Gospel: John 13: 1-15
Imagine you are aware of the fact that a friend of yours is betraying you, and that this betrayal is going to lead to your arrest, torture, and cruel execution. Imagine also another friend whom you've appointed leader who you know will deny ever knowing you. Finally, consider that the rest of your merry band of friends will abandon you in your time of greatest need, leaving you all alone. How would you react to this knowledge? Probably the way most people do: anger, resentment, seeking revenge.
Now consider the actions of Jesus in possession of such knowledge. What does he do? He has already pre-planned the celebration of the most sacred ritual in their faith tradition and invited these friends to dine with him. Then, he takes up a towel and basin and washes the feet of all these faithless friends. He dines with them, calls them his friends, and later in the midst of his agonizing death he will forgive them all for what they did.
The gap between us and Jesus is a vast one. That gap is the road we must take in order to be like Jesus in our lives. It is a constant struggle, one fraught with many failures on our part, especially in reflecting on Holy Week and how far we are from the ideal of Jesus. But we keep going on the way, trusting that one day we will be able to love as he loved, to live as he lived, for that is what it is to be a disciple of the Lord.
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