April 17, 2025
John 13: 1-15
Every year I am overwhelmed by the words of John on Holy Thursday; words that stand in sharp contrast to the pageantry of Palm Sunday and the roar of the crowd pursuing Jesus, intent on making Him their King. And in even greater contrast, the words mark a series of moments when Jesus institutes the Eucharist, feeds these followers of His with bread and wine, washes their feet, and asks them to keep watch with Him in the Garden of Gethsemane where He will pray for the courage to accept the Father’s Will along with the pain and suffering which awaits Him on the hill of Golgatha where He will be crucified.
In the room at the inn on Holy Thursday, Jesus celebrates his fourth and final Passover with His disciples, He washes their feet as a sign of love and service. Looking at them, He recognizes the betrayer, Judas Iscariot, and the denier, Simon Peter, and experiences the pettiness of some of His disciples who want Jesus to acknowledge them as first among the members of His inner circle. And what does Jesus do. He loves them, absolves them, and pleads with them “to love one another as I love you.”
Three years of following Jesus; listening to His talks and Parables. The result – personal ambition, an inflated ego and false fame through association with the Messiah. Three years of selective listening and service. But they do not yet have a genuine understanding that Jesus’ Love is rooted in self-emptying as a requisite for “loving as Jesus did.”
Later that night in the Garden of Gethsemane the disciples (apostles) fell asleep. Judas Iscariot, the betrayer, and Simon Peter, the denier, played their roles and the passion of Jesus began. What can we do at this moment in 2025 to change this story? Or, what can we do to begin to change ourselves, to make a stronger link between ourselves and Jesus’ command “to love one another as He did?”
John 13: 1-15
Before the feast of Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come to pass from this world to the Father. He loved his own in the world and he loved them to the end. The devil had already induced Judas, son of Simon the Iscariot, to hand him over. So, during supper, fully aware that the Father had put everything into his power and that he had come from God and was returning to God, he rose from supper and took off his outer garments.
He took a towel and tied it around his waist. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and dry them with the towel around his waist. He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Master, are you going to wash my feet?” Jesus answered and said to him, “What I am doing, you do not understand now, but you will understand later.” Peter said to him, “You will never wash my feet.” Jesus answered him, “Unless I wash you, you will have no inheritance with me.” Simon Peter said to him, “Master, then not only my feet, but my hands and head as well.” Jesus said to him, “Whoever has bathed has no need except to have his feet washed, for he is clean all over; so you are clean, but not all.” For he knew who would betray him; for this reason, he said, “Not all of you are clean.”
So when he had washed their feet and put his garments back on and reclined at table again, he said to them, “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 master and teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash one another’s feet. I have given you a model to follow, so that as I have done for you, you should also do.”
The Gospel of the Lord
Meet Sister Maureen O’Brien, SNDdeN
