You wont wash my feet!
At the Chrism Mass Bishop Joe blessed the sacred oils that will be used throughout the year. These oils will be used for consecrating, anointing for healing, and for setting apart for God. i.e. Confirmation and Ordination to Holy Orders.
The Psalm Response verses at the Chrism Mass spoke of the effects of the anointment of David, the anointed of the Lord, was filled with strength, faithfulness, and kindness of the Lord.
The Anointing at our baptism and confirmation establishes a special relationship between God, and us who is our father, our rock, and our Savior.
As part of this relationship we are called to serve. As we begin this “Sacred Tradition”, we are called to bring comfort to the suffering and the poor.
In the second reading Paul writes and account of the institution of the Eucharist to the community of Corinth because they seem to have forgotten the significance of this event. It would be well for us to revisit this passage often. Like the people of Corinth we too sometimes are celebrating the Lord’s Supper but not living in communion with our brothers and sisters. Some of us have more than enough when we gather together while others are all but starving.
Paul accuses them of sinning against the communion they were celebrating when they participated in the Eucharist. He told them to examine their conscience before they received the Eucharist. In other words, we are to make absolutely sure that we understand the significance of what we’re doing.
And, today’s verse before the Gospel, “Love on another as I have loved you” is the very core of the sacrament that we are celebrating.
John’s account of the Last Supper does not include the institution of the Eucharist. Rather, it speaks of how Jesus washed the feet of his disciples and invited them to do the same to each other, which invitation was reenacted here this evening.
It’s not that John’s Gospel ignores the Eucharist (quite the opposite, for it presents the sacrament of the Eucharist here as a verb, an act of service, and invitation to serve others. In Chapter 6, the Eucharist is presented as a noun (the real presence of Jesus) when He said to the crowd, “I am the bread of life, whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst”. And, chapter 21, where the meal on the shore after the miraculous catch of fish had Eucharistic overtones and presents the Eucharist as a call to mission.
John presents this scene at the Last Supper to teach us the spiritual significance of the sacrament of the Eucharist. It is the sacrament through which Jesus serves us in a most profound manner, and which invites us to be service to each other. Jesus’ ministry in this Gospel is all about His coming into to the world to save us.
This is why the beginning of the account mentions certain things. First of all, we hear that the feast of the Passover was near. In John the Last Supper is an anticipation of the Passover meal, for in his Gospel, Passover does not begin until Good Friday night.
So we too, as we gather this evening to celebrate the “Last Supper” will leave here with this meal not finished, and will gather again on “Good Friday” to witness the “Passion of Christ”, and tonight’s meal is continued tomorrow with communion of the Eucharist.
Peter did not want his feet to be washed, possibly because he feared vulnerability (being served). Yet, both service and vulnerability are necessary parts of the love of Christ. We too, must be willing to make ourselves vulnerable in order to both serve and allow ourselves to be served.