He had been preparing for this moment all his life.<\/p>\n
\u201cSir, even the dogs under the table eat the childrens\u2019 crumbs.\u201d
\n\u201cLord, if you say but the word, my servant will be healed.\u201d
\n\u201cSon of David, have pity on me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Even in the times when he apparently wanted to hold back,
\nhe was still really preparing for this moment.<\/p>\n
\u201cSon, they have no more wine.\u201d
\n\u201cIt is late; they are hungry. Send the crowds away.\u201d<\/p>\n
Now, while they all are around the table he stands,
\nand begins to do what he had practiced for all his life.<\/p>\n
All eyes are on him.
\nPerhaps he just needs to stretch.
\nNo, maybe he\u2019s hot\u2014he\u2019s taking off his cloak.
\nNo . . . something else is going on here.<\/p>\n
In silence, he ties a towel around his waist;
\nhe fills the basin with water,
\nand kneels down.<\/p>\n
Now begins the moment he\u2019s waited for,
\npracticed for,
\nall his life;
\nthe moment that will span three days,
\nthe moment that will last for all eternity.<\/p>\n
He has consoled them,
\ninstructed them,
\nprayed with them;
\nhe\u2019s touched
\nand healed
\nand fed them.
\nA lifetime of sharing
\na lifetime of giving of himself
\nhas brought him to this moment;
\na lifetime of giving has led him to this place.<\/p>\n
Now he kneels down,
\nand, washing their feet,
\nhe gives himself totally away.<\/p>\n
Peter breaks the silence:
\n\u201cLord, you will never wash my feet!\u201d
\nBut Peter, if he does not wash you,
\nyou have no share in him;
\nif he does not give you himself,
\nyou cannot claim to have received him.
\nHe gives you himself freely,
\nbut he is not yours to take.<\/p>\n
Having run out of feet to wash
\nhe takes his place again at table;
\nthis moment\u2019s only just begun
\nand he has much to accomplish
\nbefore it\u2019s through.
\n\u201cI\u2019ve given you an example,\u201d
\nhe says when he\u2019s settled in.
\n\u201cYou call me \u2018teacher\u2019: so learn this from me;
\nYou call me \u2018master\u2019: now do as I command:
\nWash each others\u2019 feet!
\nI\u2019m doing something new here —
\nI\u2019m giving myself away!
\nIf you do as I command,
\nif you love one another as I have loved you,
\nyou\u2019ll be doing just the same,
\nyou\u2019ll be sharing in my joy,
\neven as you get at the grime between the toes,
\nwithout a care in the world for yourself,
\ngiving yourselves away in the very best way you can.\u201d<\/p>\n
Now he takes and blesses bread.
\nHe breaks it and he gives it to them.
\nThey\u2019ve seen him do this before,
\nwith five-thousand on the hillside
\nand four-thousand on the plain.
\nHow freely he distributed and redistributed
\neverything that passed between his hands those days —
\nmaking an abundance where there was only scarcity,
\na feast fit for a messiah from a few bits of fish and bread.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s something about the way he takes
\nand blesses and breaks and gives it;
\nsomething in the doing of it . . .
\nsomething unmistakably him.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes, friends, it\u2019s a new thing I\u2019m doing,\u201d Then taking and blessing the cup, Now of them that eat and them that drink, But for now, it seems, After the meal they will go to the garden; So he will give himself to the priests, He will give himself to Herod, He will give himself to Pilate, He will give himself to the crowds, And he will give Three days hence something unmistakably him, A homily for the Evening Liturgy of the Lord’s Supper.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[41,19,1321],"tags":[183,586],"class_list":["post-13894","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-episcopalanglican-liturgy","category-mass","category-homilies","tag-maundy-thursday","tag-sermon"],"yoast_head":"\n
\nhe says again,
\n\u201cI\u2019m giving myself away.
\nSo take and eat, one and all —
\nDen Bisri!
\nTouto mou estin to soma!
\nHoc est corpus meum!<\/em>
\nThis is my body!
\nFor I am the bread of life,
\nthe living bread come down from heaven,
\nhaving within me all sweetness and delight;
\na body to be broken, given up and given away,
\nfor you and for the life of the world.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nhe gives it to them:
\n\u201cIf my flesh is true food,
\nthen my blood is true drink;
\nso take and drink this, all of you:
\nit is the cup of the new covenant,
\nthe new relationship being forged forever
\nbetween heaven and earth,
\nbetween God and humanity,
\nwritten not on tablets of stone
\nbut deep within your hearts,
\nnot on paper with ink,
\nbut on beams of wood
\nwith my own blood;
\nwritten for you, written for all,
\nmy love to make up for your lack,
\nmy righteousness for your injustice.
\nDrink this now, and be at peace.
\nAnd whenever you gather in my name
\nto do these things —
\nto break the bread, to bless the cup,
\nremember me, and the life I came to give away.\u201d<\/p>\n
\none will betray, another deny,
\nand all the rest, save young John,
\nwill run and hide in fear for their lives.
\nLittle matter that his friends will fail him
\nwhen he might need them most:
\nhe knows as much going into it,
\nand it\u2019s not to win friends,
\nnor even to save souls,
\nthat he\u2019s giving himself away.
\nFor after a shipwreck,
\ngetting passengers and crew out of the water
\nis only half the task;
\nsetting them on their way,
\nrestoring them to their journey again,
\nis by far the more important work:
\nand it\u2019s not just to \u201csave\u201d them from rough seas
\nthat he, as Captain, will go down with the ship,
\nbut to bring them through safely to port,
\nand put them back on the path
\nfor their sojourn to the kingdom.<\/p>\n
\nthat\u2019s the farthest thought from his mind.<\/p>\n
\none final moment to question and doubt,
\nto wrestle with angels;
\nthe last demon of holding back to be exorcised.
\nThere in the garden he will empty himself,
\ndetermined to see this self-giving through;
\nhe will take the form of a slave,
\nleave that place in ropes and chains,
\ndoing once again what he did at his disciples\u2019 feet:
\ngiving himself away.<\/p>\n
\nor try at least — though religion won\u2019t receive him;
\nhe\u2019s not what the Law says Messiahs should be
\n(never mind what the prophets said about the matter.)<\/p>\n
\nor try at least — though wealth and power won\u2019t receive him;
\nit can\u2019t believe he was serious (much less literal!)
\nwhen he said \u201csell everything,
\ngive the proceeds to the poor,
\nand follow me.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nor try at least — but the procurator-philosopher
\nwill need more imagination to see \u201cwhat is Truth\u201d
\nwhen Truth himself stands right in front of him.<\/p>\n
\nor try at least — though they liked him better
\nearlier in the week, when they saw him fit for a crown of gold.
\nA king who wears a crown of thorns
\nis one they just can\u2019t seem to follow.<\/p>\n
\nwhatever is left of himself
\nto his Father,
\nnot understanding in that moment
\nwhy he feels so lost,
\nso abandoned, so alone.
\nBut the Father, who has given him first,
\nwill receive him in the end,
\nand with him, will receive the whole world —
\nthe world for which he was first given,
\nthe world to which the Father
\ncontinues to give him,
\nagain, and again, and again.<\/p>\n
\ntwo disciples will make their way to Emmaus,
\nnumb from these events,
\nwanting to forget them forever.
\nThey will be joined along the way by a stranger
\nsomething of an amateur scholar of the Law and the prophets,
\none who is apparently ignorant of all these goings on.
\nThey will walk, and they will talk;
\nthis self-appointed rabbi will break scripture for them
\nand in so doing, soothe the hurts of their hearts.
\nNight will fall; the rabbi would make for further down the road,
\nbut the disciples will press him,
\n\u201cRemain with us for it is evening;
\nthe day is almost over.\u201d
\nAnd so at table he will take the bread:
\nAnd there\u2019s something about the way he takes
\nand blesses and breaks and gives it;
\nsomething in the doing of it . . .<\/p>\n
\nstill giving himself away.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"