Since our Divine Lord came to die, it
was fitting that there be a Memorial of his death. Since he was God, as well a
man, and since he never spoke of his death without speaking of his
Resurrection, should he not himself institute the precise memorial of his own
death? And this is exactly what he did the night of the Last Supper....His
memorial was instituted, not because he would die and be buried, but because he
would live again after the Resurrection. His Memorial would be the fulfillment
of the Law and the prophets; it would be one in which there would be a Lamb
sacrificed to commemorate spiritual freedom; above all it would be a Memorial of
a New Covenant...a Testament between God and man.
Fulton J. Sheen Life
of Christ
My brothers and sisters, we have come together
on this most holy night to enter into the Mystery of Our Lord’s Passion: to be
with him in the Upper Room and in the garden of Gethsemane, and to prepare to
celebrate his suffering and death – to behold the glory of the Lord and his love
for the world he created and came to save.
Obedient
to the Old Covenant, Our Lord and his disciples prepare to celebrate the Passover:
the mystery of Israel’s deliverance from slavery in Egypt to the new life in
the Promised Land. While they are at table Our Lord lays aside his outer
garments and takes a basin and a towel and washes the Apostles’ feet. He says
to them I
have given you an example so that you may copy what I have done to you.
The
new commandment given to the disciples by our Lord at the Last Supper in John's
account is to love one another as he has loved us. The washing of the disciples’
feet is an act of loving service: God who created the universe and who will
redeem it kneels and washes the feet of sinful humanity. This is true love in
action. .
It is a gesture of humility and intimacy, which shows us how God
loves us and how the events of the next few days will show us the depth of this
love, a love which brings the entirety of the human race, past, present and
future into a relationship with a loving God, through his sacrifice of himself
upon the cross and through his bursting from the tomb
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But before this love is disclosed in
our Lord’s Passion, Death and Resurrection, it is shown in loving service and
humility, the Greek word for which is diakonia, which gives us our English word Deacon. All those who are ordained
are set apart for the service of Almighty God and his church and we are all
called to serve God and his people fashioning ourselves after the example of
our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. All ordained Christian ministry is rooted in
the diaconate, in a ministry of loving service, after the form and pattern of
Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, following HIS example and living it
out in our lives. This is a most wonderful and humbling task which can
fill us with both joy and fear and I would humbly ask that you continue to pray
for me and for all of us who serve the church in this place, since we can do
nothing without you.
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Christ then takes bread and wine and blesses them and gives
them to his disciples. Again, this would look and feel like the Passover
celebration to which they were accustomed. Except that before he broke and distributed
the bread he said ‘Take, Eat. This is my body, which is given for you. Do
this in remembrance of me.’ And before the Cup was distributed he said ‘Drink
of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the new covenant,
which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. Do this, as
often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.’ He feeds his disciples with
his own body and blood to strengthen them, to show them what he is about to do
for love of them and of the whole world. When, earlier in his public ministry,
he has fed people he taught them in the synagogue at Capernaum ‘Truly,
truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink
his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever feeds
on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him
up on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true
drink. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my
blood abides in me, and I in him. As the
living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever
feeds on me, he also will live because of me.’ (Jn 6:52–7 ESV). ‘Was
ever another command so obeyed? For century after century, spreading slowly to
every continent and country and among every race on earth, this action has been
done, in every conceivable human circumstance, for every conceivable human need
from infancy and before it to extreme old age and after it, .... just to
make the plebs sancta Dei—the holy common people of God’ [Dix The
Shape of the Liturgy 744] Our Lord institutes the Eucharist, the Sacrament
of His Body and Blood, to feed us, to nourish us, so that we may become what he
is, that we may have a foretaste of heaven and the divine life of love, of the
beatific vision of God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, the Holy, Eternal and
Consubstantial Trinity. It re-presents, it makes present again, here and now,
the sacrifice of Calvary, where upon the Altar of the Cross, as both priest and
victim, Christ sacrifices himself for the sins of the whole world. He is the
Lamb of God, foreshadowed in the ram offered by Abraham and Isaac, in the bread
and wine offered by Melchisedek. In the blood and water which will flow from
his side we are washed and creation is renewed. Christ gives the Church the
Eucharist so that his saving work may continue, so that people may be given a
pledge and token of their eternal life in him. It is
loving service for our Lord to feed his disciples with his own body and blood.
This the church was formed continue, offering the same sacrifice of Calvary at
the altar, feeding His people with His Body and Blood, nourishing
the church as a mother feeds her children, filling us with his love and grace,
to transform our human nature through our sharing in the divine life of love.
This is what priests and deacons are called to be, those who serve the people
of God and nourish them with the word and sacrament, building up the body of
Christ. We are to live exemplary lives of love, service, and prayer, which can
serve as examples for the whole baptised people of God to copy and imitate in
their own lives. This is a great, an awesome and wonderful task, for which we
rely upon the grace of God's and the help and support of you, the people of God
in this place. It is not something which we can do on our own, relying on our
own abilities or strengths, but on God. For we all, as Christians, are called
to love one and to serve one another in a variety of ways. In this we follow
the example of Christ, who washes our feet, who institutes the Eucharist to
feed us with himself, to transform our nature by his grace and bring about the
full flowering of the kingdom of God. He sets his disciples apart, consecrating
them to God, for a life of prayer and service and to carry on the sacrifice of
Calvary through their offering of the Eucharist of the altars of his church, to
feed his people. This is the glory of God: in
transforming bread and wine into his very self for the life of the whole world
– a sign of love and a pledge and foretaste of eternal life. This is love that
we can touch and feel and taste – given for us so that we might have life in
him.
So then, let us prepare for Christ to
wash our feet, as the blood and water which will flow from his side tomorrow on
Calvary will wash away all the sins of humanity, let us be fed with his body
and blood, which tomorrow he will offer upon the altar of the cross as both
priest and victim, reconciling humanity and embracing a world with his loving
arms as he is nailed to the wood. And let us follow his example, in living
lives of prayer and loving service, supporting one another so that the world
may believe and give praise to God the Father, God the
Son, and God the Holy Spirit, to whom be ascribed as is most right and just,
all might, majesty, glory dominion and power, now and forever. AMEN.
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