A Night Unlike All Other Nights

Holy Thursday (Mass of the Lord’s Supper)

Exodus 12:1-8, 11-14; 1 Corinthians 11:23-26; John 13:1-15

“Why is this night different than all other nights?” In the tradition of our Jewish ancestors, this question is asked at the Passover Seder by the youngest child at the table capable of speaking. It is answered with the story of the first Passover that we heard in our first reading.  

“Why is this night—April 9, 2020—different than all other nights?” This is our Passover.  Like the Israelites in Egypt, we are huddled in our homes. We wait for God to deliver us.  We pray that the angel of death, COVID-19, will pass over our homes. We prepare for a long journey in the desert. It is filled with uncertainty, and we must put our faith in God and in each other. 

“Why is this night different than all other nights?” As we gather around this table, here or virtually, we are reminded that the Eucharist is not a historical reenactment but a current event. The theologian Nathan Mitchell tells us that the Easter Triduum liturgies “celebrate not what once happened to Jesus but what is now happening among us as a people called to conversion, gathered in faith, and gifted with the Spirit of holiness.”

In a similar way, St. Paul recalls the Last Supper for the church of Corinth not to make them nostalgic but to call them to conversion. They say that they follow Christ, but their relationships are marked by indifference and injustice. Because of that, their celebration of Eucharist is a cause for scandal rather than praise, an occasion of sin rather than an experience of God’s grace.  

“Why is this night different than all other nights?” Because of Jesus. The Son of God, fully aware of his power, his identity and his destiny, washes his disciples’ feet! He models humble and loving service for every disciple in every generation.  

During this time, when we cannot gather as we usually do, when our activities are limited and many things are beyond our control, can we allow Jesus to wash our feet?  

Imagine Jesus doing that right now: on his knees, pouring the water over your feet, washing away the dirt, drying them. Hear him say: “I have given you a model. What I have done for you, you should also do.” Think of ways that you can wash the feet of others in acts of humble and loving service. Then act. That, too, will make this night different from all other nights. +