Holy Thursday: Evening Mass of the Lord’s Supper
Readings: Exodus 12:1-8, 11-14; Psalm 116:12-13, 15-16Bc, 17-18;
1 Corinthians 11:23-26; John 13: 1-15
March 24, 2016
Fr. William C. Graham | St. Michael Parish in Duluth
What did Jesus look like? Some folks think that is an interesting or an
important question. Maybe you begin to answer that question by wondering
about height, or complexion or eye color. But even if you knew, or could
know, those things, well: so what? What difference would it make if he
were blond, or short, or had brown eyes?
Some folks think that is an interesting or an important question. But it
is not how he looked, how tall or short, muscular or lanky, light or dark he
was. How do we know that the question is not important? Well, no gospel
writer reported how he looked. Important observations: they wrote them
down. Things that did not matter: they overlooked those things or did not
report them.
Here is what John the gospel writer observed and wrote down to
preserve a memory, to inspire the earliest disciples, to record a moment, to
announce a mission for a church that would go out to all nations to proclaim
the good news; John wrote that Jesus: “rose from supper and took off his
outer garments. / He took a towel and tied it around his waist. / Then he
poured water into a basin / and began to wash the disciples’ feet / and dry
them with the towel around his waist.”
John analyzes a moment by reporting it; his report tells us that what
Jesus did, and does, is more important than how he looked.
So, this foot washing, what did and does it mean? Well, we observe
that Matthew, Mark and Luke, the other three gospel writers, tell of the Last
Supper and the sharing of the bread and wine, blessed and given by Jesus as
the sacrament of his enduring presence. He remains with the church in
every age as food for the journey. In his gospel, John does not report the
bread and the wine, but puts his focus here: Jesus “rose from supper and …
began to wash the disciples’ feet.”
For John, and for the Church of Jesus, the food for the journey is
given in the context of an act of humble service.
As we Christians ask ourselves what humble service looks like in
2016 (or as non-Christians ask what we are about and why), we have no
shortage of examples. Perhaps CHUM and the Damiano Center and St.
Michael’s Used-a-Bit Shop are places to begin; each of these enterprises
seeks to serve members of our community who are often more visible to us
than they are integrated among us. It is clear in our history at St. Michael’s
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that our parish’s two oldest missions are education and social service. In
this way, we continue to build up the Body of Christ, to fulfill the commands
of Jesus, and ready ourselves to greet him when he comes again.
We often are perplexed about how to serve the homeless, the mentally
ill, those victimized by abuse, and children or very young adults who are
raising children in single parent homes. CHUM, Damiano, the Used-a-Bit,
as foot washers, show us approaches, parts of the solution.
What about our local nurses and other health care professionals who
have volunteered in Haiti and in other disaster zones, seeking to care for
those who suffer from disasters both natural and human caused?
Foot
washers for sure.
Last Saturday’s procession of Christian ministers and faithful people
encircling the burned structure that has housed Gloria Dei Church for over
100 years gave public witness to a history of foot washing, and the
commitment to remain rooted, vibrant and service-oriented on that same
block inspired still by the same gospel.
Every observant person will see around her or him compelling
examples of service, and recognize what former President George H.W.
Bush memorably called “a thousand points of light.”
For Christian people, all light reflects Christ the light, the washer of
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feet, the path and the truth.
In our acts of justice and charity, we recognize Christ present among
us. At Saturday’s Vigil, we will sign of that sweet love in the Exsultet, the
great Easter Proclamation: “O wonder of your humble care for us! / O love,
O charity beyond all telling.” We see that the sanctifying power of this
season of grace “dispels wickedness, washes faults away, / restores
innocence to the fallen, and joy to mourners, / drives out hatred, fosters
concord, and brings down the mighty.”
On this Holy Thursday, we join Christian people throughout the
Northland and all across the globe who will have basins and pitchers and
feet prominent in their sanctuaries. They and we have heard the mandatum,
the mandate, the command of Jesus: “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.”
Our faithful witness, our courageous willingness to serve and be
served, our reflection of the light that lives within us quickens our
community in hope, and invites all of us to imitate Jesus, the one who
humbled himself in our service. On this night, heaven is wedded to earth,
and we are reconciled to God.
Personally, my Holy Week prayer will be that the one who humbled
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himself to share in our humanity will bring all of us foot washers to share in
his divinity.
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