The past thirteen months of the Corona Virus have turned our world on its head. Thirteen months ago, we shook hands, hugged, kissed, shared utensils, drank out of the same glass, and … gasp! … even breathed on each other. Imagine that!
Now we live in a world of vaccines, hand sanitizer, Lysol wipes, surgical masks, vitamins, and social distancing.
It would seem that nothing – anymore – is clean enough.
Today is Holy Thursday. And our Gospel is from the beginning of Chapter 13 of St. John’s Gospel … the washing of the Disciples’ feet.
We hear at first what Our Lord knew: (1) His hour had come, (2) the devil had induced Judas, and (3) God the Father had given everything into Jesus’s power, and that He had come from the God and was returning to God.
We even hear that beautiful line:
He loved his own in the world and he loved them to the end.
The word, “end” here means having reached a goal or a purpose.
And after telling us what Jesus “knew,” St. John tells us what Jesus “did.”
He washes His disciples’ feet.
Weird.
After His Transfiguration, where a select group of disciples have seen His glory, he now takes on the lowest role – that of a servant or slave.
Certainly not something one would associate with glory.
Certainly not an elevated position.
Certainly not what a “master,” “teacher,” or “Lord” would – or should – do.
Jesus’s purpose is to remind the disciples – and to remind us – of humility.
On Palm Sunday, I spoke of the humility of Christ … and the hymn found in the second reading from the second chapter of St. Paul’s Letter to the Philippians.
though he was in the form of God …
he emptied himself,
taking the form of a slave …
he humbled himself …
And in this humble role, Jesus proceeds to make His disciples “clean” – the word here means both “clean” as well as “pure” – in a physical sense, in a ritual sense, in an ethical sense – and in a spiritual sense.
And Our Lord calls what He is doing a “model” … an “example” … a “thing to be imitated.”
What are we imitating?
Humility.
Holiness.
And in the verses just following what we heard read this evening, our Lord promises “blessedness” … in the Greek, makarios … “Happiness.”
The world tells us to pursue happiness – for its own sake. Yet starting there it is very easy to get lost, and we see that in the world – many people are lost. Because to start there is backwards … it turns the reality up-side-down.
Our Lord teaches us to be humble – as He is humble. He teaches us to be holy – as He is holy. And with that as a foundation … imitating His humility and His holiness … only then can we be truly happy … blessed in His grace, in His mercy, and in His love.
As we approach this altar to receive Him – Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity – Christ Jesus our “master” … our “teacher” … our “Lord and God” – let us do what He has done for us … for one another … to one another … so that we might indeed be blessed in Him.
May our imitation of Christ’s humility lead us to holiness … and ultimately eternal happiness with Him for ever.
