6 He came to Shim‘on Kefa, who said to him, “Lord! You are washing my feet?” 7 Yeshua answered him, “You don’t understand yet what I am doing, but in time you will understand.” 8 “No!” said Kefa, “You will never wash my feet!” Yeshua answered him, “If I don’t wash you, you have no share with me.” 9 “Lord,” Shim‘on Kefa replied, “not only my feet, but my hands and head too!” 10 Yeshua said to him, “A man who has had a bath doesn’t need to wash, except his feet — his body is already clean. And you people are clean, but not all of you.” 11 (He knew who was betraying him; this is why he said, “Not all of you are clean.”)
12 After he had washed their feet, taken back his clothes and returned to the table, he said to them, “Do you understand what I have done to you? 13 You call me ‘Rabbi’ and ‘Lord,’ and you are right, because I am. 14 Now if I, the Lord and Rabbi, have washed your feet, you also should wash each other’s feet. 15 For I have set you an example, so that you may do as I have done to you.
Holy ThursdayUnless I wash you … (John 13:8)
What an astounding image the Lord gave his disciples—and us—of his love! The King of kings bends over us and humbly washes our feet. Such care and concern he shows for us, his people! This is the very nature of Jesus’ love for us: it is so intense that it moved him to lower himself to take on the position of a servant for our sakes.
“You will never wash my feet” (John 13:8). How many times have we echoed Peter’s words and tried to keep Jesus from ministering to us? Maybe we have thought we don’t deserve such love. Or maybe we have thought we don’t need to be washed clean. But to each of us, Jesus says, “Unless I wash you, you will have no inheritance with me.” Unless we let him cleanse us and care for us, we will end up separated from him.
Jesus wants to wash us, both in Baptism and in our everyday lives. He wants to help us and refresh us. Accepting that offer means quieting our hearts and minds so that we can recall his love and feel his presence. Of course we have duties and obligations that we must accomplish every day, but if we let our duties take precedence over Jesus, we will miss out on all that he can do for us.
Today, we enter into the Easter Triduum, the great three-day celebration of our redemption. By spending extra time with the Lord at the various liturgies this weekend, we can give him the opportunity to wash our feet again. We can give him permission to move more freely in our hearts. And whenever we do that, we are changed a little bit more into his image. We are filled a little bit more with his love and power. We become his servants in the world, washing the feet of those around us.
“Jesus, during these next few days, help me to come into your presence and let you wash my feet. I don’t want my busyness to get the better of me. Instead, I want more of you. Help me to surrender the pride that won’t let you minister to me. Come, Lord, and fill me with your love.” Amen!
Exodus 12:1 Adonai spoke to Moshe and Aharon in the land of Egypt; he said, 2 “You are to begin your calendar with this month; it will be the first month of the year for you. 3 Speak to all the assembly of Isra’el and say, ‘On the tenth day of this month, each man is to take a lamb or kid for his family, one per household — 4 except that if the household is too small for a whole lamb or kid, then he and his next-door neighbor should share one, dividing it in proportion to the number of people eating it. 5 Your animal must be without defect, a male in its first year, and you may choose it from either the sheep or the goats.
6 “‘You are to keep it until the fourteenth day of the month, and then the entire assembly of the community of Isra’el will slaughter it at dusk. 7 They are to take some of the blood and smear it on the two sides and top of the door-frame at the entrance of the house in which they eat it. 8 That night, they are to eat the meat, roasted in the fire; they are to eat it with matzah and maror.
11 “‘Here is how you are to eat it: with your belt fastened, your shoes on your feet and your staff in your hand; and you are to eat it hurriedly. It is Adonai’s Pesach [Passover]. 12 For that night, I will pass through the land of Egypt and kill all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both men and animals; and I will execute judgment against all the gods of Egypt; I am Adonai. 13 The blood will serve you as a sign marking the houses where you are; when I see the blood, I will pass over [a] you — when I strike the land of Egypt, the death blow will not strike you.
14 “‘This will be a day for you to remember and celebrate as a festival to Adonai; from generation to generation you are to celebrate it by a perpetual regulation.[Footnotes:
Exodus 12:13 Hebrew: pasach]
Psalm 116:12 How can I repay Adonai
for all his generous dealings with me?
13 I will raise the cup of salvation
and call on the name of Adonai.
15 From Adonai’s point of view,
the death of those faithful to him is costly.
16 Oh, Adonai! I am your slave;
I am your slave, the son of your slave-girl;
you have removed my fetters.
17 I will offer a sacrifice of thanks to you
and will call on the name of Adonai.
18 I will pay my vows to Adonai
in the presence of all his people,
1 Corinthians 11:23 For what I received from the Lord is just what I passed on to you — that the Lord Yeshua, on the night he was betrayed, took bread; 24 and after he had made the b’rakhah he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this as a memorial to me”; 25 likewise also the cup after the meal, saying, “This cup is the New Covenant effected by my blood; do this, as often as you drink it, as a memorial to me.” 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord, until he comes.___________________________________
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