Pax Christi South

The Upper Room

The Passover (Ex 12:1-8, 11-14) was the signature event in Israel’s history. Yahweh delivered them from oppression and bondage. It makes us think of other events that liberated people. God cannot abide oppression and exploitation. The patriots liberated America. Sandinistas liberated Nicaragua. The stories of liberation course through history.

The lamb is the key symbol of the Passover. It was easy for the early Christians to see Jesus as the Lamb of God. He delivered us from the oppression of sin, death and structural violence. Like a lamb, He was nonviolent as he resisted the powers and principalities.

This day Jesus would initiate a new meal, the New Passover meal. We call it Eucharist. Eucharist means to give thanks, to be grateful. We share bread and wine and give thanks because Jesus has delivered us from the bondage of death. Think how death dominates life. Jesus’ death and resurrection tells us to stop letting death dominate our lives in so many insidious ways and to start living like death does not matter. One example, our fear of death leads us to place a priority on security and military might which, in the end, can never make us secure. Our only security is in Christ Jesus. Death no longer matters. We live risen life in the person, power and presence of the Risen Jesus. My T-shirt reads, “Jesus died and lived to tell about it.”Death where is your victory? Where is your sting?

Paul (1 Cor 11:23-26) supplies the account of the institution and purpose of the Eucharist in today’s liturgy. John does not have an institution account as such. The Eucharist is a comm-union with the blood of Christ. We eat and drink in memory of what Jesus did and indeed is still doing sacramentally. “This is my body. This cup . . .” There is not a miniature Jesus in each host. In Eucharist, Jesus is present. The truth of Eucharist is that Jesus is present to the community that has assembled. The rest—how Jesus is present—is theology. Does “this” refer to the body of Christ assembled in communion? Yes. The community is to do what Jesus did. The community is to be Eucharist to the world, especially the least among us.

All too often we get hung up on definitions and theological explanations which in the end divide people. The Eucharist is a meal. Jesus calls us to share in his life. We must remember that one of the main criticisms of Jesus was that he ate with tax collectors and sinners. A few days ago we read that he dined at the house of a leper. Whom do we dine with?

John (13:1-15) tells us that Jesus got up from the table and washed the feet of the people gathered there. Some bishops have issued decrees that priests cannot wash the feet of women on Maundy Thursday. Who are they kidding? Do they really think that the women who followed Jesus faithfully were not at the Passover Meal? Do they not think that Jesus would have washed their feet also?

Note what Jesus did. He arose from the table—a sign of resurrection for the Johannine community. Jesus then laid down his outer garments—the Good Shepherd is about to lay down his life for the sheep.

We have to love Peter. He does not get what is going on. “You will never wash my feet!” After Jesus rebuked him, Peter went all out, “Wash my feet, my head, my hands. Wash me all over.” Do not miss the baptismal significance of this account. Here Jesus is teaching us how to live as his disciples. The Suffering Servant is teaching us to serve in humility. The mandatum to celebrate the Eucharist is not the only “mandate” at the Passover Meal. Jesus also “mandates” that we wash one another’s feet. In order to do as Jesus requests, we must work with the grace of God to shed our false selves and false beliefs (Gnosticism).

In addition to having to deal with the Roman empire, synagogue Judaism, and Qumran radicalism, the Johannine community was confronted with Gnostic sects—knowledge of God suffices. In the account of the washing of the feet, the teaching is that Christian commitment requires follow-up actions in the service of others. Evangelicals and Catholics who get their Jesus high at celebrations, cantatas, and Gospel sings and then question why we are providing medical treatment in Florida for Haitians injured in the earthquake should ponder John 13 carefully. Beyond the feel-food fix, actions of loving, compassionate service are mandated.

Peter remains a wonderful story of a human being struggling with the false self and gradually coming into complete union with God. Commenting on Merton, Trappist James Connor says:

We are much more aware of that “false self” which is identified with all our efforts at situating ourselves in a hierarchy of power, prestige and greatness (“like unto God” Gen. 3:5). This “false self” is preoccupied with whatever will make us “look better” in the eyes of others and of ourselves.

As contemplative union draws us closer to God, we shed our shadow false selves and come to our true selves. Merton sees the true self as God living within us, in the very depths of our being. At some point, like Peter, we finally get it. Shedding false self pretence, we come to grips with our own nothingness. God’s love fills the abyss of our utter poverty before God. We share in the very life of God. We are empowered to wash feet and serve.