Holy Thursday, 2009

JOHN 13:1-15

LITURGY. WE CATHOLICS USE THAT WORD, BUT I DON'T THINK WE OFTEN CONSIDER WHAT IT MEANS. IN ANCIENT GREECE, LEITURGICOS HAPPENED WHEN A WEALTHY MAN BUILT A SHRINE TO ONE OF THE GODS, OR PUT UP THE MONEY FOR A WARSHIP TO HELP DEFEND THE CITY. IT MEANT SOMETHING LIKE “PUBLIC DUTY”, OR “A WORK FOR THE PEOPLE.” OF COURSE WE USE THE WORD TO REFER TO PUBLIC ACTS OF WORSHIP, AND SOMETIMES, MORE SPECIFICALLY, TO OUR MASS.
THE LITURGY ON HOLY THURSDAY IS SPECIAL. IT SEEMS AS THOUGH WE ATTACH THE RITE OF FOOT WASHING TO OUR MASS, BUT IN REALITY, THIS IS THE ONLY TIME OF THE YEAR WHEN WE RE-ENACT THE WHOLE LAST SUPPER. BECAUSE AT THAT LAST SUPPER, IN THE MIDDLE OF THE MEAL, THE MEAL IN WHICH JESUS WOULD SAY THOSE WORDS FOR THE FIRST TIME, “TAKE AND EAT, THIS IS MY BODY” AND “THIS IS MY BLOOD,” JESUS GOT UP FROM THE SUPPER AND BEGAN TO WASH HIS DISCIPLE'S FEET.
WE CHRISTIANS ARE A WANDERING PEOPLE. WE ARE DESCENDED FROM ABRAHAM, WHO SPENT HIS WHOLE LIFE WANDERING; WE TRACE OUR HERITAGE TO THOSE SLAVES OF EGYPT WHO BECAME A PEOPLE AS THEY WANDERED IN THE DESERT. AFTER ONLY A SHORT PERIOD OF SETTLING DOWN IN THE PROMISED LAND, THEY WERE UPROOTED ONCE AGAIN, AND SCATTERED THROUGHOUT THE CIVILIZED WORLD; AND ONLY A FEW CAME BACK TO LIVE IN A LAND WHICH BELONGED TO THE PERSIAN KING, THEN THE GREEKS, AND FINALLY, CAESAR. THEY WERE STILL WANDERERS, IN A SENSE, THEY IN FACT HAD NO HOME THEY COULD REALLY CALL THEIR OWN.
EACH OF US IS A WANDERER; I HAVE A HOME, A HOME THAT I LOVE, BUT I CAME FROM A HOME THAT I LOVED AS WELL, A HOME THAT WILL NEVER BE AGAIN, AND WHICH IN A SENSE DEFINES “HOME” TO ME. AND YOU ALL ARE THE SAME, EVEN IF YOU LIVE IN THE SAME HOUSE IN WHICH YOU WERE BORN. SOMEWHERE IN THE PAST YOU REMEMBER BEING A CHILD, HAVING A LOVING MOTHER WHO HELD YOU AND COMFORTED YOU AND FED YOU, AND A STRONG FATHER WHO SEEMED CAPABLE OF ANYTHING. AND THAT IS THE DEFINITION OF HOME IN YOUR MIND, AND TRY AS WE MIGHT, WE CAN'T QUITE RECREATE THAT. A HOME, AT LEAST TO ME, IS NOT NECESSARILY A PLACE; WHEN I WAS LITTLE, WE WOULD GO TO GRANDMA'S, BECAUSE WHERE GRANDMA WAS, THERE WAS HER HOME. A HOME FOR ME IS A PLACE WHERE I CAN PUT DOWN THE BURDENS THAT I CARRY, AT LEAST FOR A LITTLE WHILE.
I ONCE WAS INVITED TO THE HOME OF SOMEONE I KNEW ONLY A LITTLE BIT, WHO RUNS A MASSIVE ORGANIZATION, AND ALWAYS SEEMED TO BE A REMOTE AND INTIMIDATING FIGURE. I KNOW HE MAKES ENOUGH MONEY TO BUY AND SELL ME, AND I EXPECTED THAT THE MEAL WOULD BE PREPARED BY HIS COOK, AND WE WOULD ALL SIT IN THE LIVING ROOM OVER DRINKS WHILE WE LISTENED RESPECTFULLY TO HIS WISDOM. BUT HE GREETED US AT THE DOOR, WEARING AN APRON; HE PERSONALLY REMOVED MY COAT AND HUNG IT IN THE CLOSET; HE INVITED US INTO THE KITCHEN WHERE WE CONVERSED AS HE PUT THE FINISHING TOUCHES ON THE SUPPER. AND DURING THE MEAL HE KEPT GETTING UP TO WAIT ON US. I FELT AT HOME; HE CREATED AN ENVIRONMENT FOR US IN WHICH EVERYTHING WAS TAKEN CARE OF; IT WAS A LITTLE OASIS OF PEACE IN OUR LIVES WHERE WE HAVE TO TAKE CARE OF EVERYTHING.
THAT'S WHAT WE CELEBRATE TONIGHT, THAT IS THE GIFT THAT JESUS GIVES US. HOLY THURSDAY IS AN ANTICIPATION OF OUR TRUE HOME. WE READ THAT THE APOSTLES HAD BEEN ARGUING ABOUT WHO WAS GREATER IN THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN; WE KNOW THAT ONE OF THE APOSTLES WOULD BETRAY JESUS, AND THE OTHERS WOULD DESERT HIM. BUT JESUS WASHES ALL OF THEIR FEET, HE DOES NOT DISTINGUISH THE GOOD FROM THE BAD, THE SINFUL FROM THE HOLY. IN WASHING THEIR FEET, HE WASHES AWAY THEIR SINS AS WELL. AND THEN, ALTHOUGH JOHN'S GOSPEL DOES NOT TELL US THIS, BUT THE OTHERS DO, HE PREPARES THE FOOD WITH HIS OWN HANDS, CHANGING BREAD INTO HIS BODY AND WINE INTO HIS BLOOD, AND FEEDS HIS DISCIPLES NOT JUST ANY FOOD, BUT HIMSELF. AND WHEN WE THINK ABOUT IT, THE DISCIPLES MUST HAVE FELT THAT THEY HAD COME HOME.
LITURGY IS A PUBLIC WORK. OUR WORK TONIGHT IS TO CREATE HERE IN THIS CHURCH, A MEMORY, A MEMORY OF OUR TRUE HOME, WHICH DOES NOT LIE IN THE DISTANT PAST, BUT IN THE GLORIOUS FUTURE. IT WILL BE A HOME THAT WE WILL INSTANTLY RECOGNIZE, A HOME WHERE WE ARE GREETED AT THE DOOR BY OUR HOST, AND FED THE BREAD OF HEAVEN AND THE WINE OF SALVATION, FOR ALL ETERNITY. AND WE WILL FINALLY REST; OUR WANDERING WILL BE OVER, OUR BURDENS PERMANENTLY RELIEVED.
AND AS WE LEAVE HERE TONIGHT, WE ALL HAVE BEEN GIVEN A COMMISSION. WE ARE TO GO OUT AND DO TO OTHERS AS JESUS HAS DONE TO US. WE ARE TO REMIND OUR BROTHERS AND SISTERS THAT THEY ARE WANDERERS, AND THAT THERE IS NO TRUE HOME ON THIS EARTH. WE ARE TO WASH THEIR FEET, TEND TO THEIR NEEDS, SEE THAT THEY ARE FED AND CLOTHED AND MADE COMFORTABLE. WE COULD CERTAINLY JUST GO OUT AND TELL THEM ABOUT THE HOME TO WHICH WE ARE CALLED, THE HOME WE REMEMBER TONIGHT; BUT HOW MUCH MORE IT WILL MEAN IF WE SHOW THEM WHAT THAT HOME IS GOING TO BE LIKE?
LITURGY IS A WORK, A WORK OF THE PEOPLE. OUR LITURGY MERELY BEGINS HERE, AND WE MUST CONTINUE IT WHEN WE LEAVE THE CHURCH TONIGHT.