HOLY THURSDAY

 

Readings: Exodus 12:1-8, 11-14

                 1Corinthians 11:23-26

                 John 13:1-5

 

 

“If I, then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet,

you also must wash one another’s feet.”

 

 

            Last Sunday, we saw our king set an example of humility by riding on a donkey, a poor beast of burden. Today, on this most Holy Thursday of the Lord’s Supper, he washes the feet of his disciples. Again, what is taught to us is the virtue of humility. This is so symbolic of the kind of life our Lord has. It is a life of a constant and consistent stooping down: from the stable to the cross. But how should we understand humility and Jesus’ mandate to be humble in the message of the washing of the feet?

 

            1.         True humility is possible only when there is true love. Humility does not bear love; love bears humility. Love is not the fruit of humility; humility is the fruit of love. A superior may serve his inferior in equal degree as an inferior serves his superior. But if such service is done without love, it is no humility at all but a plain show case. The washing of feet was no showcase. It was humility. And it was humility because it was done out of love. John’s gospel is emphatic. If Jesus was able to demonstrate such humble gesture of washing his disciples’ feet, it was because he loved his own in the world and he loved them to the end.

 

            “I give you a new commandment: love one another. Such as my love has been for you, so must your love be for each other” (Jn 13:34). Here we see the most similar expressions of both humility and love: “…you must also wash one another’s feet,” and “…so must your love be for each other.” The mandate therefore, of washing each other’s feet becomes not only an imperative of humility but a commandment of love. Both are obligations on the part of the believers not only because Christ said them but because Christ them. It is the basis of these commandments that makes the difference: Christ! Meaning, if we are to wash each other’s feet, it is because Christ himself washed the feet of his apostles, and if ever are to love one another, it because Christ has loved us so much and loves us to the end. This goes to say that we must humble ourselves as Christ humbles himself, and we must love one another as Christ himself has loved us. Loving and humbling are truly Christians acts. And every Christian does this acts because of Christ. There is no reason much greater than this.

 

            2.         No doubt, the atmosphere of love ruled on that holy night. This was the particular mood that filled the upper room where Jesus and his disciples were. And so, although the anguish was there as he knew he was soon to be betrayed, that most Holy Thursday night was no less than a night of love. And truly, for it was on that particular night, on that night of the Last Supper, that Christ too would institute the two great sacraments of love: the Holy Eucharist and the Holy Orders.

 

            a.         “This is my body which is for you…This cup is the new covenant in my blood.”  The Holy Eucharist is a sacrament of love. It is the sacrament of Christ’s body; it is the sacrament of Christ’s blood. We Catholics take the very words of Christ the very letter. We believe that when he said them, he meant them; when he meant them, he did them; when he did them, he died for them. The Christ who took the bread, blessed and broke it, it is the same Christ who gave himself up on Calvary. The Christ who took and blessed the cup, is the same Christ who poured out his last drop of blood that the world may have life. And so, for us Catholics, the Eucharist is the real body and the blood of Christ. It is no mere symbol of Christ’s presence. It is in this context that the Eucharist  takes its profoundest meaning as a sacrament as a sacrament of love. By instituting this sacrament, Christ has put flesh and blood to the very words he once said: “No greater love does one have than to lay down his life for his friends” (Jn 15:13).

 

            And not only that. As a sacrament of love, the Holy Eucharist is also the sacrament of perfect humility. And there is one reason for that: the victim in this holy sacrifice is Jesus himself. Perhaps there is not any greater expression of stooping down than giving oneself totally as a sacrifice. This reminds us of Abraham offering his son Isaac as a sacrifice. Puzzled and trembling, he came to the altar of sacrifice. But that was how he showed his humble submission to God. Christ, too, underwent the same ordeal, and even worse. Trembling, sweating and crying with tears of blood, be begged to be spared. But at last it was not his will but his father’s be done. And he accepted it in perfect obedience, in perfect love, in perfect humility.

 

            b.         “Do this in remembrance of me…Do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” Together with the institution of the Eucharist is the institution of the Holy Orders. And this comes as a necessary consequence of the Eucharist instituted as a matter of a divine mandate to be commemorated and to be re-enacted until the end of time. As the sacrament of the real presence, the Eucharist has to be celebrated from sunrise to sunset. But this can only be done if and only if someone is ordained to celebrate it. Thus, although all of us share the priesthood of Christ by baptism, there must be others who share Christ’s priesthood by ordination. It is in this context that the sacrament of Holy Orders becomes a sacrament of love and humility.

 

            As a sacrament of love, the sacrament of Holy Orders is first and foremost a participation of Christ’s high priesthood. Such priesthood is not common but priesthood according to the line of the high priest Melchizedeck. Thus, the holy orders is a very precious gift of love by the one who is the fountain of love. And he who is called to such priestly life has to live out according to the standards of Christ the high priest. It is a life of love, and the priestly service that flows from it must then be a service of love. The priest has no greater thing to offer but the love of Christ.

 

            The sacrament of Holy Orders is also a sacrament of humility since nobody is ever worthy of such precious gift of love and service. The main task of the priest is to celebrate the sacred mysteries at the altar. Of course, the service of priesthood extends beyond the altar takes its contextual form in the very life of man and humanity. This is the social context that accompanies the call of God’s service. But anybody can do that even without becoming a priest. Any and every Christian, for that matter, is called to social service as his authentic expression of faith. But to be called to be at service before the sacred altar is given not to many but only to a few. And this is not because these few ones are good or better than the rest. No. they are in fact sinners, too. But they receive the sacrament of ordination because of God’s choice. Thus, to exercise the gift of priesthood is not just a matter of obligation but it is mostly a matter of privilege. And with all humility, the priest must handle it with care.