He Washed What He Made

In our first reading, we heard, "This day shall be a memorial feast for you, which all your generations shall celebrate with pilgrimage to the Lord as a perpetual institution." Everything about the Passover in the Old Testament is intended to foreshadow the Eucharist. It tells us how to eat it well. We’re supposed to eat it prepared for an exodus.

Well, what’s our exodus? We’re not of this world; we’re of the next, and we should receive the Eucharist with that always in mind — that we’re preparing for the next world in the same way the Israelites were preparing for their exodus. And it tells us what to eat: unleavened bread and the lamb. Every Eucharist, we receive the Lamb in the unleavened bread, and we too consider it a perpetual institution.

It was also referred to as a memorial feast, and in order to grasp that, we have to understand how the Israelites would’ve understood a memorial. All we have to look at is how the Passover was celebrated. It was never just celebrating another meal. The Passover was a participation in the actual Passover in Egypt. Every Jew felt part of that Exodus. Every Jew felt that, by participating in the Passover, they were right there with the people that left Egypt.

Well, what the Passover does figuratively, the Eucharist does actually. Because when we celebrate the Eucharist, not only do we symbolize the participation in what happened before — we actually participate. We participate in the Last Supper. We participate in the Crucifixion of Christ. And we participate in the wedding feast of the Lamb in heaven. Because every time we celebrate the Eucharist, we participate in the wedding feast of heaven.

Time stops — no, time disappears — and what happened 2000 years ago is made present on that altar. And what happens for eternity in heaven is made present on that altar.

In our second reading: "This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me. For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord until He comes." We are to do this unendingly until Jesus returns.

So we have this wonderful emphasis on the Passover, and we realize how important that Passover is to the Eucharist. And we get to John’s Gospel and he goes, "Yep, we’re going to talk about the washing of the feet."

Why? Why does John focus on the washing of the feet rather than the Eucharist? There’s three reasons.

First: In John chapter 6, he has covered the Eucharist. Everything that John has to say about the Bread of Life — read chapter 6.

But also, when John wrote his Gospel account, the Mass had been happening for 60 years. John’s Gospel account was probably written about 90 A.D., if not 100. The Mass had been going on since Pentecost, so we have no reason to focus on the Eucharist. It’s already happening.

So John focuses on the washing of the feet. And the reason he does is so we understand exactly what we’re supposed to get out of the Eucharist.

In Jesus’ time, do you have any idea who was in charge of washing people’s feet? The lowest servant on the totem pole. These people walked barefoot or in sandals and picked up all kinds of nasty things walking through town. And so, if you went to someone’s house, the lowest servant was assigned the washing of the feet.

If you remember last Sunday’s homily: "Rather, let the greatest among you be as the youngest, and the leader as a servant." Not only does Jesus tell us these things, He shows us these things.

The Christological hymn we find in Philippians chapter 2, verse 7 says: "Rather, He emptied Himself, taking the form of a slave, coming in human likeness. And found human in appearance, He humbled Himself, becoming obedient to death — even death on a cross." And humble enough to wash His disciples’ feet.

And who exactly washed the disciples’ feet? 

God. 

God humbled Himself to wash the feet of His disciples.

We’re reading from John’s Gospel account, and John places the Crucifixion on Friday, and he places Jesus lying in the tomb on the Sabbath. Do you know why Jesus is in the tomb on the Sabbath? Because the Sabbath was the seventh day, and on the seventh day, God rested — because all His work was done. Once more, Jesus is telling us He is God. And that God, the Creator of the universe, did not think it was too low for Him to wash feet like the lowest servant.

"Do you realize what I have done for you? You call me Teacher and Master, and rightly so, for indeed I am. If I, therefore, the Teacher and Master, have washed your feet, you ought to wash one another’s feet. I’ve given you a model to follow, so that as I have done for you, you should also do."

This is what it means to become like Christ in receiving the Eucharist. This is why John puts this in his Gospel account at the Last Supper — because if we are going to imitate Christ, this is what it looks like. This is who we are to become — that we humble ourselves to wash one another’s feet.

For as Jesus said: "Go and do likewise."

And Jesus, I trust in You.

Amen.