Before
the feast of Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had cometo 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."
John 13:1-15
Almost every commentary on this passage
assumes that Jesus is providing us with a moral example – an example of service
to others and humility.
But this is the Gospel of John, in which
Jesus is recognized as the Incarnation of God.
These are Jesus’s last moments as a free man. The washing of the feet entirely replaces, in
John, the breaking of the bread that is the focal point of the Last Supper in
the other three Gospels. This is
Passover – memorializing when God saved Israel with a strong hand and immense
divine fireworks. This is an
extraordinarily important moment. Is it
possible the Incarnation comes down to, “be a nice person”? Aren’t secular people nice people?
We can be forgiven for thinking this is just
a moral example. Jesus says as much in
the closing line. But there are clues
there is more going on:
Peter wonders at what Jesus is
doing. Jesus tells him he will have
absolutely no idea what’s going on. Now,
Peter is routinely depicted as being pretty dense throughout the Gospels, but to
be unable to understand a simple moral example of service to others would be a
new low.
Peter insists Jesus will not subordinate
himself by washing Peter’s feet. Jesus
lashes out. He doesn’t say, “well, then
you won’t get the benefit of this terrific moral example I am staging.” The consequences are much more serious - he says Peter can have no part in him.
Peter thinks he gets it - and wants
more. If Jesus is handing out the practical
benefit of a good washing, Peter wants his hands and feet washed too. But
Jesus tells him there is more going on than just washing. What
Jesus offers is of no practical benefit.
This is a sacrament.
Then Jesus announces that he is providing
an example. But of what? The Lectionary
version of this story ends before a critical line. After saying, “I have given
you a model to follow, so that as I have done for you, you should also do,” Jesus says:
Most certainly I
tell you, a servant is not greater than his lord, neither is one who is sent
greater than he who sent him. If you know these things, blessed are you if
you do them. (John 13:16-17)
This is
mysterious. If this is parable about serving one another and humility, why would Jesus
affirm that servants are not greater than their lords? Fortunately, Jesus expressly answers this, but not for another two chapters:
Remember the
word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his lord.’ If they
persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will
also keep yours. But they will do all these things to you for my name’s
sake, because they don’t know him who sent me. If I had not come and
spoken to them, they would not have had sin; but now they have no excuse for
their sin. He who hates me, hates my Father also. If I hadn’t done
among them the works which no one else did, they wouldn’t have had sin. But now
they have seen and also hated both me and my Father. But this happened so
that the word may be fulfilled which was written in their law, ‘They hated me
without a cause.’ (John 15:20-25)
Jesus is not giving the apostles an example
of how to live; he is giving them an example of how to die. As the first Christians, they will not be regarded
as heroes; they will be regarded as the worst kind of heretic. According to tradition, they will be hunted
down and killed in the name of God. The Passover God will be nowhere to be seen. In a few hours, Jesus will be mocked by the
crowd and by a thief for his belief in a God Who fails to save him from the Cross. Satan mocked Jesus too – for believing in a
God who fails to turn stones into bread and protect His only son from a plunge
off the Temple. Judas decides to betray
Jesus when Jesus accepts an extravagant gift of nard that could have been sold
and the proceeds given to the poor - Judas
is scandalized by the lack of practical social benefits Jesus’s faith entails. In the Beatitudes, Jesus tells the crowd their
good fortune or misfortune is not the result of divine reward or punishment
(the prevailing theology being that if you were sick, it was because of your
sin) – faith doesn’t even incentivize good behavior. Although they have some narrow escapes and
some miraculous help, in the end, the apostles suffer the same fate as Jesus. They are just like us – everyone’s last
prayer goes unanswered. Faith does not
come with benefits. Jesus washes the
feet of his apostles sacramentally - to initiate them in a group bound to be misunderstood,
hated and persecuted, and who can expect no help from the Passover God, but who
will find meaning in faith nonetheless. Indeed, this is a cup reserved just for people of faith, and we must support each other in drinking from it.
Image: Caravaggio, The Taking of Christ c.1602
