Maundy Thursday

As Pope Francis says, a closed church is a contradiction in terms. Love is what makes a church an open entity. Without love a church or a family is a contradiction in terms. In the same way, without service and humility, our church or community could become a closed one. True meaning of love is service and humility. This is proved by Jesus’ self-giving in the Last Supper, and by his sacrifice at the wood of the cross. What we commemorate in Maundy Thursday is nothing but love: love as self-giving and life-giving. Jesus gives himself as food to nourish us to give us life and newness. He is ready to suffer for us out of sheer love as he becomes the Passover Lamb in food and drink, and in his life-giving act on the Cross.

First Reading: Ex 12:1-8, 11-14

“It is the Passover of the Lord.”

The story of Passover is a dark passage from slavery to freedom, leaving a trail of blood and weeping in its wake. The angel of death, unlike other celestial visitors, is no gentle spirit. The streets of Egypt, like the shores of the Red Sea, would be strewn with the dead before Israel walked free.

Other kinds of oppression require other kinds of deaths. When truth is suppressed, many lies must die for truth to be set free. Our cultural lies about who is beautiful, who is valuable, who must be put to death. Our moral fictions about who is categorically good and who is bad must be exposed. If we do not murder the lies about what will satisfy the human heart, then those lies will smother the search for real love and real hope. 

Tonight we keep in holy memory the night of Israel’s great liberation. At the same time, we acknowledge the sober reality that the cost of freedom is often very high.

Second Reading: 1 Cor 11:23-26

“This cup is the new covenant in my blood.”

When it comes to redeeming a world from the grip of sin, God did not get off easy. If there was a way to wave a wand and make salvation available, Jesus did not choose it: he did not look for the quick fix for a broken world. Jesus wanted to show us the way to freedom by walking the road himself.

The deliberateness of the choice is what stuns us. Jesus sat calmly at supper that night with his friends, celebrating a feast day. Master of his own table, he performed the role of head of household in the breaking and sharing of the bread. In the familiar ritual action, he saw a foreshadowing of his self-offering, and told his disciples--as he had so often before--what was to come. And he asked them to remember, when the events of this hour were past, what he had said and done that night.

We still do. Sometimes with as little understanding as those who first shared the meal, we come to the table and eat the bread, drink the wine. We do it because Jesus told us to, and we know this is the way we will come to understand what he did and why he did it. We may celebrate this supper a hundred times, or thousands of times, in our lifetime. If just one of those times leads us to understanding what we do, it will be enough.

Gospel: Jn 13:1-15

“Jesus realized that the hour had come.”

The Transfiguration on Mount Tabor was an amazing event, but just as startling to the disciples was this transformation of Jesus at the last supper. He went from Lord to servant in a matter of moments. Rather than a glorification in light and mystery, he humbled himself with a towel and some water. He washed their feet. 

So striking was this gesture that nobody could say anything for awhile. And then of course it was Peter, always blurting out something, who manages a response. First Peter questions Jesus; and then Peter refuses him. The poor fisherman would never learn that less is sometimes more.

And now it is our turn to respond to the idea that the Lord of the Universe is prepared to wash our feet. Suddenly we feel Peter’s dilemma, the sweaty palms, the confusion, even the denial. O Lord, don’t do this. Don’t humble yourself for the likes of me. But Jesus washes our feet anyway, because it is the only way we will know who we are called to be: precious children of a loving God. And once we see ourselves this way, we will recognize each other as well. And we will take up the towel and the basin, and start washing.