Holy Thursday
April 2006
Today is the feast day of the institution of the Eucharist - the first time the Mass was offered.
In The Gospel of John there is no explicit mention of the actual institution of the Eucharist. The reason for this is probably;
- because John's Gospel was the last Gospel to be written down. Complete coverage of the institution of the Eucharist was already contained in the other Gospels and did not need to be repeated.
- The Eucharist was already the centre of Christian worship and was fully accepted as such.
- John saw the need to emphasise a very important aspect of the Eucharist, which already at that point, was in danger of being obscured. This was the absolute necessity of a life of service to the needs of others for the Eucharist to be meaningful in our lives.
Thus in John's Gospel we have the washing of the disciples feet as the centrepiece of the Last Supper.
Washing the feet of others at that time was very menial work mostly done by slaves. Thus the disciples were very surprised and upset to see Jesus doing this.
When he had finished Jesus said `You call me Master and Lord, and rightly; so I am.
If I, then, the Lord and Master, have washed your feet, you must wash each other's feet.
I have given you an example so that you may copy what I have done to you. Now that you know this, blessed are you if you behave accordingly.'
What John is telling me today is that unless I go out of my way to accommodate others, unless I inconvenience myself and upset my plans so that I can be of service to others, then the Eucharist will never mean much to me or have an effect in my life.