What we Catholics refer to as Holy Thursday, many other Christians call Maundy Thursday. That name flows from the action we just heard about in this evening’s Gospel. Before celebrating the Last Supper, that is, before giving them the Eucharist, Jesus washed the feet of his disciples and then told them to do as He had done. The word “maundy” is an English derivative of the Latin word mandatum. We know that word better today as mandate.
Jesus performed a symbolic action of totally emptying himself for his disciples. No slave owner could force his slave to do such a lowly demeaning task. Yet, Jesus washed the feet of His disciples. He washes our feet too. He empties Himself on the cross for us to clean the mud of our lives from between our toes. Then, he calls on us to do the same. That is his mandate.
But what does this have to do with the Eucharist? At the Last Supper Jesus gave himself as the sacrament to remember him by. But the gift of the Body and Blood of the Lord comes with the mandate, “What I have done for you, you should also do.” This is similar to the condition for receiving forgiveness from the Lord. If we wish to be forgiven, we need to forgive. If we wish to experience the Love of the Lord, we need to love others. God does the heavy work, but He expects us to join Him in doing our own part in proclaiming his good news.
Receiving Eucharist was never intended to be a private devotion. Its alternate name, Holy Communion, is a reminder that we are a community of believers. Being a Christian was never meant to be mere meditation either. Christians are called to bring Christ to others by what they say and do. Even when we pray before the Blessed Sacrament, we are not engaged in private devotion. Our Eucharistic devotion is a union with the One who gave everything for us and called us to do the same. We ask Him to strengthen us to imitate Him in giving ourselves to others.
Figuratively speaking, Jesus is telling us to wash the feet of others. He isn’t telling us to literally do so since washing feet never became an integral part of our worship. The stained glass windows across the back of our church depict ways we can give ourselves to others. When Mass is over, we are instructed to glorify the Lord by what we say and do. The seven works of mercy provide examples for doing just that:visit the imprisoned, care for the sick, feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, clothe the naked, welcome the stranger,and bury the dead. These acts, like foot washing, require some humility. The incarcerated, the ill, the immigrant, the homeless, the fatherless child, the homebound elderly, for example, need us to reach out to them.
Foot washing has a significance even deeper than humility and service. It also expresses the forgiveness of sins. In effect, Jesus is saying to Peter that the person who has his feet washed is clean all over. In his book, Jesus of Nazareth,Pope Benedict wrote, “Guilt must not be allowed to fester in the silence of the soul…. It needs to be confessed.” Through confession we bring our guilt to light. “In confession,” says Benedict, “the Lord washes our soiled feet over and over again and prepares us for table fellowship with him.”
In the dialogue between Jesus and Peter, we see the basics of the Christian life: humility expressed in service and the forgiveness of sins. When we imitate that humility, we recognize that Jesus wants something deeper – to cleanse us of sin so we can come to the table of the Lord. May wehave the courage to fulfill the mandate he has given us.