Holy Thursday
Scripture:
Exodus 12:1-8, 11-14
1 Corinthians 11:23-26
John 13:1-15
Reflection:
Jesus was perfect, absolute, wholehearted and undefiled love for us from beginning to end. And he still is. This is what these three holiest days of the Church Year reveal. Together, Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and the Easter Vigil testify that without a doubt, Jesus is love for us.
On the last night of his life, a night on which he would be betrayed by Judas, denied by Peter, and abandoned by the other disciples, Jesus did what he always did—he chose to love. On the eve of the day when his body would be bruised, bloodied, and broken unto death, Jesus gave his body to us so that death could never rob us of life.
In the reading from 1 Corinthians, Paul recalls the words Jesus uttered at the Last Supper, words we hear at every Eucharist: “This is my body that is for you.” In every Eucharist, Jesus keeps giving himself to us that we might live, giving himself so that we who are forever being wounded, diminished, and impaired by our own and others’ sinfulness, will not be denied the life and love God has always wanted for us. In every Eucharist, Jesus, who was handed over by each of us in our sinfulness to be put to death, gives himself back to us so that we might live.
The gospel for today recounts the unforgettable scene where Jesus, who knows what lies ahead for him, rather than collapsing in fear or drowning in sorrow, washes the feet of his disciples, including the feet of Judas who will soon betray him and Peter who will deny ever knowing him, an act that witnesses that then, just as now, no one is left outside the infinitely expanding circle of God’s love, a God who serves, who bows down before us, and whose love stops at nothing so that we might live.
Jesus tells the disciples, “I have given you a model to follow, so that as I have done for you, you should also do.” Why? Because when we give of ourselves so that others might live, we participate in and further the very love that saves us, the love that stops at nothing so that we might live. If anyone ever asks you what it means to be a Christian, start here.
Paul J. Wadell is Professor Emeritus of Theology & Religious Studies at St. Norbert College in De Pere, Wisconsin, and a member of the Passionist Family of Holy Cross Province.