Father Perry D. Leiker, pastor.
By Father Perry D. Leiker, pastor
A reflection on the daily readings, for Wednesday of the Second Week of Lent, by Father Perry.
+ In the holiest week of the year that we actually call Holy Week, we celebrate many things.
On that special Thursday that we call Holy Thursday, we remember and celebrate the Last Supper, highlighting beautifully the words of consecration uttered for the first time with the special call to do those words — which we do every time we celebrate Eucharist.
But on that night, in the middle of that celebration, we do something else — just that one night of the year.
We commemorate Jesus‘ washing of the feet of his disciples.
Most simply, the priest-celebrant washes the feet of 12 — a kind of literal re-enactment.
But in some places, it became the custom for everyone in the church to wash and be washed.
As each person had their foot washed, they turned then and washed the foot of the person behind them.
Doing it that way certainly took a long time; but it seemed worth it.
The point was made by making the point.
Servanthood, it seems, demands both, from us, that we know how to and actually do wash the feet of others.
But, like loving others, do we not need to know not only how to show love but also how to accept love.
And so we need to become individually, as well as a community, of foot washers.
We also need to humbly and gratefully accept the gift of having our feet washed; certainly metaphorically, as well; perhaps, literally.
Footwashing, and the call to be foot washers, is indeed part of what made that a Holy Thursday — and still does today.
This is what Jesus taught. This is what Jesus did.
The prophet Jeremiah.
