John 13.1-15 – Holy Thursday «Lord’s Supper»
The liturgy of Holy Thursday opens with the scent of chrism, blessed and consecrated by the Bishop in the Chrism Mass. It is a sign that accompanies the life of the Church and which, symbolically, also seems to fill the room of the Cenacle. The Gospel of John, in fact, takes us back to the Last Supper and makes us fix our gaze on a specific gesture: the feet of the disciples washed by Jesus. Jesus says to Peter: «What I do, you do not understand now; you’ll understand later.”
Pietro initially resists, he does not accept that the Master would stoop to that point. But he must surrender to a logic that he does not understand, a logic that asks for trust before it is even understood. It is the logic of the Gospel. The world teaches us not to bow down to anyone, to dominate, to impose ourselves, to emerge. Jesus, however, kneels. It shows that the secret to happiness and true love is not to dominate, but to serve. This is not servility, nor a form of humiliating submission. It is the service that comes from the gift of self, from the freedom to love. Jesus does it first, and he does it at our feet. And he asks us to do the same: “You too must wash one another’s feet.”
This gesture is not just a ritual, but a lifestyle. Whatever we do, we are called to live it as a service and not as an affirmation of ourselves. If you are a doctor, serve through your expertise. If you are an engineer, serve through your work. If you work in a supermarket, serve through your attention and kindness. If you have public responsibilities, serve through the common good. Whatever your place in life, if you are a Christian, you are called to transform it into service. This is the great revolution of the Gospel: not power that imposes itself, but love that lowers itself. And this is the lesson that Holy Thursday delivers to each of us: to serve is to reign in the way of Christ.
