're in that place of suffering and sorrow, our assurance and the hope of resurrection is that God is with us. God is not falling asleep on us. God is right there holding us and calling us and healing us and redeeming us, even when there we cannot see it. The Spirit is making groanings. God is with us. And then of course, you have the resurrection. And we experience resurrection all the time. We just don't call it that often. The repairing of a relationship, a new opportunity, the resolution of the pain, the resolution of the sorrow. And some sorrow I know are not resolved. I’m talking about that moment when,“Okay, I can breathe again and I can continue on the path,” and always God is building in us resurrection in the hope of new life. And even if we die, even if that sorrow does lead to human death, we are part of a narrative of God's love and mercy that it goes beyond death. And I often think of, you know, at funerals or memorial services, we really experience the the eternal life of love in those moments. Because when a person dies, we don't suddenly stop loving them. We don't suddenly stop feeling their love for us. We don't suddenly feel cut off from the relationship. Although there is that obviously, “those we love and see no longer,” that loss of seeing and touching and hearing, but we also know that love continues and continues to inform our lives, and that is the hope and promise of God that that we will go through life, we will have sorrow, we will have death. And then resurrection comes. And resurrection requires a death. You, you don't resuscitate something that's still, you know, breathing long and so on. This Maundy Thursday in the scope of this whole passion narrative to stop in this moment and to be at table with Jesus and to hear his last teachings and to have the opportunity of washing one another's feet and to be present to this humanity of Jesus. And the Garden of Gethsemane is still on Thursday, even though often that's not in our liturgy. It's like in the prayer. Some people will have prayer all night after the liturgy, but we will remain with Jesus in that garden place. Well, Rachel, I've talked an awful lot. I don't know where you want to jump in. I'm just, this is clearly, I love this passage each year. This is why I just think this is so essential to an understanding of Easter.[RomComm} It’s incredibly important stuff. And, and, you know, I really appreciate you pointing us - You know, we often say I've heard people say, you know, Maundy Thursday is about the humanity of Jesus because he eats and he washes his feet. But they leave out the garden. And, you know, the story of Jesus's you know, trial, torture, death and resurrection is powerful on its own and convicting. But it's not one I can relate to. You know, I've never been tried in a hostile, you know, a hostile court in front of a mob of angry people, of my kins-people, tortured publicly, forced to carry the instrument of my own death up a hill. I've never been crucified, literally. And so while, while that's a convicting story to me, I can't see myself in it, except in my sorrow. But I can see myself in Jesus's fear and anxiety and expression of that. And you and I were talking earlier the, that I mean, certainly Jesus must have been afraid for himself. But I think we can also relate to thinking about,“If this happens to me, my loved ones are going to hurt so much.” And so even in that question,“You couldn't stay awake for one hour?” I also hear this idea of,“The time that we have together is so short. The sand is running fast through this hourglass. I need you to be here with me. I want to be with you. Be together for every moment that we can.” And there's hurt when they fall asleep. Because I would be hurt. And you would be hurt. And so this is a, this is a depth of Jesus's humanity that goes beyond you know,“He ate like us. He got hungry. He got hangry like I do at three in the afternoon. His feet hurt like my feet hurt.” This is that pain that sometimes I don't have words for. That, that weight on your chest, that, that fear and the unknown or even the known approaching pain or separation. That is deep humanity. And thanks be to God that Jesus experienced that and expressed it. It gives us an example of how to be with it. You know, when the guards in the one gospel, when the guards come and the sword and Peter cut off the ear, you, you know, you hear Jesus processing all of this, the betrayal of not staying awake, of not understanding him. I mean, there's this part of Maundy Thursday where Jesus is telling them, he's telling them the stuff, and they're like,“So should I wash all of you or should I just the feet or...?” And they get caught up in the legalities of like, what washing and Jesus is like,“You know, people. People listen. Listen.” And the disciples are just not getting that this is a seminal moment. This is a major place in his relationship with them where he's conveying to them, you know, kind of literally, Peter, the key to the kingdom. And Peter's like, “What?” You know,“Should I use antibacterial soap or unscented...?”“I mean, I’m just asking...?”“I want to get this right.” Yeah.“I want to make sure that I, you know...” this legalistic plea- thinking and Jesus is saying, you know,“Come on, this is a relationship!” and they're bailing on it. And so that so in, you know, the betrayal of the relationship. But you can hear in this that Jesus, the sorrow is for the human condition, that this is not unique to him, but this is how we exist. We know these betrayals. We know those times when we're left alone. We know those times. We're sorrowing and we feel that no one is staying awake with us. No one is hearing what we're saying. I mean-[RomComm] Nobody’s witnessing us. Or seeing us. Or understanding us. To think that Jesus felt unheard and unseen and you know, un-regarded and then to see what Jesus does next, which is to continue to walk his call of saving grace and to submit to it. Because at any moment - and it just depends on your Christology - I mean, some people will say that Jesus was going through this very much like a human without any concept of what would come next. Others will say he knew the whole of it and knew what was come next. Others will say some, you know, something in between. But whatever your Christology is, Jesus continues into the unknown, becoming further and further and further isolated from his community, further and further isolated and, and more reliant on God, but even feeling isolated and abandoned by God. The whole movement from Maundy Thursday to the, to the you know, in the end, good Good Friday or Holy Friday is a movement from community to real isolation for the benefit of the community. Jesus, the disciples fall asleep. Jesus is arrested and taken from the disciples. Jesus is in front of a hostile, you know, place and Pilate and all of those interactions. Then Jesus is whipped and scourged, and then Jesus is mocked and, you know, or crucified and then mocked and, you know, and all of these, you know, all of these movements are isolating, suffering, isolating, suffering. Just continuing until on the very cross. And again, each gospel tells a different lens, a different part of this narrative. So I'm sort of trying to put those together into one picture.[RomComm] “You’re pullin’ a Nativity Pageant here.” I am, you know, bless Luke for the Nativity pageant. Matthew that never[RomComm] “You’re pulling things together[Bishop DeDe] Because we need that, True. True. Most of the time, I would say don't scrunch the gospels. You're reading Mark, stay in Mark, because it will confuse you to suddenly bring in John with John's High Christology and all this, and it'll confuse the text. Stay with Mark. If you're reading Matthew, stay with Matthew. If reading like Luke. Stay with Luke and pay attention to why they're written. Matthew wants you to know that this is a Jewish savior and has the, you know, birth narratives and so and so begat so and so. You know, Mark, this is about suffering servant and very Isaiahic prophecies and very human. It's also the first written so it's raw it's, it's like Jesus is angry and everything's “immediately” and it's more sort of shock and awe. Luke is gonna to write down an orderly account for Theophilus So Luke, you know, really gets hymnody together so we have that pageant at Christmas. And then of course, John backs up. way up and says,“You know, in the beginning was God, and the word was God and the word was with God.” And in the gospel of John, the word of God is not scripture. The word of God is Jesus.[Bishop] This spoken...[RomComm] Jesus is what God has to say. So each gospel is coming from a place and the fourth gospel, which was not written, you know, you have all kinds of things. But let's say the fourth gospel of John, fourth gospel is written“that you will believe” it's actually has a mind in it that you and I today might read the Scripture and become acquainted with this person, Jesus. And so here we are, the gospel of Mark with this, you know, and John, you know, Maundy Thursday. And then, of course, Matthew with the, the swords and things. So the thing I want to really go back to in our faith when we speak of our faith, is there is a tendency with people of faith to want to jump from Palm Sunday to Easter and in the very same way, to jump from the horrible tragedies happened. everything's going to be fine.“You know, God never calls us to anything we can't handle,” which is not true. It's a great lie. Generally speaking, God always calls us to things that are bigger than us because that's where God works in us, to enlarge us. And just like the the, the the washing of the feet, it's bigger than us. And so God washes our feet. God calls us into God enlarges us for the grace of God to be able to face the new day, to go beyond what seemed to be an ending into the resurrection life. Because it’s God that works in us for resurrection; it's God that's calling us to into the next thing. And so we can have hope and feel calm about next things to not fear death, to not fear the horrible things of life. Because God is going to be with us and there will be a new dawning because God never leaves us in that moment. And so in those moments where we may be sad or alone or afraid, where we've been judged wrongly, where we are feeling muted by the horrors of this world, when we look at what's happening in Haiti or we look at what's happening around the globe right now, there's suffering all around us. When we look at those sufferings, then we know that God is calling us to continue our journey of the message of Jesus Christ, which is salvation, redemption, reconciliation, action and new life. And so we are part of this narrative. So on this morning, Thursday, as we're celebrating, it's about recognizing that our humanity greeting one another's humanity and meeting in that greeting the humanity of Jesus. Now I want to say one thing. I know we're almost at time, but I just want to talk about the washing of the feet, because I will say that in the Anglican Church and the Episcopal Church, every parish is different and some people have just dispensed with it altogether because people don't want their feet touched. And, you know, all this... Safe Church is essential with foot washing, that people feel safe about it. And we need these places where we touch one another in appropriate nurturing holy ways, where it is about a true relationship to, to say that foot washing back then is not the same as foot washing now. In many ways it's true, because back then the servant would wash your feet because it's dusty roads and whatever. We don't generally have someone in our house to wash people’s feet when they come in so that the house stays clean or have foot, little foot baths or something like... some of us might. No judgment is a no judgment zone if you do. But for us, whether you talk about pedicures or you talk about massages or you talk about self-care, often happens with someone touching us in helpful, helpful healing ways. Reiki comes to mind, or some of these ways of seeking healing. I think it's a good thing to have a place in our liturgy through the year where there's actually a physical response to one another and where we are washing one another's feet. Again, no forced washing feet. No “shoulda-coulda-woulda.” An invitation that if this could have meaning for you and for those of us who are very bashful about our feet or feel ashamed of our bodies, to feel that place of healing, that this is a place of grace and of acceptance and servitude and inclusion and servitude in the best way, not in some arbitrary way, but that we're raising one another up. We wash each other feet that like Jesus, we raised one another up, inviting us to a holy relationship of wholeness. No more body shaming, no more feet shaming, no more,“My gosh... You know, I don't ever hug people because I'm afraid of...” A place where our humanity can treat one another in holiness and helpful ways, and that could heal us and renew us Honoring our bodies following the model of our embodied Lord. Incarnation as transformation, man. And we are called into the incarnation, the embodied experience of Jesus. So on this Maundy Thursday, May you have a Holy Maundy Thursday. May this be a time when you dwell deeply with the humanity of Jesus. May you see in Jesus’s journey your own journey of isolation or sorrow, but also your faithfulness and saying,“But here I am, or send me. I will go and say and do what you called me to do because I believe in you more than I'm afraid of the next day.” And may we all live this life of Jesus with holiness and care for one another. And for those of you who do not, this is not your faith, And this whole podcast has been about something that you had no idea about. I invite you and encourage you to speak with someone in your faith tradition who can talk with you about where where is holy cleansing found, where is community? How do you process sorrow? Where, where is that redemptive grace? Do you discover in your own tradition that we may all know health and wholeness and wellness. God be with you and I look forward to our next podcast. May you be blessed and be a blessing, and we'll see you soon. Thanks for joining us. Speaking of faith with Bishop DeDe is a production of the Episcopal Diocese of Central New York. Our theme music is by Felice Mob, and it's called, “A Bird in Hand.” We use it with permission. Be sure to subscribe to our podcast through your favorite podcasting app so that you can be the first to know when new episodes are available. If you like what you've heard here, please leave us a rating and review. If you don't like what you've heard here, we're sure you're still a wonderful person, but maybe don't leave us a review? Just kidding. We love honest feedback and questions. You can connect with us online between episodes at cnyepiscopal.org/podcast Blessings to you, friends.