20250417 THE WASHING OF FEET AS THE FULL EXTENT OF GOD’S LOVE
17 April 2025, Maundy Thursday
First reading |
Exodus 12:1-8,11-14 |
The Passover is a day of festival for all generations, for ever
The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt:
‘This month is to be the first of all the others for you, the first month of your year. Speak to the whole community of Israel and say, “On the tenth day of this month each man must take an animal from the flock, one for each family: one animal for each household. If the household is too small to eat the animal, a man must join with his neighbour, the nearest to his house, as the number of persons requires. You must take into account what each can eat in deciding the number for the animal. It must be an animal without blemish, a male one year old; you may take it from either sheep or goats. You must keep it till the fourteenth day of the month when the whole assembly of the community of Israel shall slaughter it between the two evenings. Some of the blood must then be taken and put on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses where it is eaten. That night, the flesh is to be eaten, roasted over the fire; it must be eaten with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. You shall eat it like this: with a girdle round your waist, sandals on your feet, a staff in your hand. You shall eat it hastily: it is a passover in honour of the Lord. That night, I will go through the land of Egypt and strike down all the first-born in the land of Egypt, man and beast alike, and I shall deal out punishment to all the gods of Egypt. I am the Lord! The blood shall serve to mark the houses that you live in. When I see the blood I will pass over you and you shall escape the destroying plague when I strike the land of Egypt. This day is to be a day of remembrance for you, and you must celebrate it as a feast in the Lord’s honour. For all generations you are to declare it a day of festival, for ever.”’
Responsorial Psalm |
Psalm 115(116):12-13,15-18 |
The blessing-cup that we bless is a communion with the blood of Christ.
How can I repay the Lord
for his goodness to me?
The cup of salvation I will raise;
I will call on the Lord’s name.
The blessing-cup that we bless is a communion with the blood of Christ.
O precious in the eyes of the Lord
is the death of his faithful.
Your servant, Lord, your servant am I;
you have loosened my bonds.
The blessing-cup that we bless is a communion with the blood of Christ.
A thanksgiving sacrifice I make;
I will call on the Lord’s name.
My vows to the Lord I will fulfil
before all his people.
The blessing-cup that we bless is a communion with the blood of Christ.
Second reading |
1 Corinthians 11:23-26 |
Every time you eat this bread and drink this cup, you are proclaiming the death of the Lord
This is what I received from the Lord, and in turn passed on to you: that on the same night that he was betrayed, the Lord Jesus took some bread, and thanked God for it and broke it, and he said, ‘This is my body, which is for you; do this as a memorial of me.’ In the same way he took the cup after supper, and said, ‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Whenever you drink it, do this as a memorial of me.’ Until the Lord comes, therefore, every time you eat this bread and drink this cup, you are proclaiming his death.
Gospel Acclamation | Jn13:34 |
Praise and honour to you, Lord Jesus!
I give you a new commandment:
love one another just as I have loved you,
says the Lord.
Praise and honour to you, Lord Jesus!
Gospel | John 13:1-15 |
Now he showed how perfect his love was
It was before the festival of the Passover, and Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to pass from this world to the Father. He had always loved those who were his in the world, but now he showed how perfect his love was.
They were at supper, and the devil had already put it into the mind of Judas Iscariot son of Simon, to betray him. Jesus knew that the Father had put everything into his hands, and that he had come from God and was returning to God, and he got up from table, removed his outer garment and, taking a towel, wrapped it round his waist; he then poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel he was wearing. He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, ‘Lord, are you going to wash my feet?’ Jesus answered, ‘At the moment you do not know what I am doing, but later you will understand.’ ‘Never!’ said Peter ‘You shall never wash my feet.’ Jesus replied, ‘If I do not wash you, you can have nothing in common with me.’ ‘Then, Lord,’ said Simon Peter ‘not only my feet, but my hands and my head as well!’ Jesus said, ‘No one who has taken a bath needs washing, he is clean all over. You too are clean, though not all of you are.’ He knew who was going to betray him, that was why he said, ‘though not all of you are.’
When he had washed their feet and put on his clothes again he went back to the table. ‘Do you understand’ he said ‘what I have done to you? You call me Master and Lord, and rightly; so I am. If I, then, the Lord and Master, have washed your feet, you should wash each other’s feet. I have given you an example so that you may copy what I have done to you.’
THE WASHING OF FEET AS THE FULL EXTENT OF GOD’S LOVE
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [EX 12: 1-8, 11-14; PS 116:12-13,15-18; 1 COR 11: 23-26; JN 13: 1-15]
In the Mass of the Last Supper, what is most significant compared to the other Masses we celebrate is the Washing of Feet which takes place after the homily. Equally important is the command of the Lord to His disciples, after He washed their feet: “You call me Teacher and Lord, and it is right that you do so, because that is what I am. I, your Lord and Teacher, have just washed your feet. You, then, should wash one another’s feet. I have set an example for you, so that you will do just what I have done for you.” For some, this command to wash the feet of others is taken literally and often even re-enacted in para-liturgy as a symbol of forgiving the sins of others who have hurt us. For others, it is a symbol of humble service. If these are your thoughts when you witness the Washing of Feet ceremony, you are not wrong. But you might have missed the deeper significance of the washing of feet. It goes beyond simply forgiving the sins of others or even a call to humble service of our fellowmen. Rather, it is the revelation of the heart of the love of the Heavenly Father whom Jesus came to reveal to humanity; a love that is unconditional, total and humble. As Jesus said in the gospel, “Very truly, I tell you, the Son can do nothing on his own, but only what he sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, the Son does likewise.” (Jn 5:19) Jesus is one with His Father, not just in mind but in doing. This is because Jesus shares in the divine essence of His Father.
In the first place, the evangelist situated the Last Supper in the context of the Passover Festival. “It was now the day before the Passover Festival. Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. He had always loved those in the world who were his own, and he loved them to the very end.” Clearly, Jesus intended the meal as an occasion for Him to replace the Old Covenant with a new one sealed by His sacrificial death on the cross. He is the lamb that would be sacrificed at the Passover. His blood was shed to seal the new covenant, however, not in blood sprinkled on the doors of the houses but in His own blood consumed. Consequently, the washing of feet is but a pre-enactment of the sacrifice He was going to make for the salvation of humanity. His death was the total giving of Himself to humanity and a revelation of the Father’s love for humanity. That He loved until the end means that Jesus loved completely right from the outset of His ministry and now it means to love to the extent of holding nothing back, even the giving up of His life for us.
The act of Jesus taking out His outer garments and tying a towel around His waist and then taking a basin of water to wash the feet of His disciples was an act of self-abnegation. It was an enactment of His self-emptying, first, of His divinity in order to assume our humanity, and then an allusion to His imminent laying down of His life. Similarly, the act of Jesus, putting “His outer garment back on” after the washing of feet, is an allusion to His resurrection. Indeed, the Lord had made it clear earlier of His freedom to die for us. “For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it up again. I have received this command from my Father.” (Jn 10:17f) In this we see not only the love of Jesus for us, but His humility in love. Jesus did not simply love us unto death, but His love has the substance of humility. This is what is meant by His loving us unto the very end, that is, in complete self-giving.
Humility is the heart of giving. Some of us do give our time, resources and energy. But we do so with great pride and arrogance. We seek recognition and glory. We come from a position of strength and sometimes we are even condescending in our service. We think that we are much better than others and so we are proud to be able to help them. We think that people should be grateful to us for the services we render. And if we find them lacking gratitude or appreciation of our work and services, we will resign or withdraw our services. We feel slighted and insulted because we are not thanked for our generosity. In a nutshell, we lack the humility to give and to serve. We think those whom we serve owe us a debt of gratitude. We despise them for being helpless, poor, sickly or vulnerable. We do not come from a heart of love, compassion and empathy.
But Jesus stooped low to serve like a slave. But more than a slave washing our feet, it is His expression of intimacy with us. The truth is that in those days, foot-washing was something wives did for their husbands, children for their parents and disciples for their teacher. However, in the case of Jesus, He reversed the role with His disciples. It would have been appropriate for the disciples to wash the feet of Jesus, and hence we can appreciate why Peter felt it was intolerable for Jesus to wash his feet. Peter declared, “Never at any time will you wash my feet!” Although Peter meant well, it was because his love for the Lord was deficient. The response of Peter was one of pride and self-will, which is the cause of all sins. This is what Jesus comes to heal and to take away by His humiliating death on the cross. This was why Jesus said to Peter, “If I do not wash your feet,” Jesus answered, “you will no longer be my disciple.”
Peter must be humble enough to receive the forgiveness of our Lord. Otherwise, his sins would not be taken away. Indeed, the washing of feet is not just a symbol of the cross but also the cleansing from sin on the cross made real in the sacrament of baptism. Of course, Peter and the others still did not know it. Hence, the Lord said, “You do not understand now that I am doing, but you will understand later.” Many of us too are like Peter, we are not ready to receive the forgiveness of sins according to how we want it to be. We are too proud to confess our sins to a priest to receive forgiveness from God through His priests. We are too proud to ask forgiveness from those whom we have offended by our words and deeds.
Worst of all, some of us are like Judas, so blind to our sins that we are not aware that we are the real betrayers today because we subscribe to the values of the world and their lifestyle; often by our lack of charity and compassion. As a consequence, not having experienced the unconditional forgiveness of God for our sins or lack of consciousness of our sins, we do not render forgiveness to those who fail us because, like Judas, we are blind. So, the words of Jesus also apply to us when He said, “Anyone who has taken a bath is completely clean and does not have to wash himself, except for his feet. All of you are clean – all except one.” Even then, such is the love of God. He does not cut us off even when our hearts are hardened against Him because of pride and self-will, as in the case of Judas. Jesus was still reaching out to Judas even though He knew that his mind was already made up. But Jesus does not give up on us unlike us who give up on others who fail or betray us just once! Beautiful friendships are broken because of a harsh word spoken or a lapse in fidelity. No forgiveness is given.
Today, as we celebrate the Last Supper Mass, we are called to reveal the Father’s unconditional humble love by embodying this same revelation that Jesus gave of His Father. We are called to pass on the teaching of our Lord by expressing what He has done, both in word and deed the selfless love of God in total self-giving. This is the community that the Lord sought to build through the celebration of the Eucharist which He passed on to the Church. The only way we can manifest the utter love of God for us is through forgiveness and humble service. We must not allow our pride and self-importance to prevent us from receiving forgiveness and imparting forgiveness. So too, we must not allow pride and self-centeredness to seek position and glory in service. Any exercise of leadership, as our Lord told the apostles, must be one of humble service. Instructing His disciples who were competing for honour, He said, “whoever wishes to be great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be your slave; just as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Mt 20:26-28). If Jesus took the role of a slave, then we are called to do likewise. Jesus reminds us, “If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them.” (Jn 13:17). The gospel is a life to be lived and not just celebrated in the liturgy.
Written by His Eminence, Cardinal William SC Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved.
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