Leadership that both gives and receives
Jesus model this for us
A NEW COMMANDMENT
A new commandment I give unto you That you love one another as I have loved you That you love one another as I have loved you. By this the world will know you are my disciples If you have love one for another. By this the world will know you are my disciples If you have love one for another. (Author Unknown) |
A reading from the gospel according to John
Now before the festival of the Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart from this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.
For he knew who was to betray him; for this reason he said, |
In the following reflection Macrina Wiederkehr enters the scene and imagines what it might
have been like as a participant in this gesture of hospitality, love and service…. |
GOD IN AN APRON
Supper was special that night. There was both a heaviness and a holiness hanging in the air. We couldn’t explain the mood. It was sacred, yet sorrowful. Gathered around that table eating that solemn, holy meal seemed to us the most important meal we had ever sat down to eat. We were dwelling in the heart of mystery. Though dark the night Hope felt right as if something evil was about to be conquered. And then suddenly the One we loved startled us all. He got up from the table and put on an apron. Can you imagine how we felt? God in an apron! Tenderness encircled us
as He bowed before us. He knelt and said, ‘I choose to wash your feet because I love you.’ God in an apron, kneeling. I couldn’t believe my eyes. I was embarrassed until his eyes met mine. I sensed my value then. He touched my feet. He held them in his strong, brown hands. He washed them. I can still feel the water. I can still feel the touch of his hands. I can still see the look in his eyes. |
Then he handed me the towel and said,
‘As I have done so you must do.’ Learn to bow. Learn to kneel. Let your tenderness encircle everyone you meet. Wash their feet not because you have to, because you want to. It seems I’ve stood two thousand years holding the towel in my hands, ‘As I have done so you must do,’ keeps echoing in my heart. ‘There are so many feet to wash’, I keep saying. ‘No,’ I hear God’s voice resounding through the years, ‘there are only my feet. What you do for them you do for me.’ (Wiederkhr - Seasons of your Heart) |
Another person ponders this text
A BOWL OF DIRTY WATER Feet are arguably one of the least attractive parts of the human anatomy. Often gnarled or knobbly, they can sprout fungi, calluses, bunions, and ingrown toenails. They ache when we’re dying to shop, get pinched and blistered by our favourite shoes, and trample on unsuspecting pets as they try to sleep. Feet are something only a mother could love. Yet at the heart of John’s account of Jesus’ words and deeds at the Last Supper what do we find? Feet, front and centre. John omits what the other Gospels record as Jesus’ Eucharistic words over bread and wine. Instead, he has Jesus rise from the table, strip, wrap himself in a towel, pick up a bowl, and – without a word, - begin washing his disciples’ feet, one by one. Meditating on this scene, novelist Luigi Santucci once wrote that if he could have some relic of Christ’s passion, he’d choose a bowl of dirty water. He’d take it into the streets, he tells us, passing from person to person, looking only at their feet and never at their faces – so he couldn’t tell friend from foe. Popes and presidents, drug dealers and arms merchants, gurgling babies and adoring grandparents, petty thieves and scam artists, prom queens and disc jockeys: he’d wash the feet of every one – and keep on washing until they understood. Deciding who to save isn’t our job. Our job is choosing whom to serve. And Jesus’ example suggests we should be absolutely indiscriminate in our judgement. Look at feet, not faces. Serve all, because Christ died to save all. That, perhaps, is the ultimate meaning of Eucharist. Come to the table where all are welcome. (Nathan Mitchell – Daybreaks 2010) Our Final Song with an Invitation
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SO YOU MUST DO |
Thinking and Suggestions:
For this prayer you could have a towel and a bowl of dirty water…. as the final song is sung people could be invited to stir the water as a gesture of willingness to respond to the invitation of Jesus: I have set you an example, that you should do as I have done to you…. This prayer could also focus on Peter. In the previous reflection on this text Peter’s reaction was omitted so we could focus on our response to Jesus’ invitation rather than on Peter’s. Here we can ponder how much of Peter resides in me! It can be comforting to know that Peter who was finally invited to lead the emerging community of Jesus’ disciples sometimes missed the point of Jesus’ words and actions. It is good to remember that we are always in the process of becoming disciples – it is a life long journey. A New Commandment is available from iTunes by a number of artists. |