Be Servants To One Another
Introduction
WORDS OF THE HOLY FATHER
“This is the Lord’s will. Giving himself to eat and drink, he tells us to love one another in this way. Washing the feet, he tells us to serve each other in like manner. But beware: no servant is greater than the one who sent him, the master. These blunt words and actions are the foundations of the Church. If we proceed in like fashion with these three points, we shall never fail.” (Santa Marta, 26 April 2018)
First reading: Exodus 12:1-8,11-14
The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt: ‘This month is to be the first of all the others for you, the first month of your year. Speak to the whole community of Israel and say, “On the tenth day of this month each man must take an animal from the flock, one for each family: one animal for each household. If the household is too small to eat the animal, a man must join with his neighbour, the nearest to his house, as the number of persons requires. You must take into account what each can eat in deciding the number for the animal. It must be an animal without blemish, a male one year old; you may take it from either sheep or goats. You must keep it till the fourteenth day of the month when the whole assembly of the community of Israel shall slaughter it between the two evenings. Some of the blood must then be taken and put on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses where it is eaten. That night, the flesh is to be eaten, roasted over the fire; it must be eaten with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. You shall eat it like this: with a girdle round your waist, sandals on your feet, a staff in your hand. You shall eat it hastily: it is a passover in honour of the Lord. That night, I will go through the land of Egypt and strike down all the first-born in the land of Egypt, man and beast alike, and I shall deal out punishment to all the gods of Egypt. I am the Lord! The blood shall serve to mark the houses that you live in. When I see the blood I will pass over you and you shall escape the destroying plague when I strike the land of Egypt. This day is to be a day of remembrance for you, and you must celebrate it as a feast in the Lord’s honour. For all generations you are to declare it a day of festival, for ever.”’
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 115(116):12-13,15-18
R. The blessing-cup that we bless is a communion with the blood of Christ.
How can I repay the Lord
for his goodness to me?
The cup of salvation I will raise;
I will call on the Lord’s name. R.
O precious in the eyes of the Lord
is the death of his faithful.
Your servant, Lord, your servant am I;
you have loosened my bonds. R.
A thanksgiving sacrifice I make;
I will call on the Lord’s name.
My vows to the Lord I will fulfil
before all his people. R.
Second reading: 1 Corinthians 11:23-26
This is what I received from the Lord, and in turn passed on to you: that on the same night that he was betrayed, the Lord Jesus took some bread, and thanked God for it and broke it, and he said, ‘This is my body, which is for you; do this as a memorial of me.’ In the same way he took the cup after supper, and said, ‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Whenever you drink it, do this as a memorial of me.’ Until the Lord comes, therefore, every time you eat this bread and drink this cup, you are proclaiming his death.
Gospel: John 13:1-15
It was before the festival of the Passover, and Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to pass from this world to the Father. He had always loved those who were his in the world, but now he showed how perfect his love was. They were at supper, and the devil had already put it into the mind of Judas Iscariot son of Simon, to betray him. Jesus knew that the Father had put everything into his hands, and that he had come from God and was returning to God, and he got up from table, removed his outer garment and, taking a towel, wrapped it round his waist; he then poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel he was wearing. He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, ‘Lord, are you going to wash my feet?’ Jesus answered, ‘At the moment you do not know what I am doing, but later you will understand.’ ‘Never!’ said Peter ‘You shall never wash my feet.’ Jesus replied, ‘If I do not wash you, you can have nothing in common with me.’ ‘Then, Lord,’ said Simon Peter ‘not only my feet, but my hands and my head as well!’ Jesus said, ‘No one who has taken a bath needs washing, he is clean all over. You too are clean, though not all of you are.’ He knew who was going to betray him, that was why he said, ‘though not all of you are.’ When he had washed their feet and put on his clothes again he went back to the table. ‘Do you understand’ he said ‘what I have done to you? You call me Master and Lord, and rightly; so I am. If I, then, the Lord and Master, have washed your feet, you should wash each other’s feet. I have given you an example so that you may copy what I have done to you.’
Commentary
I love this…
Tonight we begin the Triduum, the three most important days in the liturgical year of the church.
Tonight we celebrate a more happy event.
It is the Passover, the Last Supper, and Jesus is gathered together with his disciples, and he is there to tell them how much he loves them, how much he cares for them, and also how he must leave them. And so the great joy of gathering around the great feast of the Passover is tinged with sorrow.
And then you would think at celebration of this mass of The Last Supper, that the gospel would be about the institution, about the institution of the Eucharist. And yet we have this very strange kind of beginning.
Jesus, having told his disciples how much longed to be with them, he takes off his outer garment and he goes to the outside, really, and he brings in the bowl with which the servants wash the feet of those who come to the banquet. You know they come a long distance and they’re all very important people and it’s a very important feast, but there has to be someone who’s going to wash their feet before they enter the household of the host. And this job is given to the lowest of the lowest slave.
And Jesus comes back with the water and he kneels down in front of each of them and he begins to wash their feet.
And he comes to St. Peter and a pin could drop through the whole dining hall. And Peter, as we know, is an impetuous man and he sees his Lord and master degrading himself in this way and he says to him, “You’re not going to wash my feet.”
And then Jesus says something even more strange. He says to them, he says, “Peter, if you do not let me wash your feet, you will never know who I am. You can have nothing, nothing to do with me, because you will never understand.”
And then Peter, as usual with his ups and downs, he cries out, “Not only, not only my feet, but my head and my shoulders and my arms and my whole self” because if there’s one thing that Peter knows, he does not want to lose the love he feels for this person who has changed his life.
And then Jesus proceeds, one after the other, washing their feet, drying their feet.
And finally he goes back, puts on his garment, and he says to them, “Do you know what I have done to you?”
And of course they don’t. And they’re quite silent.
He said, “You call me Lord and master, and that’s what I am. I am your Lord and I am your master, but I have washed your feet.” And then there is a great pause and he says, “I do this because you will never know who I am until you wash each other’s feet.”
This is the meaning of the Eucharist. This is the meaning of why he, the Son of God, came down to share our humanity, that we might share in an understanding of the great dignity that God has given us and the great gift that he continues to give us each day.
It seems like, from one point of view, that what Jesus is doing is playing a game or making a parable by what he does. How can the Son of God kneel down in front of these men who in a very, very short time will all run away from him when he needs them most. One will betray him, others will deny him three times, their leader. When he says to the little lady who says, “You’re one of them” he says, and he curses and he swears, “I have never known this man.” And Jesus knows that this is all going to happen.
Why and what does it mean? When he kneels down what does Jesus see?
He sees the humanity of all of them, and he loves them in a human way. But he also sees the presence of God. He knows that each one has been formed individually, particularly, out of the greatness and glory of God. And each one is worthy of respect because, not for what he is, but what he has become when God created him in His own image and His own likeness.
And what Jesus is really doing is telling the truth of who they really are. They are not, even in the most remote way, even near an understanding of the greatness of being the children, the sons and daughters, those made in the image of a loving Father.
We have two pictures tonight to show you. The one behind is the Last Supper. The Last Supper is God Himself sharing his love with his disciples; it is Jesus now teaching them the secret of God.
The secret of God is in the back of the church and we see Jesus washing the feet of Peter.
And the lesson of course is this: Jesus washes feet, God washes feet, and until we learn to wash feet, to serve others, no conditions, no counting the cost, but to learn to serve others, then we will know that it is God who washes our feet and it is God’s Son who dies on a cross for us.
And the real meaning of it all is will we ever learn to love as Jesus loves, will we ever realize that we’re surrounded by the great mystery and love of God who is with us all our days.
And the way we understand it is by turning to each other and saying, “Let me help you, let me serve you, let me take care of you.”
This is the lesson of tonight, it’s the lesson of tomorrow, and it’s the lesson of new life, for Jesus says, “He who gives his life away, will have life in abundance.”
(from fatherhanly.com)
Blessing
Jesus teaches us with practical example how we must serve one another. At the Eucharistic table, we gather to share in this sacred Communion of love and service. May the almighty God bless you in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen!