Holy Thursday
Before the feast of Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come to pass from this world to the Father.
Tonight we remember Jesus’ last night on earth. Put yourself into the scene. He’s gathered all His friends together for his final Passover meal. He knows that by this time tomorrow His earthly life will be over.
What would you do if you were in His place? Share stories with the Apostles about all the good times you’ve had together? Maybe give them instructions on what to do after you’re gone? Or just try to enjoy their company one last time?
But that’s not what He did. In the middle of the meal :
He 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.
He washed their feet!!! He got up in the middle of dinner and washed their feet!!! Jesus and the Apostles wore sandals. It was hot. There were no sidewalks. They walked the same paths as the animals. Surely their feet were very dirty. I like to wear sandals in the summer time. Trust me, I wouldn’t get up in the middle of dinner and wash my own feet, let alone anyone else’s.
So why did Jesus decide to wash their feet? The Gospel tells us:
He loved His own in the world and He loved them to the end.
It goes on to say:
When He had washed their feet and put his garments back on and reclined at table again, he said to them, “Do you realize what I have done for you? You call me ‘teacher’ and ‘master’ and rightly so, for indeed I am. If I, therefore, the master and teacher, have washed your feet, 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.
He was showing them, by His example, that we’re all here to serve one another, to wash one another’s feet.
Earlier today, at the Cathedral Basilica, the priests of the Archdiocese gathered for the Chrism Mass. It’s the mass where the Archbishop blesses the oils that we use in the parishes for the following year. It’s also a celebration of the priesthood. In the second reading tonight, Paul tells the Corinthians how Jesus instituted the Eucharist at the Last Supper.
When He told His Apostles “Do this in memory of me”, He created the sacrament of the Eucharist, but He also instituted the priesthood. He charged them with repeating the consecration of the bread and wine into His own Body and Blood.
In washing their feet He charged them with being of service to one another. In the breaking of the bread and the pouring of the wine, He charged them with the ministry of the Eucharist. Service and the sacraments, that’s what the priesthood is all about.
Are priests perfect? Of course not. Only deacons are perfect. Just kidding. We’re all sinners. Some of us are just worse sinners than others. According to some people, the Church, our Church, is going to hell in a hand basket. We have scandals. We have crises. Parishes are closing. Schools are closing. There aren’t enough priests. Our own pastor has three jobs. What are we going to do???
Well, in just a few hours Jesus will begin his final, tragic night on earth, because one of His first priests sold Him out for thirty pieces of silver. Soon He will take His priests with Him to the garden of Gethsamane. They won’t even be able to stay awake. Imagine being on death row and asking your best friends to sit with you and they all fall asleep. How would you feel? That’s what Jesus got from His best friends. They fell asleep! Not exactly washing His feet, were they?
Shortly after that, they will come to take Jesus away, led by one of His “friends” who has betrayed Him. What do the remaining eleven do? They take off. They hit the road. They run off and leave Him to fend for himself. No foot washing there.
Worse, the Apostle who Jesus has chosen to lead His new church not only runs away, but he denies even knowing Jesus; not once, but three times.
No, what’s going on the church today may be bad, but it’s nowhere near the catastrophe that happened on that first night. What a way to start a church. But start it did. Today, more than 2,000 years later, it continues. It survived that first crisis, just hours after Jesus started it.
It’s survived heresies, barbarian invaders, bad priests, bad bishops, and even bad popes. The young church was divided in two, the eastern church and the Roman Church. Catholics have been forced to worship in secret because our Church was illegal in some places. Ireland for example, or Germany during Hitler’s reign. It’s still illegal to be a Catholic in China and a lot of third world countries. There were more Christian martyrs in the 20th century than there were in the first nineteen centuries combined. Through all that, Jesus’ church has survived and even thrived. Some will tell you that we have a crisis today that we will never get past. Don’t believe it.
Today my son, Patrick, and I went out to the country to clear some brush. We got a few scratches from some of the thorn bushes. No big deal. But, for the last six weeks, we’ve been looking at this crown of thorns in front of the ambo. Take a good look at it. These suckers are long and very sharp. Tomorrow, they will take one like it and put it on our Lord’s head. They won’t set it there gently. No, they’ll jam it down nice and tight and the blood will pour from head, into his eyes. The blood and the sweat will burn His eyes. Every time He falls, with His hands tied to the cross, He won’t be able to catch Himself. The force of the fall will drive the thorns even deeper. And, that’s just the beginning of the suffering He will endure for you and me.
Soon the Apostles will be on their own. They’ll be scared. If they killed Jesus, surely they’ll kill them too. Up until now, life’s been good. The Master has been there to lead them; to protect them. Now they’re going to have to figure what to do. They don’t understand yet about the resurrection. As far as they know, they might have been duped.
If Jesus is really the Son of God, how could He let Himself be killed. Will He come back on the third day? Is He gone forever? Is He really who He said He was? They’ll find out soon enough, but in the meantime, they must have been terrified. Three days can go by very quickly when it’s a holiday weekend. But three days of fear can seem like an eternity.
Tomorrow Jesus will die. The Apostles will go into hiding. We know what’s coming; the most glorious day of all, the day that Christ rose from the dead to save you and me from our sins. But, tonight and tomorrow are days to recall the sadness and the fear of His death. If we’re truly going to share in the experience of the Easter Triduum, we also have to feel the emotions of that Thursday, Friday and Saturday. And, as He told us, we have to wash one another’s feet.
Tonight we remember Jesus’ last night on earth. Put yourself into the scene. He’s gathered all His friends together for his final Passover meal. He knows that by this time tomorrow His earthly life will be over.
What would you do if you were in His place? Share stories with the Apostles about all the good times you’ve had together? Maybe give them instructions on what to do after you’re gone? Or just try to enjoy their company one last time?
But that’s not what He did. In the middle of the meal :
He 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.
He washed their feet!!! He got up in the middle of dinner and washed their feet!!! Jesus and the Apostles wore sandals. It was hot. There were no sidewalks. They walked the same paths as the animals. Surely their feet were very dirty. I like to wear sandals in the summer time. Trust me, I wouldn’t get up in the middle of dinner and wash my own feet, let alone anyone else’s.
So why did Jesus decide to wash their feet? The Gospel tells us:
He loved His own in the world and He loved them to the end.
It goes on to say:
When He had washed their feet and put his garments back on and reclined at table again, he said to them, “Do you realize what I have done for you? You call me ‘teacher’ and ‘master’ and rightly so, for indeed I am. If I, therefore, the master and teacher, have washed your feet, 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.
He was showing them, by His example, that we’re all here to serve one another, to wash one another’s feet.
Earlier today, at the Cathedral Basilica, the priests of the Archdiocese gathered for the Chrism Mass. It’s the mass where the Archbishop blesses the oils that we use in the parishes for the following year. It’s also a celebration of the priesthood. In the second reading tonight, Paul tells the Corinthians how Jesus instituted the Eucharist at the Last Supper.
When He told His Apostles “Do this in memory of me”, He created the sacrament of the Eucharist, but He also instituted the priesthood. He charged them with repeating the consecration of the bread and wine into His own Body and Blood.
In washing their feet He charged them with being of service to one another. In the breaking of the bread and the pouring of the wine, He charged them with the ministry of the Eucharist. Service and the sacraments, that’s what the priesthood is all about.
Are priests perfect? Of course not. Only deacons are perfect. Just kidding. We’re all sinners. Some of us are just worse sinners than others. According to some people, the Church, our Church, is going to hell in a hand basket. We have scandals. We have crises. Parishes are closing. Schools are closing. There aren’t enough priests. Our own pastor has three jobs. What are we going to do???
Well, in just a few hours Jesus will begin his final, tragic night on earth, because one of His first priests sold Him out for thirty pieces of silver. Soon He will take His priests with Him to the garden of Gethsamane. They won’t even be able to stay awake. Imagine being on death row and asking your best friends to sit with you and they all fall asleep. How would you feel? That’s what Jesus got from His best friends. They fell asleep! Not exactly washing His feet, were they?
Shortly after that, they will come to take Jesus away, led by one of His “friends” who has betrayed Him. What do the remaining eleven do? They take off. They hit the road. They run off and leave Him to fend for himself. No foot washing there.
Worse, the Apostle who Jesus has chosen to lead His new church not only runs away, but he denies even knowing Jesus; not once, but three times.
No, what’s going on the church today may be bad, but it’s nowhere near the catastrophe that happened on that first night. What a way to start a church. But start it did. Today, more than 2,000 years later, it continues. It survived that first crisis, just hours after Jesus started it.
It’s survived heresies, barbarian invaders, bad priests, bad bishops, and even bad popes. The young church was divided in two, the eastern church and the Roman Church. Catholics have been forced to worship in secret because our Church was illegal in some places. Ireland for example, or Germany during Hitler’s reign. It’s still illegal to be a Catholic in China and a lot of third world countries. There were more Christian martyrs in the 20th century than there were in the first nineteen centuries combined. Through all that, Jesus’ church has survived and even thrived. Some will tell you that we have a crisis today that we will never get past. Don’t believe it.
Today my son, Patrick, and I went out to the country to clear some brush. We got a few scratches from some of the thorn bushes. No big deal. But, for the last six weeks, we’ve been looking at this crown of thorns in front of the ambo. Take a good look at it. These suckers are long and very sharp. Tomorrow, they will take one like it and put it on our Lord’s head. They won’t set it there gently. No, they’ll jam it down nice and tight and the blood will pour from head, into his eyes. The blood and the sweat will burn His eyes. Every time He falls, with His hands tied to the cross, He won’t be able to catch Himself. The force of the fall will drive the thorns even deeper. And, that’s just the beginning of the suffering He will endure for you and me.
Soon the Apostles will be on their own. They’ll be scared. If they killed Jesus, surely they’ll kill them too. Up until now, life’s been good. The Master has been there to lead them; to protect them. Now they’re going to have to figure what to do. They don’t understand yet about the resurrection. As far as they know, they might have been duped.
If Jesus is really the Son of God, how could He let Himself be killed. Will He come back on the third day? Is He gone forever? Is He really who He said He was? They’ll find out soon enough, but in the meantime, they must have been terrified. Three days can go by very quickly when it’s a holiday weekend. But three days of fear can seem like an eternity.
Tomorrow Jesus will die. The Apostles will go into hiding. We know what’s coming; the most glorious day of all, the day that Christ rose from the dead to save you and me from our sins. But, tonight and tomorrow are days to recall the sadness and the fear of His death. If we’re truly going to share in the experience of the Easter Triduum, we also have to feel the emotions of that Thursday, Friday and Saturday. And, as He told us, we have to wash one another’s feet.
posted by Mike at 3:58 PM
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