An Unforgettable Lesson in Humility

Homily for Thursday of the Fourth Week in Eastertide

In today’s reading from the Acts of the Apostles, St. Paul is asked by the synagogue leader to exhort the community that had gathered there in Pisidian Antioch. He uses this opportunity to recount Israel’s history, showing how God guided His people and fulfilled His promise through Jesus. Paul highlights Jesus as the fulfillment of God’s covenant with David, calling David a man after God’s own heart who carried out God’s wishes. Paul’s sermon points to Jesus as the ultimate servant-leader who was of the House of David, fulfilling God’s plan, just as David had done. The Gospel text today also features the words of Jesus who identifies himself as a servant-leader.

The passage from St. John’s Gospel also speaks of the betrayal of Jesus at the hands of Judas. Jesus stresses the fact that this tragedy is somehow within the purpose of God, and that it is fully and unquestionably accepted as God’s will for Jesus. Although the passage speaks to the bitterness of disloyalty, it also stresses the glory of fidelity. Pointing to the future when the apostles will take the message of Jesus to the rest of the world, he reminds them that those who accepted Jesus also accepted the one who sent him. Similarly, those who accept the apostles in their future ministry will also accept the one who sent them.

The image of Jesus washing the feet of the apostles is not only an image of servant-leadership, it is also an image of baptism. Baptism is what we might call the washing of entry into the church. The one who is able to be baptized and who is too proud to enter by that gate will be shut out from the family of faith. Remember that Peter initially refused to let Jesus wash his feet. It was his pride that was speaking in his words of refusal. Jesus told him that unless he allowed his feet to be washed, he would have no part with him. With those words, Peter’s pride was unarmed.

In washing the feet of the apostles, Jesus offers an unforgettable lesson in humility. Humility is absolutely necessary for anyone who aspires to be a servant-leader, the kind of leader that John the Baptist, about whom Paul speaks in his sermon, demonstrated by his assertion that he was unworthy to undo the sandals of the one who was to come. It is the kind of humility that Jesus also demonstrates in giving himself to us in the Eucharist today. With the psalmist, we join in singing of the goodness of God to be found in the Gospel and in the Eucharist.