Maundy Thursday 2021: The Virtue of Humility
At the beginning of the Triduum, the Three Great Days, it is time to focus on Jesus. I invite you tonight to meditate on the events of the last meal he shared with his friends, as recounted by the Belovèd Apostle, John.
In v. 1 of John 13 it says v 1 ...Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart this world... He knows, yet he continues on, talking with his disciples, listening to their chatter about the coming Passover Festival, eating and drinking.
He knows when Peter draws back his feet, saying v 8 Lord you will never wash my feet; that this is his last chance to get the message of loving servant leadership across to him.
For a moment, put yourself in Peter’s place and imagine what it was like for him. Close your eyes, and follow Jesus’ movements as he rises from table, girds himself with a towel, and as he - the one you believe is God’s Messiah; whom you saw shining on the Mount; and healing; and even raising the dead; and who preaches like no one has ever preached - washes the other disciples’ feet. He comes and kneels before you - he intends to wash your feet? It’s impossible; and you protest ‘No, no Lord, you shall never wash my feet!
But Jesus is clear: if I don’t wash your feet our ways part - and that is unthinkable. He removes your sandals and lifts your smelly, dirty feet into the water, cleaning off the grot and grime of a day’s walk with this strong carpenter’s hands that are simultaneously rough and gentle.
How do you feel, Peter?
As Ash Wednesday’s cross is traced on our foreheads the priest says, Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return. It is right for us to be humbled before Jesus, through whom all things were made. It is right. In his act of genuine, humble service, Jesus humbled the disciples: they were made aware of who they truly were before God. We are not God’s equals. We are made from stardust, like the glowing gold tiles in the Sanctuary and the flowers beautifying the Altar of Repose. As the gold tiles reflect the candlelight, we are created to reflect the light of Christ into the world, and as beautiful flowers sweeten the air, we are meant to shed the fragrance of Christ on those around us.
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Maundy Thursday, 2021. St Peter’s E.H.
Humility is – so the mystics teach us – the mother of all virtues, and will bring us closer to our Lord, whereas pride causes us to draw back and refuse to accept what Jesus wishes to do for us – No, we will say: you will never wash me. But an essential part of our discipleship is allowing Jesus to be our servant, to minister to us even though we, like Peter, might feel unworthy and even dirty.
After returning to the table Jesus reminded his disciples – amongst whom we count ourselves - that servants are not greater than their master, and that we should follow his example, do what he has done. What has he done? Humbled himself in obedience to God the Father by becoming human; humbled himself before humanity by becoming our servant. Go and do what I do, he says. Minister to others, he says. Wash their soiled feet, he says.
Jesus’ actions speak very loudly across the centuries. Jesus knew, that night, he was about to be betrayed, and he knew who his betrayer was, yet he washed Judas’ feet also. Imagine the scene: Judas itching to slip off to the High Priests while Jesus, cleanses his grimy feet with his gentle hands. v1 ‘having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end No recriminations, no dark looks from Jesus. He loved Judas to the end. He washed his feet; lovingly, gently.
We have all turned proudly away from Jesus sometimes, like Peter: preferring to remain dirty. We have all betrayed him in various ways. Collectively we have betrayed God’s trust in us by failing to care for his other creatures and our Sister, Mother Earth.
You also should do as I have done to you, says Jesus. I love you. You, who are but a minute speck of dust swirling in the mists of eternity. I love you, though you hurt me and others, often; and over again. I love those who betray me and forgive all who hurt me. I love you so much I am ready to die for you. I bow down to the floor before you and wash your feet.
Go now, and do the same. Mother Pirrial