Today’s
Gospel Text: Now before the feast of the
Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to
the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the
end. 2 And during supper, when
the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to
betray him, 3 Jesus, knowing that the Father
had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was
going to God, 4 rose from supper, laid aside
his garments, and girded himself with a towel. 5 Then he poured water into a
basin, and began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them with the towel
with which he was girded. 6 He came to Simon Peter; and
Peter said to him, "Lord, do you wash my feet?" 7 Jesus answered him, "What
I am doing you do not know now, but afterward you will understand." 8 Peter said to him, "You
shall never wash my feet." Jesus answered him, "If I do not wash you,
you have no part in me." 9 Simon Peter said to him,
"Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!" 10 Jesus said to him, "He who
has bathed does not need to wash, except for his feet, but he is clean all
over; and you are clean, but not every one of you." 11 For he knew who was to betray
him; that was why he said, "You are not all clean."
12 When he had washed their feet,
and taken his garments, and resumed his place, he said to them, "Do you
know what I have done to you? 13 You call me Teacher and Lord;
and you are right, for so I am. 14 If I then, your Lord and
Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. 15 For I have given you an
example, that you also should do as I have done to you. John 13:1-15
Reflection: “………
having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to
the end. (vs. 1)
Having
loved them; referring to his disciples whom he loved but how did he love them
to the end.
Is
it the immediate end or the future end? Yet we know that the moment was the
foot washing ceremony of Jesus when he washed the feet of his Disciples.
Since
it was still a way away from the end then how can the gospel claim that he
loved them to the end?
Unless
the gospel of John is suggesting that that moment was the end towards a new
beginning: a moment when one meets the cleansing power of the word in order to make a new beginning.
What
was the moment? It was the moment of the foot washing, liturgically practiced
by the priest, not just at Maundy Thursday, which is a purely symbolic action but
practiced at every Eucharistic celebration.
You are already made
clean by the word which I have spoken to you. John 15:3
A priest through his faithful preaching of the word of God, and
not by his preaching of his secular learning’s or his personal opinions, faithfully carries on the
mandate of Christ to wash his people where they need to be washed more and
what they need to be washed of.
When one only looks at this symbolic action of Jesus and keeps
practicing the symbolic action opportunistically and make demand for an
inclusive action then one is being self-conceited and does not understand the
truth of the gospel.
From this primary action flow all other actions of service towards
the brotherhood of Christ: "Do you know what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and
Lord; and you are right, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have
washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given
you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you. John 13:12-15
St. Paul practiced it
when he asserts: “To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have
become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some.” 1
Cor 9:22
And to us he exhorts: “Bear
one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.” Gal
6:2
Prayer: God
our Father, may we humbly learn from the example of Christ and we ask you to bless the
priests of your vineyard as they carry on the mission with faithfulness to your word
DD = Dedicated
Discipleship: Come grow
in the Lord with us
