The Gospel on Holy Thursday evening gives us the story of Jesus washing the feet of His disciples. This story begins by describing Jesus’ perfect love, a love with no limits. Jesus went to the length of dying on the cross out of love for us. By dying, Jesus achieved his life's mission, He died so that there will be nothing to stop us from knowing the love of God.  

Jesus’ own definition of love is the most profound we have. It’s not love as a feeling or an emotion, but is a pure gift of self. It’s preferring the other person's good to my own self-interest, even to the point of death. Jesus tells us to imitate Him in this love when He calls us to take up our cross and follow Him. He means that we are to give our lives away out of love for others.  

I'm not sure about you, but I find this both inspiring and incredibly daunting when I look at the love of Jesus on the cross. I'm spellbound by His love, but it also leaves me painfully aware of the times I've failed to love.  

Maybe, like me, you find yourself thinking or even praying ‘Jesus, when faced with your love I want to love like you do, but I'm not facing death and there aren't too many grand gestures I can make. I want to love like you do and take up my cross, but I'm not sure what that looks like in my small life in this little world that I live in’.  

I think Jesus’ answer would be ‘Whose feet are you washing?’  

Another way of saying this is, who are you serving? Because washing the feet of someone was the task of a servant or slave in the household. So Jesus, the Lord and King of the universe, shows his true greatness, not by having his feet washed, but by washing the feet of his followers. It's a gift of himself - a small act of love.  

In this story we see that there is a continuum between this menial action of bending down to wash the feet of His followers and His being crucified upon the cross. Both acts are a gift of self-giving love.  

What does it look like for us to serve in humble, generous and practical ways? It's holding one's tongue when an angry comment rises up from within. It's forgiving an ungrateful child or a thoughtless spouse. It's taking the time to do a hidden task that no one sees, whether that's around the home, or in the office, or in the parish. It’s not adding to the bitterness and the verbal violence of social media but is being a voice of compassion and care instead. It's these and one thousand other little acts of love.  

Does it sound simple? Yes. But if it sounds easy, then think again! To truly wash another's feet again and again and again is a radical gift. It doesn’t mean love to the end like it did for Jesus, but it does mean listening to our Christian call to reach out in love to a hurting world each and every day.  

To hear Fr Chris’s full 2021 Holy Thursday homily, click here (38.25 – 51.00).