Today's Scripture Readings
Exodus 12:1-14 (NRSV)
The LORD said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt: This month shall mark for you the beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year for you. Tell the whole congregation of Israel that on the tenth of this month they are to take a lamb for each family, a lamb for each household. If a household is too small for a whole lamb, it shall join its closest neighbor in obtaining one; the lamb shall be divided in proportion to the number of people who eat of it. Your lamb shall be without blemish, a year-old male; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats. You shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month; then the whole assembled congregation of Israel shall slaughter it at twilight. They shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it. They shall eat the lamb that same night; they shall eat it roasted over the fire with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. Do not eat any of it raw or boiled in water, but roasted over the fire, with its head, legs, and inner organs. You shall let none of it remain until the morning; anything that remains until the morning you shall burn. This is how you shall eat it: your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it hurriedly. It is the passover of the LORD. For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike down every firstborn in the land of Egypt, both human beings and animals; on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the LORD. The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you live: when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague shall destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.
This day shall be a day of remembrance for you. You shall celebrate it as a festival to the LORD; throughout your generations you shall observe it as a perpetual ordinance.
Psalm 116:1, 10-17 (BCP., p.759)
1 Corinthians 11:23-26 (NRSV)
I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took a loaf of bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, "This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me." In the same way he took the cup also, after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me." For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.
John 13:1-17, 31b-35(NRSV)
Before the festival of the Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart from this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. The devil had already put it into the heart of Judas son of Simon Iscariot to betray him. And during supper Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going to God, got up from the table, took off his outer robe, and tied a towel around himself. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel that was tied around him. He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, "Lord, are you going to wash my feet?" Jesus answered, "You do not know now what I am doing, but later you will understand." Peter said to him, "You will never wash my feet." Jesus answered, "Unless I wash you, you have no share with me." Simon Peter said to him, "Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!" Jesus said to him, "One who has bathed does not need to wash, except for the feet, but is entirely clean. And you are clean, though not all of you." For he knew who was to betray him; for this reason he said, "Not all of you are clean."
After he had washed their feet, had put on his robe, and had returned to the table, he said to them, "Do you know what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord--and you are right, for that is what I am. So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you. Very truly, I tell you, servants are not greater than their master, nor are messengers greater than the one who sent them. If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them.
Jesus said, "Now the Son of Man has been glorified, and God has been glorified in him. If God has been glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself and will glorify him at once. Little children, I am with you only a little longer. You will look for me; and as I said to the Jews so now I say to you, `Where I am going, you cannot come.' I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another."
Blog Reflection
All guests who present themselves are to be welcomed as Christ, for he himself will say: I was a stranger and you welcomed me (Matt 25:35).
The abbot shall pour water on the hands of the guests, and the abbot with the entire community shall wash their feet. After washing they will recite this verse: God, we have received your mercy in the midst of your temple (Psalm 47[48]:10). (RB 1980: The Rule of St. Benedict in English, Chapter 53:1, 12-14, pages 73, 74).
One thing that has inspired me about the many Benedictine monasteries I have visited over the last twenty years, is how much the chapter on the reception of guests is lived into with great meticulousness. Each community I visited, including the Companions of St. Luke/Order of St. Benedict with which I am now a Novice; the welcome by the Superior and the whole community is genuine.
It is interesting to me, that in Chapter 53 of The Rule, St. Benedict wrote about the abbot and the whole community washing the feet of the guests. It appears that St. Benedict wanted the guest to experience the hospitality of not only the community, but also that of Christ Himself washing the feet of His followers at the Last Supper. A traveler's feet are often tired, worn, with a few blisters and possible calluses. Yet, St. Benedict wants the guest to be received as Christ and served as Christ. The guest is welcomed to interrupt the regular routine. The guest comes to the monastery to help the Community experience a bit of displacement so that the Paschal Mystery is a living moment of grace.
If you are like me, you have probably wanted so much to receive every person as Christ, yet the first person who comes along and strikes the odd note in you, is someone you so quickly dismiss. What we say and believe, and what we do are not one in the same. We are all hypocrites. We all need the help of God's grace to mature and move on.
That is why we need this Maundy Thursday, and this Gospel about the washing of the feet. Jesus set aside all thoughts of proclaiming His own divinity and honor, to serve the least among us to the point of washing the feet of the same disciples who would later abandon Him. Including washing the feet of Peter who would deny Him three times. Jesus welcomes and washes the feet of all who are there with Him at that first Eucharist.
The Holy Eucharist is the sharing of the Body and Blood of Christ. The real presence of Christ in the form of consecrated Bread and Wine. Hymn number 322 in The Hymnal 1982 has the most wonderful words.
When Jesus died to save us,
a word an act he gave us;
and still that word is spoken,
and still the bread is broken.
He was the Word that spake it,
he took the bread and brake it,
And what that Word did make it,
I do believe and take it.
The belief in the real presence, or even if one believes that it is a symbolic presence; the important thing is that Christ is present in and through us; Christ's Body. Furthermore, it is just as important that we recognize that presence of Jesus not only in the Sacrament of the Eucharist, but recognize in one another a Eucharistic vessel. Each of us carries Christ within us, and shares Him with others.
One of the most important ways we live into the meaning of our Baptismal Covenant is to respect the dignity of every human being without distinction. Each person is a holy and good image of God. One's race, religion, gender, gender identity/expression, language, sexual orientation, culture, health or wealth status, age, etc is not a barrier to divide us. Through the Body and Blood of Christ, we are One Body, in One Lord. St. Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 10:14-17:
Therefore, my dear friends, flee from the worship of idols. I speak as to sensible people; judge for yourselves what I say. The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a sharing in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a sharing in the body of Christ? Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread.
May our celebration of Maundy Thursday lead us all to a greater reverence for the presence of Christ in each other as Eucharistic vessels.
Amen
Prayer
Almighty Father, whose dear Son, on the night before he
suffered, instituted the Sacrament of his Body and Blood:
Mercifully grant that we may receive it thankfully in
remembrance of Jesus Christ our Lord, who in these holy
mysteries gives us a pledge of eternal life; and who now lives
and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever
and ever. Amen. (Book of Common Prayer, p.221).
O God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, our only Savior,
the Prince of Peace: Give us grace seriously to lay to heart the
great dangers we are in by our unhappy divisions; take away
all hatred and prejudice, and whatever else may hinder us
from godly union and concord; that, as there is but one Body
and one Spirit, one hope of our calling, one Lord, one Faith,
one Baptism, one God and Father of us all, so we may be all
of one heart and of one soul, united in one holy bond of truth
and peace, of faith and charity, and may with one mind and
one mouth glorify thee; through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen. (Book of Common Prayer, p.818).
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