Year B / Holy Week - Triduum / Holy Thursday / Mass of the Lord's Supper
Readings: Exodus 12.1-8, 11-14 / Psalm 115.12-13, 15-16bc, 17-18 (R/v cf. 1 Cor 10:16) / 1 Corinthians 11.23-26 / John 13.1-15
Jesus came to Simon Peter, who said, "Master, are you going to wash my feet?"
What would you say if Jesus came to you now, took off his outer garments, took a towel, tied it around his waist, poured water into a basin and began to wash your feet? Yes, what would you say?
I think many of us would say nothing at first. We would be shocked, confused, unsure, even afraid by his actions.
“How can this be?” we would probably wonder. It echoes Peter's question: “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?” Last night as I prayed this passage, I myself asked: “Who am I that you, Jesus, would want to wash my feet?
Would we not resist and protest if Jesus comes to wash our feet? “This cannot be your role -– to wash my feet, Lord. This cannot be your place –- to kneel before me, Lord. No, it is I who must serve you, Lord. It is I who must kneel before you”.
Would we not be afraid that our relationship with Jesus will change because he comes so close? Change because he might discover the real me who is not so saintly, never so good, always a sinner. We might doubt if Jesus will love me still, and it is natural we will.
If Jesus did come now, I think we might cry out: “No, don’t wash my feet. I don’t deserve you, Lord. Leave me. I’ll do the washing”.
But Jesus said to Peter then, as he now says to us here, “Unless I wash you, you can have no share with me.” Here is Jesus telling is that he cannot be with us and share life with us unless we let him forgive us, let him heal us, let him love us, let him bring us home to God. Jesus wants to be with us. He wants to as the one who washes us clean, the one who saves us, the one who loves us and gives us life to the full. Will we let Jesus do these for us? Let him be Jesus to us?
A priest once said to me in confession: “Jesus already knows how big or small your sin is, or how long ago or recent your previous confession was. What truly matters to Jesus is that we come home -– home to God who wants to save us in Jesus, through Jesus and with Jesus”.
Jesus is waiting for us to admit that we need him to bring us to God. He is waiting to set us free for God. We need him because we often lose our way to God and find ourselves trapped in sin.
I believe Jesus will surprise us when we come to him with these words: “Yes, you didn’t ask, nor have you earned this, but I am offering to wash you, right now, as you are. I want to”.
Such love has no reservations and knows no limits. Such love simply loves. This love is who Jesus is and how he acts. “Love one another as I have loved you.” At the Last Supper, Jesus teaches that our life must be all about love.
Today’s readings show Jesus teaching this love most powerfully in two actions. At the Last Supper, in the breaking of bread, he shows us how our love, no matter how imperfect, ought to be a sacrifice for all, an offering to God, and a practice of Christian life and faith. This is what our second reading is about. It is founded on Jesus’ action of washing feet in the gospel reading. Foot washing is how Jesus makes this love fully alive, clearly visible, and wondrously tactile in our midst. Here is love that can touch us deeply.
“May I help you?” is the real question Jesus is asking us if we let him wash our feet. We all struggle to answer this question honestly. How many times have friends and loved ones asked us this question? How many times have we admitted our need for help? Chances are these are our common responses: “I am fine. It’s ok. Don’t worry. I’ll manage”.
I’d like to suggest that there is another answer we can give. It simply is: “Yes, thank you”. May I wash your feet? Yes, thank you. This simply acknowledges our need for help. However we all struggle to admit our need for help. We struggle to honestly and always say so. So, let us learn to make these three words –- “yes, thank you” –- our response to Jesus who wants to wash our feet tonight, who wants to die for us on Good Friday and who will raise us up with him at Easter.
Tonight the priest washes feet to recall Jesus’ action of selfless service. We also recall Jesus’ command that we -– who receive love, life and salvation from him -– go forth from here and wash another’s feet. “What I have done for you, you should also do".
We need to risk who we are and what we have achieved to do the kind of foot washing Jesus did. To risk our very selves so that we can love as Jesus loved so much to wash feet. To risk everything. Why? Because it is only by risking that we can humble ourselves. Indeed the more we humble ourselves, the greater our love to lay down our life for another. But our humility first gives Jesus permission to know us intimately and to love us even more because he can wash our feet.
Human feet may seem insignificant, yet they reveal much more. Some feet express status and privilege, pampering and pride. Others reveal wounds and hurts that disable us. Still more betray our everyday struggles: they are battered, scarred, soiled; they are dirty and they smell. We stand on our feet that bear our weight but also the burdens of our failings, our imperfections, our disappointments. Our feet help us run to those we love; they help us to jump in hope. Our feet dig deep into the ground whenever we fear, doubt or despair; they root us in our sinfulness. Our feet say so much about our joys and hopes, our pains and anxieties, our heartaches and obstacles. Sometimes, we hide these more than we express them.
All these that our feet metaphorically express are what Jesus really wants to wash clean. When we let him do this, we give him freedom to enter into our lives and serve us. However we feel about Jesus’ desire to love and serve us in this way, the only proper human response we can make to Jesus is in these three words “Yes, thank you”.
However, saying “Yes, thank you” means very little unless we translate it into action. “Love one another as I have loved you.” Who does Jesus want you and me to touch through our hands? This action reaches out to save others. “Love one another as I have loved you.” Who is Jesus asking us to be like him to love us in our lives? This action is about receiving from others who want to 'save' us.
I think it is harder to receive than to give. I am sure you know it too. We all struggle to receive another’s help, be it from loved ones or friends, neighbours or strangers. But we need to receive in order to give: we cannot give what we don’t have. Let us be wiser by paying welcoming all who come to help us for who else but Jesus is really coming and kneeling at our feet, offering love. Will “Yes, thank you” be our response?
Tonight, we will receive love from Jesus, in body and blood at Eucharist. This night, we will practice his love when we wash feet with water and basin. From tonight onwards, Jesus commands us to share his love and, more so, to receive his love.
Now, let us be silent and let us allow Jesus to love us deeply, feet first.
An adaptation of “Feet First” by Luke Ditewig
Preached at St Joseph’s Institution
artwork: "Jesus Washes an Apostle's Feet" by Laurie Olson Lisonbee, 2006
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