Good Example

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Acts, disciples, humility, Jesus, John, love impels us, Paul, selfless service, soup kitchen, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, washing feet

There’s lots of travel for Paul and his companions as well as John in the first reading this morning (Acts 13:13-25) as they go about preaching the word. I feel for them, having finally arrived home after a long day on airplanes, a short night of sleep and a morning in the car yesterday. I always marvel, however, at the fact that I traveled 3,000 miles in that time while the apostles were probably lucky to count about 20 miles on a good day. As they are scurrying about teaching and preaching, I suspect they were frequently reminded of the example of Jesus as I was in this morning’s gospel account (JN 13:16-20). We are thrown back to Holy (Maundy) Thursday as John writes, When Jesus had washed the disciples’ feet, he said to them: “Amen, amen, I say to you, no slave is greater than his master nor any messenger greater than the one who sent him. If you understand this, blessed are you if you do it.”

It’s one thing to talk about something and another to give example of the message. The act of Jesus washing the feet of his disciples (a word that means students) was a striking example of humility, hard to be missed in apostolic times. We might ask ourselves today what we would be willing to do for another – any other – in an act of selfless service, that is, an act where we expect no return and yet are willing to pour ourselves out simply because love impels us. In our busy and often competitive society there is much to be gained by taking opportunities to act on what we say – and truly believe – are the principles of gracious living. When we work at a soup kitchen, do we sit down with the clients to share a meal? Even further, do we look into their eyes for recognition of ourselves and of God? When we step back and hold a door for someone, do we bow internally for the opportunity to serve the presence of God which precedes us? We can each find ways to understand what Jesus is saying to his disciples this morning that will help us internalize the reality that lies deeper than the words.

Heritage

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Corinthians, Eucharist, Exodus, Hebrews, Holy Thursday, Jesus, John, Last Supper, love, love one another, memorial feast, Passover, Paul, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, washing feet

This morning’s readings remind us that Eucharistic services only happen in the evening of this day as we read in the Hebrew Scriptures the story of the Passover from slavery in Egypt to freedom (EX 12) and in the Christian Scriptures the institution of the Eucharist during what we term the Last Supper. This year’s eight day celebration of Passover for our Jewish brothers and sisters begins tomorrow, coinciding with our remembrance of  the events of the Paschal Mystery as Jesus passes through death to new life.

Today’s first reading, the detailed instruction of how the Hebrews are to celebrate Passover, ends saying: “This day shall be a memorial feast for you, which all your generations shall celebrate…as a perpetual institution.” I will always be grateful for the understanding I received about the way that happens in the Jewish Seder. When the stories of liberation are read, rather than seeing those chronicled events as past history, the Jewish people experience them as present. The stories are entered into as if they are happening as they are being read. After that realization came to me, I viewed the words of the institution of the Eucharist (which we hear from Paul tonight in 1COR 11) in a different and more vibrant way. And it is now when I hear those words that I can see myself in that upper room listening to the conversation about the new covenant that Jesus is instituting at the supper. Even more visual as the example of what that means for us is the action of Jesus in tonight’s gospel (JN 13:1-15) when he rises from the table and begins to wash the feet of his disciples. Having had just such an experience at a supper table on retreat in 2010, washing the feet of a friend and having my own feet washed in turn, I understand that these events are not past history or only meaningful stories, but are commands of Jesus for now as we live into our faith and come to understand ever more deeply what Jesus meant when he said, “Love one another as I have loved you.”