Thursday in the Fourth .week of Easter, April 29, 2021

John 13:16-20

When Jesus had washed the disciples’ feet, he said to them: “Amen, amen, I say to you, no slave is greater than his master nor any messenger greater than the one who sent him. If you understand this, blessed are you if you do it. I am not speaking of all of you. I know those whom I have chosen. But so that the Scripture might be fulfilled, The one who ate my food has raised his heel against me. From now on I am telling you before it happens, so that when it happens you may believe that I AM. Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever receives the one I send receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me.”

The Gospel reading assigned for today’s Mass is rather badly cut out from the story of the Lord’s washing of the feet of the Apostles.  In order to understand what we are given here, we must know the verses which precede it: “Then after he had washed their feet and taken his garments, being set down again, he said to them: ‘Know you what I have done to you? 

You call me Master and Lord. And you say well: for so I am. If then I being your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; you also ought to wash one another’s feet.  For I have given you an example, that as I have done to you, so you do also.’ ” (John 13, 12-15).  Then follows, “Amen, amen, I say to you, etc.”  Thus, it becomes clear that the Lord is saying that if he, the Master, washes the feet of his servants, how much more his servants ought to wash each other’s.  The Lord teaches us about his own humility, the humility we ought to have, and the reason we ought to engage humbly with one another: we are all servants of the same Lord.  In addition, he teaches us the purpose of authority: it is not for self-indulgent displays of power but for the purpose of service to others.  The one with authority is able to bring about the conditions necessary for service to others, either by obtaining the proper goods for this or eliminating any hinderance for it.  The right uses of authority, then, appear very restricted.  Whenever we see the Lord exercising authority in the Gospels, we see it used in these ways.  He never uses his authority to amuse himself or to exact revenge.  

His use of authority also teaches us that ostentation ought to be avoided.  When the Lord casts out demons, he does not make a big show of it.  He does not throw himself about or dance around, or wave his arms.  He does nothing that would attract attention to himself.  Similarly, when he heals a person, he simply tells them to stand and walk, or something of the kind.  He does not utter magical, unintelligible words, or go into a frenzy.  A person looking on from a distance would not notice anything supernatural happening at all.  In fact, the only time the Lord raises his voice in a situation like this is when he raises Lazarus from the dead, and he does this so that Lazarus might hear him in his tomb.  His authority extends to knowing the future, but he foretells future events for the Apostles only in order to serve them: “From now on I am telling you before it happens, so that when it happens you may believe that I AM.”  That is, he does so in order to provide them with consolation by reminding them that he is God.

In our present world, those who possess authority or who pretend to possess it customarily abuse it for their own gain or pleasure.  They may do this without thinking much about it since this is so common among the powerful.  The One who follows the Lord Jesus must think carefully about its use should it come to him, keeping in mind at all times that we are fellow servants.

I had lunch today with a man whom I first knew as homeless and who has become stable after many years of hardship and struggle.  Through it all he has maintained his faith.  He told me about how amazed his peers were earlier in the day when he thanked someone for some small service.  The idea of gratitude was very foreign to them, he observed to me, but thanking someone is “Christianity in action.”  He talked about how nowadays people are shocked when someone gives an honest answer: Why would anyone do that?  Mostly, we construct our answers to questions in such a way as to keep us out of trouble or obtain for us some gain.  Gratitude and honesty to one another are services that we should never think twice about providing.