“This is how you are to eat it:
with your loins girt, sandals on your feet and your staff in hand,
you shall eat like those who are in flight.
It is the Passover of the LORD. Exodus 12:11
For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup,
you proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes. 1 Corinthians 11:26
He loved his own in the world and he loved them to the end…
“You call me ‘teacher’ and ‘master,’ and rightly so, for indeed I am.
If I, therefore, the master and teacher, have washed your feet,
you ought to wash one another’s feet.
I have given you a model to follow,
so that as I have done for you, you should also do.” John 13:1, 13-15
Our Father, help us to learn to appreciate those who have walked before us. Help us to remember the stranger. Help us to wash each other’s feet. Help us to accept the stranger among us. Help us make the stranger’s time on earth a time of love following your model. Give us this day our daily test so we can use the time to craft a response test to those serving the poor.
StudyDo You Realize What I Have Done for You? April 5
Jesus asks, “Do you realize what I have done for you?”
As Jesus contemplates and lives out his last day as the Human One, his ministry reaches its peak. Yet, this is not the peak we would envision for a modern-day preacher-televangelist preaching to a camera and broadcast around the world. This “peak” is not even reached in front of a crowd of 5,000 people hungry after listening to him preach all day. It is not reached through the use of dramatic signs as we have seen throughout the Gospel – no one is raised from the dead, water is not turned to wine, the centurion’s daughter is not cured. No, today we have Jesus, God-made-man, in a quiet room, with only his closest friends around him and the simplest props…one loaf of bread and a jug of wine.
Before He introduces us to the sacrament that will ultimately free us, Jesus doesn’t do anything flashy. In fact, he performs the lowliest service that the lowest slave would perform for his master. Jesus washes the feet of his friends.
Now, after being in his companionship for three years, Jesus gives his disciples a simple one question test. “Do you realize what I have done for you?” That night as well as throughout his life on earth, Jesus is testing the faith of those who have watched him the most closely.
As important as this question is, John does not reveal what answers any of the disciples gave. We only learn how Jesus answers His own question in John 13:13-17.
You call me 'teacher' and 'master,' and rightly so, for indeed I am. If I, therefore, the master and teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash one another's feet. I have given you a model to follow, so that as I have done for you, you should also do. Amen, amen, I say to you, no slave is greater than his master nor any messenger greater than the one who sent him. If you understand this, blessed are you if you do it.
While the act of washing the feet recalls John baptizing Jesus in the
Tomorrow, we will be focused on the last statements of Christ on the cross. Today, let’s focus instead on the last questions and the last lessons that Jesus teaches us and the model of the servant leader that emerges.
“Do you realize what I have done for you?” Before Jesus is arrested and led away to Pilate, throughout Holy Thursday night, the Gospels are filled with the final questions Jesus poses to the disciples. Imagine that you are there, reclining at table with Jesus on the night before His execution. Rather than being pre-occupied with his pending death sentence, right to the very end, Jesus the Interlocutor prevails. He poses question after question to the disciples. “Do you realize what I have done for you?”
Think of our criminal justice system. A condemned person waits years, maybe even decades, on “Death Row” until the execution is planned and carried out. Many people are freed during the long appeals process. Jesus did not have that luxury. He knew how fast events were about to unfold. So he tried to leave the disciples with as many challenging questions as possible.
“Do you realize what I have done for you?”
The Quiz
What if Jesus were posing these questions to you? Would you give the same answers now as you would years ago?
In my Father's house there are many dwelling places. If there were not, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? John 14:1
For who is greater: the one seated at table or the one who serves? Is it not the one seated at table? Luke 22:27
"Have I been with you for so long a time and you still do not know me. How can you say, 'Show us the Father'? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? John 14:9-10
"Do you believe now? John 16:31
"Whom are you looking for?” John 18:4
Shall I not drink the cup that the Father gave me?" John 18:11
"Why are you sleeping?” Luke 22:46
“Are you asleep? Could you not keep watch for one hour?” Mark 14:37
Action
Take the Jesus quiz listed above.
Attend Mass of the Lord’s Supper tonight.
Pray that God will change you.
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