by Fr Raymond Raj
Exodus 12:1-8,11-14
Psalm 115:12-13,15-18
1 Corinthians 11:23-26
John 13:1-15
Theme: Blessed, Broken, Given
Speaking of feet. The human foot is a work of masterpiece, a work of art says Leonardo Da Vinci. The human foot is a masterpiece of engineering, a work of art.
On the other hand, Mahatma Gandhi says, “I will not let anyone walk through my mind with their dirty feet.” Interesting how Gandhi put it. “I won’t let anyone walk through my mind with their dirty feet.“
Brothers and sisters in the Lord, speaking of feet, the human feet is the most dirtiest part of human body. You know why? Because all of us hardly wash it, clean it. Since our feet is the most distance from our nose, we are not aware, you and I are not aware that our feet is actually smelly and dirty.
Brothers and sisters, today in the Gospel Jesus humbled Himself, washed the feet of His disciples before Jesus celebrated the Last Supper.
So speaking of humility, speaking of greatness, a little story.
One day, a group of spiritual seekers they were looking for a spiritual master to ask a profound question. Upon seeing this spiritual master, the spiritual students asked the master,
“Master, can you tell us what is so great, what is so special about Christianity? What is so special about Christianity?”
If somebody comes out there and asks you this question, what will your answer be?
What is so great about Christianity?
Will you remain silent?
“If you fail to humble, fail to glorify me”, the Lord says ‘”Forget it. I won’t glorify you as well.”
So the master answered, “Among all the religions and teachings in the world, Christianity is the greatest because only in Christianity God Himself bowed down before human and washed their feet.”
Only in Christianity.
Brothers and sisters in the Lord, the very act of Jesus, the Son of God, bowing down before His disciples, washing their feet, makes me to cry. I do not know about you but for me, I feel like crying. God Himself bowing down to wash the feet of humans. But for me personally, I ask myself why on earth God must bow down before me, a sinner, a betrayer, worst than Judas? A sinner. A betrayer. Why must God bow before me?
Brothers and sisters, if you still doubt whether God’s love is unconditional, then look no further. The washing of feet is the full expression of God’s unconditional love for you and for me.
In today’s Gospel, Peter rebuked Jesus for Peter was not prepared to be cleansed by Jesus. However, Jesus insisted to wash his feet. Likewise, my dear friends, God intends to make us clean. All of us! God intends to make us clean, bodily, spiritually but our ego, our pride makes us a perpetual betrayer, perpetual sinner.
In today’s Gospel, after washing their feet, Jesus instructed His disciples to imitate His actions, to replicate His actions which simply means you and I are called to be servants in the Kingdom of God. Not masters.
Brothers and sisters in the Lord, on this holiest and solemn night, let us take a moment and ask ourselves this fundamental question:
As a Christian, am I a servant disciple of Jesus Christ or am I an authoritative disciple of Jesus Christ?
An authoritarian disciple does not represent Jesus because authority does not promote the virtue of humility. Over and above that, my dear friends, an authoritarian disciple lives under the shadow of rules and regulations, traditions, thinking God is impress with him, with her.
Brothers and sisters, unless and until we humble ourselves, God is not going to be impressed with us at all. Let me say this again:
Unless you and I humble ourselves, God is not going to be impressed with all our achievements in the church.
If Jesus, the second person in the Trinity, Son of God can humble himself to wash the feet of His disciples, the RM1 Million question is:
What is stopping me and you to become a humble person? What is stopping us?
In a few hours from now, Jesus is going to be betrayed, harassed and punished for the sake of love for each one of us. Therefore, my dear friends, my message to each one of you today is:
When it comes to love and humility, you and I must be prepared for rejection, prepared for betrayal and also prepared for punishment. And ironically, the devil wants us to do the opposite which is to live an easy life, comfort live, a carefree life.
So brothers and sisters, being a Christian is not about how many pilgrimages we have taken part. Being a Christian does not mean how many formations have I attended, how many Masses that we have took part but rather being a Christian simply means how much have I loved, how much can I humble myself before God and before others.
So today, let us pray for the grace to be humble, loving servant of Jesus Christ.
And I leave you with these beautiful words to ponder for the next 3 days:
Brothers and sisters, without humility, you can’t love. Without humility, you and I cannot love.
Amen.
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