Gospel John 13:13 : Now he showed how perfect his love was

‘Do you understand’ he said ‘what I have done to you? You call me Master and Lord, and rightly; so I am. If I, then, the Lord and Master, have washed your feet, you should wash each other’s feet. I have given you an example so that you may copy what I have done to you.’​’

We cannot but be affected by the majesty of this event,  Jesus’ act of deep humility in the washing of his disciple’s feet at the Last Supper. He did not however leave to chance the possibility that his actions would not be appropriately interpreted. On the eve of the greatest salvific public humiliation, in the privacy of the upper room amidst the presence of would-be saints and  betrayer, Jesus delivers a personal masterclass.

We imagine the darkened and smoky tension of that evening, the disciple’s uncertainty in the transcendent partaking of the cup of wine and the unleavened bread of the Last Supper, and this singular act of grace in the washing of the disciples’ feet.

The simplicity of its message is challenged by the upheaval of the principle that was being enunciated, to be unleashed to the world and to be rejected time and time again, not of this world but in this world, to be interpreted for ages henceforth, not by grand words and projects, but by the lives and deed of would-be sinners and saints alike, one act and one life at a time.  

In Jesus’ farewell discourses (John 14-17) that followed the departure of Judas Iscariot from the Upper Room, He captured the essence of this deeply personal mandate when he responded to Judas’ (not Iscariot) question, “Lord, what has happened, that you intend to show yourself to us and not to the world?”  with his reply, “Anyone who loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we shall come to him and make a home in him.” (Jn 14:22-23)

See Downward Mobility

 

Lumix G85, Jogjarkarta 2019. Gospel of John 13:1-15 :
It was before the festival of the Passover, and Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to pass from this world to the Father. He had always loved those who were his in the world, but now he showed how perfect his love was.They were at supper, and the devil had already put it into the mind of Judas Iscariot son of Simon, to betray him. Jesus knew that the Father had put everything into his hands, and that he had come from God and was returning to God, and he got up from table, removed his outer garment and, taking a towel, wrapped it round his waist; he then poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel he was wearing. He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, ‘Lord, are you going to wash my feet?’ Jesus answered, ‘At the moment you do not know what I am doing, but later you will understand.’ ‘Never!’ said Peter ‘You shall never wash my feet.’ Jesus replied, ‘If I do not wash you, you can have nothing in common with me.’ ‘Then, Lord,’ said Simon Peter ‘not only my feet, but my hands and my head as well!’ Jesus said, ‘No one who has taken a bath needs washing, he is clean all over. You too are clean, though not all of you are.’ He knew who was going to betray him, that was why he said, ‘though not all of you are.’When he had washed their feet and put on his clothes again he went back to the table. ‘Do you understand’ he said ‘what I have done to you? You call me Master and Lord, and rightly; so I am. If I, then, the Lord and Master, have washed your feet, you should wash each other’s feet. I have given you an example so that you may copy what I have done to you.’​
Copyright © 1996-2019 Universalis Publishing Limited: see www.universalis.com. Scripture readings from the Jerusalem Bible are published and copyright © 1966, 1967 and 1968 by Darton, Longman & Todd, Ltd and Doubleday, a division of Random House, Inc, and used by permission of the publishers. Text of the Psalms: Copyright © 1963, The Grail (England). Used with permission of A.P. Watt Ltd. All rights reserved.