HOMILY XXV. ON THE LORD'S SUPPER.
JOHN XIII. Before the feast day of the Passover, Jesus knowing that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. And supper being ended, the devil having already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him, etc.
The evangelist John, about to write about that memorable mystery of the Lord, wherein he deigned to wash the feet of his disciples during the Passover before he went to his passion, first took care to explain what the very name Passover mystically signified, thus beginning: Before the feast day of the Passover, Jesus knowing that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. For Passover indeed means passage, having an old name from this, that the Lord passed through Egypt, striking the firstborn of Egypt and liberating the children of Israel, and because the children of Israel themselves passed that night from Egyptian servitude to come to the land of the promised inheritance and peace. Mystically, however, it signifies that in it the Lord would pass from this world to the Father, and that by his example the faithful ought to pass with continuous efforts of virtues, having cast away temporal desires and the servitude of vices, to the promise of the heavenly country. And how Jesus passed from this world to the Father, the evangelist John beautifully shows, when he says: Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end, that is, he loved them so much that by that very love he would temporarily end his corporeal life, immediately to pass from death to life, from this world to the Father. For no one has greater love than this: to lay down one's life for one's friends. Wherefore rightly both the legal and the evangelical passage were consecrated by blood. The former by the blood of the paschal lamb, the latter by the blood of him of whom the Apostle says: For even Christ our passover is sacrificed (I Cor. V). The latter being shed on the cross, the former sprinkled on the doorposts and lintel in the manner of a cross.
And, during the supper, he says, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas, Simon Iscariot, to betray him, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come forth from God and was going to God, he rises from supper, and lays aside his garments. Speaking about the greatest humility assumed by humanity, he first recalls the eternity of divine power, so that he may show that he is both true God and man, and remind us of this precept, that the greater we are, the more humble we should be in all things. For he was truly man, who could touch and wash the feet of men, be betrayed by a man, and be crucified by men: he was truly God, to whom the Father had given all things into his hands, because he had come forth from God and was returning to God. The Lord therefore knew that the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas to betray him; he knew that the Father had given all things into his hands: among all these things, both the betrayer himself and those to whom he was to be betrayed, and the death he was to suffer, so that of all these things he might do what he wished, and by his power turn their evil into good. He knew that through the humility of the incarnation he had come forth from God, and through the victory of the resurrection he was about to return to God, not leaving God when he came forth, nor deserting us when he returned. He indeed knew all these things, and yet, as an indication of his great piety and as an example of our great humility, he rises from supper, lays aside his garments, and washes the disciples' feet, fulfilling the office not of a Lord God, but of a servant man, so that he might also wash humbly the feet of the one whose hands he knew would be brazenly polluted in betraying him. But if it delights to explore this very humble mystery of our Savior with a higher investigation, this sacred supper, at which the Lord reclined with the disciples, signifies the whole time during which, corporally abiding in the Church, he fed all far and wide with the feast of the saving word and the sweetness of his miracles, and he himself was fed by the faith and love of the listeners: for as many as he converted to the grace of truth, he indeed made increase of his own body, which is the Church, as in the manner of those eating. He, however, rose from supper and laid aside his garments when, ceasing to converse temporally with men, he laid down the members of the assumed body on the cross. He girded himself with a towel when, having taken the command from the Father to suffer, he surrounded his members in the exercise of that suffering for us. For a towel, which is made through various labors of torment, represents suffering through affliction. And the Lord, laying aside his garments, girds himself with a towel, to signify that the habit of the body he had put on, he would lay down not without the pressure of pains, but with the prolonged tribulation of the cross. He poured water into a basin, and began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them with the towel with which he was girded, when, dead on the cross, he poured water together with blood from his side onto the earth, by which he would cleanse the works of believers, and he deigned to sanctify those works not only by the sacraments of his passion but also to confirm them by its examples. But as for the saying, when the washing of feet had begun, he then came to Simon Peter, it is not to be understood as if he came to him after others, but because he began with him who was first among the apostles, and he did not want to frustrate such a ministry with horror, because he did not know the mystery. Indeed, it is not doubted that any one of them would have acted in this way if they had not been terrified by that sentence which was spoken to Peter:
If I do not wash you, you will have no part with me. Here it is openly shown that this washing of the feet signifies a spiritual purification of the body and soul, without which one cannot reach communion with Christ. Therefore, Peter, hearing this, immediately seized with his customary fervor of divine love, responded,
Lord, not only my feet but also my hands and my head. As if to say openly: Because, now I understand, as you teach, that by washing my feet you signify cleansing my sins, I offer you not only my feet but also my hands and head to be washed; for I do not doubt that I commit many things by walking, acting, seeing, hearing, tasting, smelling, and touching, that ought to be forgiven by you. But let us hear what the Lord replies to the fervent lover, and how He gradually brings him to an understanding of the mystical washing.
He who is bathed, he says, does not need to wash except for his feet, but is entirely clean. He clearly announces that the washing of feet signifies indeed the remission of sins, but not the kind given once in baptism, rather the kind by which the daily guilt of the faithful, without which one does not live in this life, is cleansed by his daily grace. For the feet, with which we walk and touch the earth, and for which we cannot keep them free from the contamination of dust unlike the rest of the body, signify the very necessity of earthly habitation, by which daily sloth and negligence affect us, just as even the greatest men of the highest conduct are diverted from the heavenly contemplation they cherish most, so that if we say, "We have no sin," we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us (1 John 1). He who is bathed, therefore, does not need to wash except for his feet, but is entirely clean; for he who is washed by the font of baptism for the remission of all sins does not need to be washed again in the same way, but only the daily contaminations of worldly conduct need to be cleansed by the daily indulgence of his Redeemer. For he is clean in the whole of his actions, except for those which cling to the mind out of the necessity of temporal care, on account of whose daily defilement and simultaneous cleansing we daily say in prayer, "And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors" (Matt. 6, Luke 11). Indeed, this was said of the apostles and their like: "Blessed and immaculate are they who walk in the way of the Lord, fearing God" (Ps. 119). But for us, who often forget divine fear and walk in the crooked path, we cannot be freed from the filth of our errors by the mere daily formality of prayers, but a greater stain must be cleansed by a greater practice of prayers, vigils, fasting, tears, and alms; namely, by Him who internally cleanses the vestiges of our heart, who sits at the right hand of God and daily intercedes for us in the habit of assumed humanity. After the Lord washed the disciples' feet, he took his garments and, having reclined again, further explained by word the ministry of washing, which he had just shown to them in deed without their yet understanding. For after he consecrated for us the washing of remission by suffering on the cross, he took up again the immortal members which he had laid down as mortal; and having appeared to the disciples after the resurrection, and having conversed familiarly with them in companionship for forty days, he explained to them the utility of his passion, the mystical power of which they did not know but whose outcome they greatly feared (Acts 1).
If therefore, he says, I, the Lord and Master, have washed your feet, you ought also to wash one another's feet. This statement indeed is correctly understood and should be devoutly fulfilled both in the literal and mystical sense: literally, that through charity we serve one another, not only in washing the feet of our brothers but also in helping them in any of their needs; mystically, that just as the Lord used to forgive our sins when we repented, so too we should hasten to forgive the sins of our brothers against us (Mt. VI, Mark XI). Just as He washed us from our sins by interceding with the Father for us, so too, if we know that our brother sins a sin not leading to death, let us ask that life may be given to him who sins not unto death (1 John. V). And as the Apostle James admonishes us, Let us confess our sins to one another, and pray for one another, that we may be saved (James V): just as He laid down His life for us, so too we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers when the moment demands it (1 John. III). It follows,
Amen, I say to you, the servant is not greater than his master, nor is the apostle greater than the one who sent him. He said this because the Lord had washed the feet of His servants, and He who sent was the same as the one who sent those whom He sent. Apostle in Greek, in Latin means sent, to show that what the exalted one did in humility, the humble and weak ought much more to do in humility. But as in this place He warned of the spiritual understanding, because if He who did no sin, nor was deceit found in His mouth (1 Pet. II, Isa. LIII), intercedes for our transgressions, much more ought we to pray for one another. But even if He forgives us, He to whom we have nothing to forgive, much more ought we to forgive one another our debts. This the Apostle also commands, saying, Be kind to one another, merciful, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you (Eph. IV).
If you know these things, he said, you will be blessed if you do them. This saying of our Savior is very salutary and ought to be thought about diligently, because we will be blessed by knowing heavenly precepts, if, however, we follow by doing what we have come to know. For he who neglects to keep His known commandments cannot be blessed; he who even scorns to recognize these things is much further shut out from the lot of the blessed. It agrees with its Psalmist who, weighing the hearts of mortals, perceiving equally that all love beatitude, but seeing few seek it where it is, has himself clearly declared what the greatest beatitude of man is in this life, saying, Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the Lord (Ps. 119). And lest it be thought that this way of the undefiled and blessed could be comprehended haphazardly by the unskilled and unlearned, he has added and said, Blessed are those who search out His testimonies; who seek Him with all their heart. Therefore, dearest ones, let us ask His clemency, who commanded His commandments to be kept exceedingly, that He may direct our ways to keep His justifications, and after keeping His commandments, Jesus Christ our Lord may lead us to the blessedness of His perpetual vision, who lives and reigns with the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit, forever and ever. Amen.