Eucharist
and Washing of Fee
Life in Palestine in
the time of Jesus was hard. The popular means of transport was your feet.
People walked long distances on rough, dusty roads to go from Galilee to
Jerusalem, for example. Travelers often arrived their destinations with sore
and aching feet. As a sign of hospitality, the host would see to it that his
guests were given a warm foot bath and massage as a way of relieving their
aches and pains. This was usually done by the house servants or slaves.
This service of
bathing and soothing the tired feet were also provided by the rest houses or
inns found at strategic locations along the major roads and highways. Travelers
worn out along the way could go into these rest houses and have food and foot
bath. Their energy thus restored they would then be able to continue and
complete their long journey. That is how such rest houses along the way got the
name "restaurants" -- they restored strength to tired and exhausted
travelers on the way. The disciples would have understood Jesus washing their
feet in light of this cultural background. And for us it is a pointer to the
meaning of the Eucharist we celebrate.
Understood in light
of the washing of feet, the Eucharist is a place of restoration for people on
the way. The life of a Christian in the world is a pilgrimage, a long, hard
journey. Along the way we get tired and worn out and we are tempted to give up
and turn back. But Jesus has provided us with the Eucharist as a place where we
can go in to bathe our aching feet and to be refreshed in body and soul for the
journey that is still ahead. When we give communion to a sick person we call it
viaticum which means "provisions for a journey." The Eucharist is
always a viaticum: in the Eucharist we derive strength to continue our upward
journey toward God.
The first and most
essential part is to let the Lord wash us. As Jesus said to Peter,
"Unless
I wash you, you have no share with me (John 13:8).
First, the Lord washes
us clean so that we belong to the Lord. Only then are we qualified and
empowered to wash the feet of our sisters and brothers in the Lord. When this
truth dawned on Peter, he overcame his reluctance and cried out,
"Lord,
not my feet only but also my hands and my head!" (v. 9).
For this to
happen all that the Lord needs from us is simply for us to be there, to present
ourselves to him and to let him wash us.
The other side of the
coin, which is equally important, is that after our feet have been washed by
the Lord, we must go and wash the feet of others. After Jesus had washed his
disciples' feet, he said to them:
Do
you know what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord -- and you are
right, for that is what I am. So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your
feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have set you an example,
that you also should do as I have done to you
(John 13:12-15).
Jesus establishes a
close link between him washing the disciples' feet and the disciples washing
the feet of others. If the Eucharist is the place where the Lord washes our
feet, daily life is the place where we ought to wash the feet of others.
Eucharist leads to life leads to Eucharist. True Eucharist piety must lead to
service of others. Jesus who broke the bread of the Eucharist also washed the
feet of his disciples. We must follow his example both at the altar of the
Eucharist and at the altar of life.
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