"Before the feast of Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come to pass from this world to the Father. He loved his own in the world and he loved them to the end."¹

This verse in the gospel of John begins a chapter that is one of the most touching in all of scripture. Jesus has his closest friends around him. Together they are about to celebrate the Jewish feast of Passover. The feast celebrates the passage through the Red Sea by the Hebrews as they fled from Pharaoh’s army. It is the greatest of the Jewish feasts. Passover celebrates the Hebrews’ escape from their enemies and the oppression of the captors in Egypt. It is the movement of the Hebrews from Egypt to the Promised Land led by Moses, the faithful servant of God. Passover is a celebration of the Hebrew people’s liberation by their God.

Jesus is the new Moses come to liberate us all from sin. His final hour is near and he has to take leave of his dearest friends. He must prepare them for his departure and make clearer all that he has been teaching them. What are the paramount lessons Jesus wants to remind them of and reinforce for them?

The first lesson is the depth and breadth of his love for them and for the entire world. The second is that of humble, loving mutual service. The days preceding this Last Supper together have been full and confusing for the disciples. There was the triumphant entry into Jerusalem with the great crowd surrounding Jesus, casting branches before him and shouting: "Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, the King of Israel." 2 The disciples were elated. All their fondest, wildest dreams seemed on the verge of realization.

A pall of confusion covers the disciples as they surround Jesus this evening. They are here to celebrate God’s great victory for their people: release from the captivity of Egypt. But Jesus is obviously not in a festive mood. He is very serious, very pensive. When the crowds had acclaimed Jesus earlier in the week, he quickly reminded the disciples that honor and accolades from the people were not what was in store.

Jesus dashed the disciples’ misplaced hopes as he replied to the Greeks who wished to see Jesus:  "Amen, amen, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit. Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in the world will preserve it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me, and whree I am, there also will my servant be. The Father will honor whoever serves me." ³

While they are at supper, Jesus gets up from the table, removes his outer garments, takes a towel and wraps it around his waist. The astounded disciples watch as Jesus pours water into a basin and begins to wash their feet and wipe them with the towel he’s wearing. They are shocked to see Jesus performing a slave's task. Then he asks them: "Do you understand what I have done to 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. 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." ⁴

If you understand. Obviously, this first Holy Thursday evening, the disciples did not understand all that Jesus was saying or the full import of all that he had taught them over the previous months. After Pentecost the true and deeper meaning will come to their minds and hearts, but this evening they are to deny Jesus and flee. Only with the gift of the Holy Spirit will they find the strength needed to overcome their fears and weakness.

What can we understand from this scene at the Last Supper? "Wherever I am, there also will my servant be."⁵ "Wherever I am", whether being betrayed and led away to be falsely accused and crucified, or kneeling to bathe the feet of lepers, or seated in the Father’s presence, "there will my servant be." Later that same evening, Jesus tells his disciples: "I have called you friends, because I have told you everything I have heard from my Father." ⁶ This evening, betrayed by one disciple and about to be abandoned by the others and then crucified, Jesus still pours out his heart to these men. He tells them everything he has heard from his Father. The secrets of the eternal Father’s heart are given over to the disciples of Jesus, the men he no longer calls servants. He now calls them friends.

Jesus gives us the model and example of the depth of love and service to others that should characterize the life of his followers, his friends: Just before he goes to pray in the garden where he will be marked out for arrest by a friend’s traitorous kiss, and led off to be mocked, scourged, and crucified, He, the beloved Son of God, kneels before these vulnerable men whom he has fashioned and made, and washes their feet.

Copyright 02/17/01

Copyright 02/17/01