Thursday of the Fourth Week of Easter

Rushes and a fallen tree
in MSF Lake

(After Jesus washed the disciples’ feet, he said to them)

Do you realize what I have done for you? You call me 'teacher' and 'master,' and rightly so, for indeed I am. If I, therefore, the master and teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash one another's feet. I have given you a model to follow, so that as I have done for you, you should also do.  “Amen, amen, I say to you, no slave is greater than his master, nor any messenger greater than the one who sent him.  

With his Last Supper, Jesus created a new ceremony for his disciples. It had many of the familiar songs and gestures of the old Passover ceremony, and borrowed heavily upon that tradition; but Jesus’ ritual – which scripture calls the Breaking of Bread and we call the Mass – would include two entirely new gestures:

First, instead of a meal of roasted lamb, we would eat his body and drink his blood, under the appearances of bread and wine. We have never ceased to celebrate this sacred meal.

Secondly, Jesus washed his disciples’ feet. Catholics observe this custom once a year, on Holy Thursday. Although we do this ceremony less often, it is an integral part of the Mass, and critical to our understanding.

But the disciples during that first ceremony could hardly fathom what it meant. They saw only their beloved rabbi humiliating himself and his office, and embarrassing them as he washed their feet. What was he doing, playing the clown like that? Peter spoke for the group when he initially refused to have his feet washed. It was just too unexpected, too ridiculous and too unorthodox. If the gesture had any meaning, it was overwhelmed by the gut reaction of the disciples.

Jesus, always the teacher, would not let his disciples remain in that confusion. If they wanted an explanation – and most of our liturgical gestures require at least some explanation – he would give it to them:

If I, therefore, the master and teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash one another's feet. I have given you a model to follow, so that as I have done for you, you should also do.

Every vestige of competition or authority or rank must disappear among his disciples. They must be eager to serve one another; each one should volunteer to be the first to do the most undesirable services:

o        Langdon Gilkey described how the Jesuits interned in a Chinese war prison marched right in and cleaned the latrines which were ankle-deep in filth.

o        Saint Clare insisted on emptying the chamber pots in the convent infirmary.

o        Any bishop, provincial or abbess can tell you leadership in the church is nothing but a cross.

And that is where Jesus is leading us. We understand his insistence that we eat his body and drink his blood when he washes our feet; and we understand his washing our feet as he carries his cross to Calvary. That invitation to service occasionally leads to martyrdom, but more often it entails mundane toil like washing dishes, grading homework, and attending meetings. No one is likely to cry out, “Well done, good and faithful servant!” when you’ve taken the garbage out or folded the laundry; but by these simple, commonplace chores we imitate our savior.