Homily for Holy Thursday 2010 Fr. James McTavish FMVD
“Do you understand what I have done for you?”
On Holy Thursday we celebrate what is typically known as the Last Supper. In this Holy meal, where Jesus offered his own body and blood as food for the banquet, the sacraments of the Eucharist and of the Ministerial Priesthood were instituted. A new commandment is also received: “Love one another as I have loved you” (Jn 13, 35). In this meal, Jesus takes off his outer garment, ties a towel around his waist and begins to wash the feet of his disciples. Peter does not like this idea and questions Jesus “John 13:6-8 "Master, are you going to wash my feet?" Jesus answered and said to him, "What I am doing, you do not understand now, but you will understand later." If it had been in the Philippines Jesus would have asked “Nagets mo?”
It is not easy to understand this, a God who becomes man. A God who becomes a servant. Where is God? Most people will point a finger up in the sky and feel that God is far away. Instead of looking up perhaps we should look down and see him at our feet, washing them clean with his great love. It is a love of service, a Eucharistic love of serving others. Jesus said “I came not to be served but to serve”. This is hard to live out. We want to be served. As a priest here in the Philippines I have great difficulty to wash my own plate. “Let me wash.” “No, Father, God forbid. You are a priest!” But Jesus came to serve or be served? To serve!
Peter did not want his feet washed. But the one who never ahs his feet washed will never wash the feet of others. How beautiful to experience our feet being washed by Jesus in confession, when he washes our sins away with his sweat and blood on the cross. When we are washed clean then we can more easily forgive others. That is why Jesus says ““If I do not wash you, you will have no inheritance with me.” What does it mean to have our feet washed though? We represent it in a symbolic way tonight but what does it really mean in our lives? Actually in some marriage ceremonies the bride and groom wash each other’s feet. It is a gesture of love and acceptance. When you think about it, the feet especially in the time of Christ would have got quite dirty seeing as shoes and socks were not commonplace. To wash the feet is a way of saying I accept you, even those parts which are not so presentable.
When I think of my life I see how patient Jesus has been washing my feet. When I was working in the hospital many times I found myself to be quite an arrogant man. I would only talk to certain people and others who I deemed not worthy of me I would look down on or simply ignore. But Jesus approached my life with so much humility and washed me clean as he says in John 15,3 “You have been made clean by my Word”.
Even today Jesus approaches me many times in prayer washing away my fears by telling me “Do not be afraid”, washing away my timidity about preaching telling me “Keep on speaking!” and reminding me that his Spirit is not one of timidity. Thank you Jesus because you never tire of approaching my life, washing all the things away that stop me from loving others. Actually in this period of my life I have a tremendous sense of thanksgiving for all the wonderful things God is doing in my life and the life of my community. This year I have been busy with my brothers starting up a new house in Quezon city so at various times we have been painting, buying curtains etc. We have also been opening up the apostolate. This is challenging! We have been invited to give many talks, recollections and retreats. One elderly Jesuit of 92 told us that this is hard work and quite challenging – “like having to use a machete to open a way in the jungle”. How many times Jesus has gently approached me to help me, washing away my fear and asking me to get help from others in my community. I remember giving a recollection in a house and many people were not listening and I felt it was not going well. I became discouraged. In that moment I remembered the words of Jesus “You will have struggles in the world, but be brave!” (John 16,33). He was washing away my timidity and giving me a braveheart!!! I am from Scotland, the land of Braveheart so I notice that the Lord never gets tired of encouraging me!
Jesus wants to approach us and wash away all that hinders us. To wash away our complexes – it can be of inferiority – we feel inferior because of the school we didn’t go to, the way we speak, our financial status, where we come from…where are you from? LA, likod Ayala! As the former President, Eleanor Roosevelt once said “No one can make you feel inferior without your consent." If it is not inferiority it can be the other way, superiority! Lord wash away all that stops us loving others properly!
Jesus reminds us “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.” The more we see how Jesus has loved us the more we desire to love others. That is why he says “Love one another as I have loved you”. The word “as” is very important. In the original greek text, John the evangelist wrote the word “kathôs” which means equal to in quality; it is to love others with the same quality of love as the love of Christ. It is a love that is divine because it comes from God but it is also fully human because Jesus was truly man. Jesus commends his disciples with the following exhortation “I have given you a model to follow, so that as I have done for you, you should also do.” And then he adds “If you understand this, blessed are you if you do it”.
We will be blessed, which in biblical language is another way of saying happy if you do this. If you serve like I do you will be happy. To serve others not to use them for our own advantage. It is like the joke of the barber offering the free haircuts. The first man was a florist and he was very happy to receive a free haircut. The next day the barber found a thank you card and 12 roses from the florist. The next customer was a baker. He was so happy with the free haircut that the next day the barber found a thank you card and 12 cakes at his door. Finally a politician comes to get his free haircut. The next day the barber finds a thank you card outside his doorsteps and 12 members of the family of the politician waiting for the free haircut!
How important to use our position, our status to serve others. To serve and not to be served. To be a member of my family, looking to serve and not to be served. To be a member of the Church or a community not just coming to be served but to help out. Am I a constructor of community or a consumer only? As President Kennedy stated “Don’t just ask what my country can do for me but ask what can I do for my country?” For my family, my school, my community? Not what can it do for me, what is the gain or advantage in it for me? Jesus asks us not just to be served but to serve. This would revolutionize our relationships – it reminds us of the prayer of St Francis of Assisi – “O divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; to be understood, as to understand; to be loved, as to love”.
Let us continue this Eucharistic celebration and be filled with gratitude once more to see Christ come so humbly once again to wash our feet, to wash our hearts clean with his pure love in this Eucharist. He asks us tonight, as he once asked his disciples 2000 years ago “Do you understand what I have done for you? Do you understand how much I have loved you? Do you understand how many times I approach you to wash you tenderly, to love you? If you understand this, how happy you will be if you do the same to others. How happy you will be if you love them with my same love. How happy you will be if you put this into practice!”
“Do you understand what I have done for you?”
On Holy Thursday we celebrate what is typically known as the Last Supper. In this Holy meal, where Jesus offered his own body and blood as food for the banquet, the sacraments of the Eucharist and of the Ministerial Priesthood were instituted. A new commandment is also received: “Love one another as I have loved you” (Jn 13, 35). In this meal, Jesus takes off his outer garment, ties a towel around his waist and begins to wash the feet of his disciples. Peter does not like this idea and questions Jesus “John 13:6-8 "Master, are you going to wash my feet?" Jesus answered and said to him, "What I am doing, you do not understand now, but you will understand later." If it had been in the Philippines Jesus would have asked “Nagets mo?”
It is not easy to understand this, a God who becomes man. A God who becomes a servant. Where is God? Most people will point a finger up in the sky and feel that God is far away. Instead of looking up perhaps we should look down and see him at our feet, washing them clean with his great love. It is a love of service, a Eucharistic love of serving others. Jesus said “I came not to be served but to serve”. This is hard to live out. We want to be served. As a priest here in the Philippines I have great difficulty to wash my own plate. “Let me wash.” “No, Father, God forbid. You are a priest!” But Jesus came to serve or be served? To serve!
Peter did not want his feet washed. But the one who never ahs his feet washed will never wash the feet of others. How beautiful to experience our feet being washed by Jesus in confession, when he washes our sins away with his sweat and blood on the cross. When we are washed clean then we can more easily forgive others. That is why Jesus says ““If I do not wash you, you will have no inheritance with me.” What does it mean to have our feet washed though? We represent it in a symbolic way tonight but what does it really mean in our lives? Actually in some marriage ceremonies the bride and groom wash each other’s feet. It is a gesture of love and acceptance. When you think about it, the feet especially in the time of Christ would have got quite dirty seeing as shoes and socks were not commonplace. To wash the feet is a way of saying I accept you, even those parts which are not so presentable.
When I think of my life I see how patient Jesus has been washing my feet. When I was working in the hospital many times I found myself to be quite an arrogant man. I would only talk to certain people and others who I deemed not worthy of me I would look down on or simply ignore. But Jesus approached my life with so much humility and washed me clean as he says in John 15,3 “You have been made clean by my Word”.
Even today Jesus approaches me many times in prayer washing away my fears by telling me “Do not be afraid”, washing away my timidity about preaching telling me “Keep on speaking!” and reminding me that his Spirit is not one of timidity. Thank you Jesus because you never tire of approaching my life, washing all the things away that stop me from loving others. Actually in this period of my life I have a tremendous sense of thanksgiving for all the wonderful things God is doing in my life and the life of my community. This year I have been busy with my brothers starting up a new house in Quezon city so at various times we have been painting, buying curtains etc. We have also been opening up the apostolate. This is challenging! We have been invited to give many talks, recollections and retreats. One elderly Jesuit of 92 told us that this is hard work and quite challenging – “like having to use a machete to open a way in the jungle”. How many times Jesus has gently approached me to help me, washing away my fear and asking me to get help from others in my community. I remember giving a recollection in a house and many people were not listening and I felt it was not going well. I became discouraged. In that moment I remembered the words of Jesus “You will have struggles in the world, but be brave!” (John 16,33). He was washing away my timidity and giving me a braveheart!!! I am from Scotland, the land of Braveheart so I notice that the Lord never gets tired of encouraging me!
Jesus wants to approach us and wash away all that hinders us. To wash away our complexes – it can be of inferiority – we feel inferior because of the school we didn’t go to, the way we speak, our financial status, where we come from…where are you from? LA, likod Ayala! As the former President, Eleanor Roosevelt once said “No one can make you feel inferior without your consent." If it is not inferiority it can be the other way, superiority! Lord wash away all that stops us loving others properly!
Jesus reminds us “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.” The more we see how Jesus has loved us the more we desire to love others. That is why he says “Love one another as I have loved you”. The word “as” is very important. In the original greek text, John the evangelist wrote the word “kathôs” which means equal to in quality; it is to love others with the same quality of love as the love of Christ. It is a love that is divine because it comes from God but it is also fully human because Jesus was truly man. Jesus commends his disciples with the following exhortation “I have given you a model to follow, so that as I have done for you, you should also do.” And then he adds “If you understand this, blessed are you if you do it”.
We will be blessed, which in biblical language is another way of saying happy if you do this. If you serve like I do you will be happy. To serve others not to use them for our own advantage. It is like the joke of the barber offering the free haircuts. The first man was a florist and he was very happy to receive a free haircut. The next day the barber found a thank you card and 12 roses from the florist. The next customer was a baker. He was so happy with the free haircut that the next day the barber found a thank you card and 12 cakes at his door. Finally a politician comes to get his free haircut. The next day the barber finds a thank you card outside his doorsteps and 12 members of the family of the politician waiting for the free haircut!
How important to use our position, our status to serve others. To serve and not to be served. To be a member of my family, looking to serve and not to be served. To be a member of the Church or a community not just coming to be served but to help out. Am I a constructor of community or a consumer only? As President Kennedy stated “Don’t just ask what my country can do for me but ask what can I do for my country?” For my family, my school, my community? Not what can it do for me, what is the gain or advantage in it for me? Jesus asks us not just to be served but to serve. This would revolutionize our relationships – it reminds us of the prayer of St Francis of Assisi – “O divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; to be understood, as to understand; to be loved, as to love”.
Let us continue this Eucharistic celebration and be filled with gratitude once more to see Christ come so humbly once again to wash our feet, to wash our hearts clean with his pure love in this Eucharist. He asks us tonight, as he once asked his disciples 2000 years ago “Do you understand what I have done for you? Do you understand how much I have loved you? Do you understand how many times I approach you to wash you tenderly, to love you? If you understand this, how happy you will be if you do the same to others. How happy you will be if you love them with my same love. How happy you will be if you put this into practice!”
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