"If I the Master, wash your feet, you should certainly wash one another's "

[HSVhogfan2]

Today we reflect on the last hrs of Jesus' humanity. His life on earth. Read Johns Gospel. We can feel the tension, the anxiety. Today, let us step away from our comfortable lives and share the tension and anxiety that Jesus felt. What was going through his mind? Of course he knew His fate. After all, he is God. In His humanity, however, he prayed harder than He ever prayed, for this cup to be taken from Him. Of Course, ultimately, he submitted to the will of the Father. Once again, as a model for us all.

The ultimate role model can be found in the Passover meal. Bread and wine, basin and towel.  This is the "stuff" of Christian life. Flesh and Blood. The new Passover, not the one spoken of in Exodus. The one that we look upon today. The towel of service and humility. Washing of the feet of another man. The ultimate act of servitude. One performed by the Master of us all.

These symbols are at the very center of our identity as followers of Jesus. For young adults, and for adults of all ages today, these symbols represent an ongoing challenge. They are countercultural because they challenge the "Me First" thinking that often prevails in our society. They signify an approach to life different from the one that tells us to look after the needs of others only after we have taken care of our own needs. Jesus tells his disciples, "I have given you a model to follow, so that as I have done for you, you should also do." This "model" he has given us to follow is one that sets the bar very high. It is a model that we can never emulate purely on our own. We need the grace of Christ present and at work within us to take us even one step toward this way of living. It is, though, a way of living in which we walk beside Christ and in which he gives us rest when we are weary. It is life lived to the fullest.

[DeltaBoy]

Good stuff.