Washing of the Feet

In the time of Jesus, washing feet was a filthy job. It was the lowest job that anyone could have, so low that even some servants would refuse to do it--leaving the job to those who were new on the job. The disciples in today's gospel's instance, wore sandals exposing their feet to the dust of the road but more than that...

The marketplace was an area where livestock roamed so animal waste was plentiful and anyone walking through the marketplace really couldn't avoid it. And because Jesus's disciples were about to recline together at table...feet needed to be washed as they would lie in close proximity to the table and to one another.

And Jesus washes these filthy, stinky feet.

Simon Peter will have none of it. The one who is master and Lord, the one we call teacher, the one who is the Son of God is going to wash my FEET? No way. There is a big elephant in the room and Peter is the only one who has the guts to point it out. And who can blame him? Some disciples maybe even breathed a sigh of relief that he did this.

I think I'd be a lot like Peter. Because my feet get me into lots of trouble. They take me to plenty of places that I shouldn't go. I walk past the homeless each day on my way to work ignoring their needs most of the time. My feet won't stay still when I need to sit by my parent's bedside as their medical problems worsen in their old age. And when my wife needs someone to listen to her when she's upset my feet can find plenty of things to walk to instead.

Feet are indeed troublesome for us all.

One Holy Thursday my parish invited us to wash each other's feet after a select group had been washed by the pastor. One of the more moving moments in my life was when my wife washed my feet. Why? Well Marion, my wife, knows me better than anybody else. She knows all of my faults and insecurities. She knows that I'm grumpy in the morning and short-tempered at times. She knows I'm far from perfect and yet she loves me anyway--and sometimes I wonder why she does? And she knows that we can't make a baby together either. We've been through a lot in our marriage together and will continue to go through a lot over our married life. And she also knows that I have stinky feet.

And because of all that, the fact that Marion can get down and washes my feet--and I hers says something much deeper. And when she stoops to wash them she says to me: "OK Mike, I know you are not perfect, but if I can do this...if I can get down and do something as vile as washing these feet of yours--I know we can make it through just about anything in our marriage together." And I am called to do the same for her.

Jesus knows all about these feet too. Peter doesn't want these feet of his washed because he knows they are dirty. What's more is that he knows that there are a lot of filthy parts of himself. And he doesn't want Jesus to know much less, touch any part of them. But the point of most of John's gospel is that Jesus is in complete control and knows what is about to befall him. What is remarkable is that these feet of these so-called friends of his will run at the first sign of trouble.

No matter who we are...we all have stinky feet from time to time. Whether we wear Prada shoes or flip flops--the filth of our lives is something that we all know is present. We sin. And it is filthy.

And Jesus knows it. And yet...he gets down and washes their feet anyway. There was only one man who was worthy enough to be served that night--and he was the one who washes feet.

But like Peter, we don't think we deserve to be washed clean. We think that God couldn't really want to and really shouldn't be anywhere near the most filthy parts of ourselves.

And yet, here is Jesus not only stooping down to wash our feet but he seems at ease with doing so.

God doesn't forgive our sins against our will. No, it is up to us to let Jesus touch those intimate parts of ourselves--to face what needs cleaning and to let the water wash us clean. It reminds us of our baptism and calls us to the Eucharist.

Admitting that we have stinky feet, doesn't keep us guilty or even make us feel like horrible people. Our stinky feet simply remind us that we need God--that we're not perfect, that we all have Busted Halos.

This night, I pray that you, like Peter can let Jesus stoop down to touch those deep wounds that you have suffered.

"Not only my feet Lord, but my hands and my head as well."

Spy Wednesday: Thoughts on Judas

Today is the day that we recall that Judas "looked for an opportunity to hand him over" an imfamously became the most well known traitor known to man.

But isn't there a bit of Judas in all of us? Don't we sell Jesus out every time we choose to sin, or choose not to know, or choose not to love someone as best we can? Most especially, I think we reflect Judas' thinking when "we think we know better than God does."

Judas had it all mapped out. Jesus just needed the right back-up from those in power and he would take over the world. He had this picture of what revolution could look like and nothing was going to alter his vision.

Not even Jesus.

What was Jesus waiting for? Why wouldn't he be moving this whole thing along faster? And what's all this talk about dying?

Some scholars believe that Judas tried to force Jesus into declaring his Messiahship and thus establish the Kingdom of God on earth.

He had it all figured out.

After the betrayal, Judas realizes what he had done and flings the 30 pieces of silver into the Temple. Two conflicting stories of Judas' despair follow. The Gospel of Matthew states that Judas went off and hanged himself and that the Chief priests used the 30 pieces of silver to buy the Potter's field and buried him there. Luke, in the Acts of the Apostles, tells a different and more gruesome version where Judas in despair used the bribe to buy a field, but fell down headfirst, and burst asunder in the midst, and all his bowels gushed out. Scholar Raymond Brown notes that what we can take from this is that Judas died quickly and violently and that people used Old Testament traditions to help explain his death. Many times hanging was accompanied by disembowelment and other times people would impale themselves on a stake after throwing themselves from a tree with a rope around their neck thus breaking their neck and also impaling themselves. A graduate school professor I once had said that if one were to commit suicide, one wanted to make sure that they'd end up dead--so the spike served as a failsafe.

What I take from all of that is that Judas continues not to learn the lesson that he is not in control to the point of taking his own life. For Judas, his plan went miserably awry and there was nothing left for him and to make matters worse, there was nothing left for Jesus. Without the eyes of faith we often lose track of the big picture and end up in a world where all we can see is our own ideas.

How do we in our own ways, "look for an opportunity to hand him over?" Do we choose our own selfish occupations ahead of the needs of others? Do we fail to see that the poor need us in favor of our own pleasures and comforts? Are we so wrapped up even in our most well meaning of intentions that we become uncharitable and even destructive in order to see that our vision is fulfilled?

Perhaps the lesson in Judas' story for us is to have faith. God is in control and we are not and even our best intentions and efforts don't change that. While we do what we are called to do for others and face overcoming many obstacles on the way, we also are not God and cannot accomplish it all. Sometimes we need to get out of out own way and let go of our tight grasp of our limited vision in order for God to step in and work on us a bit more.

We do not have it all figured out. And neither did Judas. But don't despair, God knows that and works with us each day, even with our betrayals of Him in our own pride. Lent and Holy is quickly coming to a close. Perhaps we have moved a bit closer in dying to what keeps us as prideful as Judas and can move into a more loving way of being united with Christ both in accepting the cross and faithfully believing and experiencing Resurrection.

A Facebook Passion of the Christ

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

http://canter.s437.sureserver.com/fbp/facebookpassion.pdf

Worth a click. Hat tip to Rosemary Azzaro.