“Why is this night different from all other nights?” With the evening Mass of the Lord ’s Supper, the curtain rises on Christianity’s greatest drama, the Easter Triduum. For the next three days, Catholics around the world will be immersed in a three act drama not even Shakespeare could surpass. Sad to say, however, that few of them see the events of these days as one ongoing story. Instead, they view them as separate and distinct liturgies. Worse yet, they see them through the lens of history as something from the ancient past that has little to do with 21st century America.
Since the readings tonight began with the Exodus account of the first Passover and the requisites of the ritual Seder meal, we might be wise to take a page from our Jewish ancestors when approaching our own sacred rites. They believe that in some mystical manner all Jews, past, present and future, are somehow present at this key event in their history. Everything is spoken in the present tense. God’s interaction with them is not something that took place in the distant past, but something that continues to take place here and now. How differently might we respond to the events we are recalling over the next 72 hours if we saw ourselves as being there and taking part in them? Changing our perspective could take time but we could try.
“Why is this night different from all other nights?” This question, asked by a child, opens for those who have gathered for the Passover Seder a retelling of what God did to free his people from slavery. Through this ritual, later generations actively participate in the story of the Exodus. They experience not simply what God did for their ancestors but what God did for “me, when I left Egypt.” This sacred meal gives a Jew his identity. The child learns who he is in the answer to his question.
“Why is this night different from all other nights?” is appropriate for us to ask as we gather for the Lord’s Supper at the start of the Triduum. It was at Passover that Jesus gave us the Eucharist as a memorial of his death and resurrection. The earliest record of that sacred meal was preserved by Paul in his first letter to the Corinthians, a tradition that he received from the Lord.
But today’s gospel gives us pause. Why, on the night when we recall the Last Supper, does the Church use John’s account of this night which focuses not on the food Jesus shared with his disciples but on his startling gesture of washing their feet? Does the Church want us to focus on Jesus’ humility or his example of service to others? Or on the necessity of being washed in baptism? Any of these is possible and I can picture Pope Francis stressing the Lord’s mandate to serve others, as he did when he washed the feet of 12 young adult prisoners in a Roman jail but tonight, I ask you to consider yet another possibility.
Perhaps Jesus washed the apostles’ feet to prepare them for his pending death. The next afternoon, the disciples might have concluded that Jesus had been humiliated by the powers of evil. The truth is, he willingly submitted to his execution to reveal the greater power of resurrection. In the upper room, Jesus intentionally humbled himself, stooping to do a task normally done by a slave, not the host of a meal. He wasn’t humiliated by this task. He knew that they would not understand why he was washing their feet or why he accepted his death, but he hoped they would see that he did so willingly for them, for you and for me, to free us from our slavery to sin.
“Why is this night different from all other nights?” Because our celebration of the Lord’s Supper provides our identity; it is the source and summit of our Christian lives. By participating in this liturgy, this ritual, we join the apostles in facing Jesus’ death, and we learn that he died by his own choice so that we will then have confidence in his promise of eternal life, foreshadowed by his own resurrection.
During the Last Supper Jesus gave His Body and His Blood as the sacrament of His Sacrifice on the Cross. Our reception of the Body and Blood of Christ is our union with Christ on the Cross. But the gift of the Body and Blood of the Lord comes with a mandate, “What you have seen me doing, you must do.” It is similar to the condition for receiving forgiveness from the Lord. If we wish to receive forgiveness, we need to forgive. If we wish to receive 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 toward building up the kingdom of God in our lifetime.