A homily by: Fr. Gene
Tucker
Given at: Trinity
Church, Mt. Vernon, Illinois; Thursday, April 5, 2012
“REMEMBERING THAT FIRST NIGHT”
(Introductory note: This homily is given as if it was one of Jesus’ disciples, remembering back on the events of Maundy Thursday some years later.)
Greetings
in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, dear brothers and sisters….
It’s been
many years now since the events of that night.
But I can still see His eyes, as He knelt before me, a towel wrapped
around His waist, as He washed my feet.
My reaction
was a whole lot like many of the others…. “What are you doing?” I asked myself, “this is the work of a slave.”
Since you
are not of my time and culture, I have to explain a little…You see, when I was
alive, it was common practice for the host of a gathering to have a servant or
a slave wash everyone’s feet. After all,
we all wore sandals in those days, and the roads were dusty.
But here,
the host, Jesus, was the one who took the role of the slave.
You have
read about Simon’s reaction, haven’t you?
(I keep forgetting, you know him better by his nickname, “Peter”.)
He said,
“Lord, you shall never wash my feet!”
(I can still hear his voice…he
was almost yelling in protest!)
(Peter –
before the Lord’s resurrection at least – blew hot and cold. One time, he’d seem to understand the Lord
very well. But in the next moment, he’d
show how ignorant he was….All that changed after the Lord rose from the dead on
Easter Sunday morning. Peter became our
powerful and consistent leader. Wow,
what a transformation!)
Anyway, he
said, “Lord, you shall never wash my feet!”
And the
Lord looked up at him and said, “If I don’t wash your feet, you will have no
part of me.”
Then Peter
said (in his typical fashion – remember what I said a minute ago about Peter
“blowing hot and cold”) said, “Then wash all of me.”
But I’m
getting a little beside my main point, talking about Peter.
We didn’t
understand it then, but what Jesus did for us that night was to show us that He
was not only our leader, but He was also our servant.
Washing our
feet confirmed that He had come to serve us.
He wanted us to know that fact for certain so much that He even said
so. He said, “I am among you as one who
serves.”
So much
about that night puzzled us at the time….it took us awhile to understand it.
I mean, for
example, think of the Passover meal, which is why we’d gathered in that upper
room in the first place…..
Jesus took
a piece of bread in His hands and said, “This is my body, which is given for
you.” Then He gave it to us to eat.
What did that mean? “This is my body.”
We didn’t
understand. We still don’t understand,
completely.
For after
Jesus said, “This is my body,” then He said, “Whenever you eat of it, do it in
remembrance of me.”
Why – we
wondered at the time – was it necessary for us to remember Him? Was He going away, or going to leave us?
We didn’t
understand.
Then, He
said as He took the cup of wine, “This is my blood of the new covenant, which
is poured out for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins.” And then He added, “Whenever you drink it, do
this in remembrance of me.”
Again we wondered, “Was He going to leave us sometime soon? What does it mean that His blood is to be poured out?”
We didn’t
understand, at the time, at least.
Well, it’s
been many years now since the Lord spoke those words, and did those
things. Most of us who were His original
disciples are spread out now across the world, bringing the good news to anyone
who will listen.
But we
still celebrate the feast of the bread and the wine. I see, from looking around at your church (we
would have loved to have a wonderful building like you have!) that you still
celebrate the feast of the bread and the wine.
The Lord
assured us that He would be with us until the very end of the age. We original disciples believe that the feast
of the bread and the wine is one way that the Lord is with us, as we gather
together in His name. After all, He
said, “This is my body, this is my blood.”
So, the Lord Jesus is really present with us, here tonight.
So, if it’s
alright with you, I’d like to stay for your celebration. It will bring me back to that very first
night when I sat near the Lord and heard Him say, “This is my body, this is my
blood.”
