A reading from the book of Exodus (12:1-8. 11-14)
The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in Egypt, ‘This month must be the first of all the months for you, the first month of your year. Speak to the whole community of Israel saying, “On the tenth day of this month each man must take an animal from the flock for his family: one animal for each household. If the household is too small for the animal, he must join with his neighbour nearest to his house, depending on the number of persons. When you choose the animal, you will take into account what each can eat. It must be an animal without blemish, a male, one year old; you shall take it either from the sheep or from the goats. You must keep it till the fourteenth day of the month when the whole assembly of the community of Israel will slaughter it at twilight. They shall take some of the blood and put it on both doorposts and the lintel of the houses where it is eaten. That night, they shall eat meat, roasted over the fire, with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. This is how you must eat it: with a belt around your waist, your sandals on your feet and your staff in your hand. You must eat it hurriedly: it is a Passover for the Lord. That night, I shall go through the land of Egypt and strike down all the first-born in the land of Egypt, human and animal alike, and I shall execute justice on all the gods of Egypt. I am the Lord! The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are. When I see the blood I shall pass over you, and you will escape the destructive plague when I strike the land of Egypt. This day must be commemorated by you, and you must keep it as a festival for the Lord. You must keep it as a feast-day for all generations; this is a decree for all time.”’
The suffering and death of Jesus takes place at the time of the Jewish feast of Passover. This first reading of the Mass of the Lord’s Supper on the evening of Holy Thursday gives us the instructions for celebrating the feast. Jesus not only celebrated Passover with the disciples on the night before he died, but in celebrating it he transformed the rite. While Passover for Jews, together with the observance of Unleavened Bread, recalls the liberation from Egypt, and a new life of freedom, the Christian Eucharist celebrates freedom from sin and death through the self-giving of the Son of God. Blood figures in both rites. The blood of the lamb sprinkled on doorposts and lintel is a sign of freedom. The blood of Christ, the new Lamb, consumed by Christians, is a memorial of the death of Jesus for all those who believe in him, as they share in his life-giving death.
Psalm 116 (115) ‘The cup of salvation’ is raised. The ‘death of his faithful’ is precious to God.
A reading from the first letter of St Paul to the Corinthians (11:23-26)
For the tradition I received from the Lord and also handed on to you is that on the night he was betrayed, the Lord Jesus took some bread, and after he had given thanks, he broke it, and he said, ‘This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.’ And in the same way with the cup after supper, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Whenever you drink it, do this in remembrance of me.’ As often as you eat this bread, then, and drink this cup, you are proclaiming the Lord’s death until he comes.
The account of the Last Supper by St Paul given here is probably the oldest account we have, and is reflected in those of Matthew, Mark and especially Luke. Jesus speaks of his very presence in the bread and wine which is shared. For each of the actions the disciples are told to ‘do this in remembrance of me’. This ‘memorial’, like the Passover before it, is a full and real making present of the gift of salvation. Paul adds his own words, that the eating and drinking are a ‘proclamation’ of the Lord’s death ‘until he comes’. Taking part in this memorial of the new covenant is our sharing with Christ in his death and resurrection, with all who eat this bread, and with all for whom he died.
A reading from the holy gospel according to John (13:1-15)
Before the festival of the Passover, Jesus, knowing that his hour had come to pass from this world to the Father, having loved those who were his in the world, loved them to the end.
They were at supper, and the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot son of Simon, to betray him. Jesus, knowing that the Father had put everything into his hands, and that he had come from God and was returning to God, got up from the table, removed his outer garments and, taking a towel, wrapped it round his waist; he then poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel wrapped round his waist. He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, ‘Lord, are you going to wash my feet?’ Jesus answered, ‘At the moment you do not know what I am doing, but later you will understand.’ Peter said, ‘You shall never wash my feet.’ Jesus replied, ‘If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.’ Simon Peter said, ‘Lord, not only my feet, but my hands and my head as well!’ Jesus said to him, ‘No one who has had a bath needs washing except for the feet. Such a person is entirely clean. You too are clean, though not all of you.’ He knew who was to betray him. That was why he said, ‘though not all of you’.
When he had washed their feet he put on his outer garments and reclined again at the table. He said to them, ‘Do you know what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord, and rightly, for so I am. If I, then, the Teacher and Lord, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. I have given you an example so that as I have done to you, you also should do.’
The Fourth Gospel offers us this account which in its own way reflects the meaning and poignancy of the night before Jesus died. The presence of Judas is indicated in the opening words, for Judas will only leave the gathering later (John 13:30). There is extraordinary detail and deliberation in the description of the actions of Jesus. Peter makes his principled objection, only to proceed to the opposite extreme once Jesus explains what he is doing. A further allusion to betrayal comes in Jesus’ assertion that not all of them are ‘clean’. The command to do as Jesus has done is followed by the ‘new commandment’ to love one another in imitation of Jesus (John 13:34). The proximity of the Passion and death suggests that love ‘to the end’ is particularly demanding.
How should we follow the example of Jesus?
Pray for all for whom religion is empty words and gestures, with no heart.