17 April 2014 - loved us to the end

17 April 2014 - loved us to the end

Jesus knew that his hour had come
to pass from this world to the Father.
He loved his own in the world and he loved them to the end.

What does Jesus do as a result of this love?  He washes the feet of his disciples.  It is, to be sure, a profound act of humility.  Though in the form of God he once again does not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped (cf. Phi. 2) and empties himself even of the "outer garments" he wears, even of his own life in the flesh.

Yet when we hear that he "loved them to the end" don't we expect something with more lasting significance than a purification from dirt and dust?  If we look, we will find it.  John the Evangelist knows that when we read the story of Jesus we expect at this point to hear the institution narrative:
 
“This is my body that is for you.
Do this in remembrance of me.”
In the same way also the cup, after supper, saying,
This cup is the new covenant in my blood.

To omit it now is a conscience decision for the purpose of calling it to mind and setting it parallel to the washing of the feet.

Then he poured water into a basin
and began to wash the disciples’ feet
and dry them with the towel around his waist.

In loving his disciples to the end the Cross and the Eucharist are inseparable.  The Eucharist reveals the Cross to be a saving sacrifice, not just an unfortunate execution.  And this symbolic act of humility reveals the meaning of both.  It reveals the Cross as Jesus laying down his life for us, not having it taken from him.  It reveals the fruit of this offering to be purification, cleansing from sin. 

In the face of such overwhelming humility we see why we can't try to figure out for ourselves how Jesus ought to save us.  We either insist of too little...

He came to Simon Peter, who said to him,
“Master, are you going to wash my feet?”
Jesus answered and said to him,
“What I am doing, you do not understand now,
but you will understand later.”
Peter said to him, “You will never wash my feet.”
...or demand more than we need...

Jesus answered him,
“Unless I wash you, you will have no inheritance with me.”
Simon Peter said to him,
“Master, then not only my feet, but my hands and head as well.”
Jesus said to him,
“Whoever has bathed has no need except to have his feet washed,
for he is clean all over;

We do need cleansing.  Our feet inevitably grow dirty as we walk, even when we follow Jesus.  Blood and water flow together from his wounded side on the Cross.  The one cleanses us and the other marks us as his own.  They are two aspects of the same gift of life.  He wants his blood to "mark the houses where" we are.  We are cleansed from our sins and marked off as his own people, marked by the precious blood which protects our souls from every threat. 

That Jesus should do this for us reveals his love for us.  How are we to respond?  By embracing the gift with thankful hearts:
 
How shall I make a return to the LORD
for all the good he has done for me?
The cup of salvation I will take up,
and I will call upon the name of the LORD.

As he washes our feet we are cleansed by the water which initially washes us in baptism and we are again (since this washing is also the Eucharist) marked as his own by his blood, the blood we receive in the "cup of salvation".