Holy Wednesday – Kneeling

Armodoxy for Today: Holy Wednesday – Kneeling

The story of Jesus’ Passion, Crucifixion, Burial and Resurrection is a story like no other. It is the story of good being repaid by evil and evil being defeated by good. It is the story of betrayal, of loneliness, of hurt, of anger, and it is a story of the defeat of betrayal and anger, the defeat of loneliness and hatred.

The Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ begins to unfold at the Last Supper, a meal which he shares with those he loves. Sitting at a table with his 12 disciples, he breaks the bread and pours wine, offering it to them, saying, Take, eat and drink, these are for the forgiveness of your sins. He offers His Body and His Blood for the salvation of humankind, and in this offering 2000 years ago, he includes us. He includes all of humanity from the beginning of history to the end of time, to sit at that same table. At that table we are offered the same opportunity for life. Take and eat. This is my body. Take and drink. This is the blood of the new covenant. The new covenant, which is now for us.

Today, we sit at the table with the Lord. We participate in the Body and the Blood. Oh, how great we must be that we are saved. How great we must be, that we are Christian, that we are greater than the rest of humanity! And as these thoughts go through our head, our comfort is interrupted as our Lord looks at us and sees the same faces he saw 2000 years ago when a dispute arose among the Disciples as to who was the greatest among them?

And so Jesus before committing himself to the mob, before leaving for the Garden of Gethsemane to pray, shares with his disciples one final lesson, a lesson in humility, and invites us today to be students and to be followers.

St. John records (chapter 13) that at the Last Supper, Jesus knelt before the Disciples and began to wash their feet, taking the dirt of the day’s hardship off of their bare feet. He washes the dirty feet of the disciples. He then asks them, Do you know what I have done? You call Me Teacher and Lord, and you say well, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.  For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you. 

Jesus says that if you really want to be great in the kingdom, you must learn to kneel. If you really want to be great in life, you must learn to give. The next time he will teach with example is only a day away, when he gives everything on the Cross. He gives his life for you and me.

Today, we’re sitting at the supper with our Lord Jesus Christ. He kneels down and he washes our feet. He gives us an example and you can’t just sit there. You can’t just look at his face. You can’t just accept his gift without being changed. This is the day you make a commitment, that faith is not something that just lodges on your heart, but it’s alive in your life. That is in the giving that you understand what it means to be alive. It is in Christ’s divinity that we now understand our humanity, and today we begin to live.