Saints of God…the Lord be with you!
What you don’t hear explained about the Gospel reading (John 13:31-33a; 34-35) is that it is a continuation and explanation of the pericope of Jesus washing the disciples’ feet on Holy Thursday. In other words, the washing of the feet begins the glory of Jesus’ death on the cross and His rising from the dead to a new life. This glorious love is not of Jesus alone but is grounded in the glorious love of the Father and the Holy Spirit. The “new commandment: love one another, as I have loved you…” is our invitation from Jesus to participate in the Divine and glorious love of the Trinity. As Christians, we are called not just to worship the Blessed Trinity but are invited to participate in the very life of the Trinity.
How optimistic is that!
The question becomes what does it mean to participate in the life of our Trinitarian God? I think a way to do that is to reflect on the temptations of Jesus in the desert immediately after His baptism.
Since we are in the year of Luke let’s use his schema. The first temptation is for Jesus to use his power to satisfy his physical hunger ( remember he has not eaten for forty days). Instead, he quotes from the Book of Deuteronomy, “It is written: Man shall not live on bread alone.”
The second temptation is to worship the devil and thus be given all earthly authority and splendor. Again, Jesus refuses and again quoting Deuteronomy says, “It is written: Worship the Lord your God and serve only Him.”
The third temptation is to throw Himself down from the heights of the Temple and thus use this spectacle to prove his divinity. Again, Jesus quotes Deuteronomy and says, “ It is said: Do not put the Lord your God to the test.”
It seems to me that our worship of Jesus since He is both God and man, must include imitating him in some way, Jesus lived out his baptism of solidarity by standing up for and helping the poor and hungry, reaching out to the politically marginalized, and being with those whom religion didn’t want. Looking at our world today, not much has changed and how much does our world need people to live out their own baptismal promises.
This week let’s imitate Jesus who washed the feed of his disciples, by loving one another particularly the poor, the politically powerless and those whom religion doesn’t seem to want. In other words, let us truly and actively LOVE ONE ANOTHER AS JESUS LOVES US.
– Fr. Steve
