SURPRISE!!!

 Yes!

That is what some might discover as we enter the holiest of days of Christians. Triduum is now upon us and that means that Lent ends (with the beginning of Mass on Thursday) and our immediate journey into Easter begins.

And on that Thursday that we call "Holy" we are invited to gather and to remember that evening when, before He died, Jesus gathered His closest friends at table with Him.

When we speak of that remembering, most often we speak of what happened in the course of the meal shared at that table. We speak of bread and wine and of those words spoken over the bread and wine. "This is My Body" and "This is My Blood."

Thursday is for remembering the beginning, the institution of Eucharist.

But, if we are paying close enough attention on this most Holy of our Thursdays, we just may be in for a surprise.

At the very heart of the Scriptural Words set out for us on that Thursday evening we hear words from the Gospel of John.

Not Matthew or Mark or Luke but John.

And why might that be a surprise?

Well, if we wanted a recounting of those Words spoken over bread and wine, if we wanted a recounting of the actual institution of Eucharist, we would certainly be better served with Matthew, Mark or Luke.

You see, John never mentions in his Gospel the bread and wine or the words spoken over them.

Matthew, Mark and Luke all contain the narrative. There may be slight variations in these narratives. One version joins the bread and cup, making the words and gestures simultanious while a variant narrative puts the sharing of the meal in between the actions and words of bread and cup.

But John's Gospel mentions nothing!

And this is the Gospel chosen for us on this holiest of our Thursdays!

Instead of hearing anything about "This is My . . ." what we do hear from John is the narrative of the washing of the disciples feet by Jesus.

We could have been given any of the other Gospel narratives or we even could have alternated among the three based on which was our reading source for that particular year. With either of these scenarios we would be hearing about the institution of the Eucharist on the very evening when we gather, supposedly, to remember the institution of the Eucharist.

But that sort of logic is put aside and we are, instead, given a surprise.

John's narrative of the washing of the feet! (John 13:1 - 17)

And very obviously that Gospel selection is a very deliberate choice.

We need to remember what is at the very heart of Eucharist - the one on that night before Jesus died and the one for which we gather on this Thursday and every other one as well.

Eucharist is all about washing feet!

In Eucharist Jesus shows His willingness to serve us, each and every one of us. He bends low and humbles Himself for our sake. He gives His whole self for our sake.

On the cross He continues to show His willingness to serve us, each and every one of us. He is made lowly and humbled, treated like a common criminal for our sake. He gives His whole self for our sake.

And in Eucharist we express our hunger and our willingness to enter into communion with Him.

That communion means, or certainly should mean, that, like Him, as His disciples, we choose to live in union with Him, humbling ourselves in loving service to one another.

And not just to the others with whom we may be comfortable.

We are called to serve as He serves.

No matter if someone is "worthy" or "deserving" or fits this mold or that.

He washed the feet of Judas who would betray Him nd of Peter who would deny Him and of the others who would desert Him.

And He declared from His deathbed, "Father, forgive them. They know not what they do."

He drew no lines, set no boundaries!

The Footwasher calls us to Eucharist, to enter into union with Him and to become, like Him, Footwashers.

What a people we would be, what a Church we would be if we only grabbed those towels and basins and water jugs, and got busy joining our Footwasher!