“For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you.”
We are now entering the Easter Triduum. On this day, Jesus tenderly longed to share the joy of Easter with His disciples. It was a deeply significant meal, which we honor Him in every Mass. He made two very special gestures that come to mean the same thing, wash the feet of His disciples and gave of Himself, breaking and sharing to become the Bread and Wine for all at that moment and in every Eucharist. “For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you.”
“In what tangible ways am I reflecting in my life the actions of Jesus, both for me and for others? How does the profound act of Jesus washing the feet of His disciples resonate with me? What significance does His offering of Himself through Bread and Wine hold for me? Let us humbly ask Jesus to guide us as we follow Him on the path of selfless service.”
Jesus Washes the Disciples’ feet
1 Before the Passover feast, Jesus, knowing that the hour had come for him to pass from this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, loved them to the end. 2 During supper, when the Devil had suggested to Judas Iscariot that he should betray him,3 knowing that the Father had put all things into his hands, that he had gone out from God and was returning to God,4 he rose from the table, took off his robe, and taking a towel, girded himself. 5 Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was girded about his waist. 6 So he came to Simon Peter, who said to him,
, “Lord, do you wash my feet?” 7 Jesus answered,
, “What I do you do not understand now, you will understand later. 8 Peter answered:
-You will never wash my feet.
Jesus answered him,
. “If I do not wash you, you have nothing to do with me. 9 Simon Peter said to him,
, “Sir, if it is so, not only your feet, but also your hands and your head. 10 Jesus answered him,
-He who has bathed does not need to wash except his feet, for the rest is clean.
And you are clean, though not all of you.11 He knew the one who was going to betray him, and so he said that not all of you were clean.12 When he had washed their feet, he put on his robe and sat down and said, “Do you understand what I have done to you? You call me teacher and master, and you are right.14 If I, then, who am your teacher and master, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash each other’s feet.15 I have given you an example, so that you may do the same things I have done.
(Jn 13:1-15)
