Message of Abbot Paul - Maundy Thursday
Message from Fr Paul for Maundy Thursday, 1st April 2021
I’ve always loved Maundy Thursday, as it’s known in the UK, a word that derives from the Latin mandatum (commandment), which refers to the words of Jesus at the Last Supper, “I give you a new commandment: love one another as I have loved you.” More specifically, it refers to the command that we serve one another in patient humility, as Jesus himself did when he washed the disciples’ feet. Today’s Gospel passage from John, (Jn 13: 1-15), recounts that event. I’ll give you the whole text before saying a few words about it.
“It was before the festival of the Passover, and Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to pass from this world to the Father. He had always loved those who were his in the world, but now he showed how perfect his love was.
They were at supper, and the devil had already put it into the mind of Judas Iscariot son of Simon, to betray him. Jesus knew that the Father had put everything into his hands, and that he had come from God and was returning to God, and he got up from table, removed his outer garment and, taking a towel, wrapped it round his waist; he then poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel he was wearing. He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, ‘Lord, are you going to wash my feet?’ Jesus answered, ‘At the moment you do not know what I am doing, but later you will understand.’ ‘Never!’ said Peter ‘You shall never wash my feet.’ Jesus replied, ‘If I do not wash you, you can have nothing in common with me.’ ‘Then, Lord,’ said Simon Peter ‘not only my feet, but my hands and my head as well!’ Jesus said, ‘No one who has taken a bath needs washing, he is clean all over. You too are clean, though not all of you are.’ He knew who was going to betray him, that was why he said, ‘though not all of you are.’
When he had washed their feet and put on his clothes again he went back to the table. ‘Do you understand’ he said ‘what I have done to you? You call me Master and Lord, and rightly; so I am. If I, then, the Lord and Master, have washed your feet, you should wash each other’s feet. I have given you an example so that you may copy what I have done to you.’”
St John begins his account of the Passion, a narrative that takes up a third of his Gospel, with the washing of the disciples’ feet. It is a living parable, in which Jesus demonstrates the true meaning of his life. Like all parables, it invites us to contemplate the mystery of Christ and what that means for us. The washing of the feet turns our understanding of God upside down, for the Master becomes a slave, showing his disciples that this is the only way in which they can follow him and become what God wants them to be. “If I do not wash you, you can have nothing in common with me,” Jesus says to Peter. Let us take a closer look.
The first thing we notice is the presence of Judas at table with Jesus and the others. The devil has already put it into his mind to betray Jesus, but he is still there with the disciples, and Jesus washes his feet too. Jesus does not judge us, but bestows his gifts lavishly on us all, even if we have it in mind to betray him. Unfortunately, Judas learns nothing from the humility of Jesus. Filled with fear and despair, he will commit suicide, unable to accept that Jesus still loves him and longs to forgive and save him.
Then Jesus gets up from the table, removes his outer garment, wraps a towel round his waist, pours water into a basin and begins to wash his disciples’ feet. What Jesus did that night was something quite extraordinary, in fact, revolutionary. It was no ordinary washing of feet, certainly not the usual ritual offered to travellers and guests even today in many cultures and societies. Now, a Jewish servant might wash the feet of his master and of his master’s family and guests. It’s a very intimate thing to do. Who washes your feet? Whose feet do you wash? Only a Roman slave would take off his outer garment and set about washing people’s feet in his tunic, a sort of undershirt: it wasn’t usual in a Jewish household. Moreover, Jesus himself pours water into the bowl, and that was woman’s work. His actions turn the world on its head. The disciples had never really understood what he was telling them about himself: would tonight be any different?
When he comes to Peter, there’s bound to be trouble. Peter is a proud, outspoken man, never afraid to confront and question Jesus. “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?” The English translation is rather weak and doesn’t convey the power of the Greek. “What? YOU wash MY feet? Are you out of your mind?” St John Chrysostom tells us that the words express Peter’s love, but that it’s a defective love. It lacks the humility illustrated in what Jesus is doing. In Peter’s response we see pride and self-will, the very causes of sin, for which only the Cross can atone. Peter still has that “get-thee-behind-me-Satan” syndrome and he still doesn’t understand.
Jesus knows that what he’s doing is bewildering, almost scandalous, for the disciples. “At the moment you do not know what I am doing, but later you will understand.” Only after the Resurrection will they begin to understand that in the Church, the Body of Christ, there can be no room for those who refuse to be cleansed by his atoning death and washed clean in the blood of the Lamb, for it is into his death that we are baptised. Likewise, only afterwards will they come to understand that communion with Christ depends on celebrating and entering into the great Sacrament of love, the Eucharistic sacrifice, with all its practical implications of mercy and charity.
