Thought for Thursday – Rev’d Mark-Aaron

“Do you know what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord—and you are right, for that is what I am. So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you. Very truly, I tell you, servants are not greater than their master, nor are messengers greater than the one who sent them. If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them.

Keep the faith, this day, and always! (_{John 13:12b-17})

In addition to establishing the ritual Christians call the Eucharist or the Lord’s Supper, Jesus also washed his disciples’ feet, according to St. John, at his last meal with his disciples, before being betrayed, arrested, tried, convicted, sentenced and killed all on the very next day (Good Friday).

I am immediately struck, this year, by the ‘into the breach’ mentality of our frontline emergency & healthcare workers, knowing full well the danger into which they place themselves.  They are humbly sacrificing themselves to keep us well.  I think, too, what a demonstrable act the NHS chaplains could be performing tonight, washing their staff’s feet…after a long shift, in close contact…etc.  We wash, at Maundy Thursday Services, not to clean feet…but, to remember the 2-way sacrificial relationship we have with Jesus, our Lord: the sacrifice he made for us…and the sacrifice Christians make by putting others first, or at least loving them as we love ourselves…

Lord Jesus, think on me, as we think on that!

Pax vobiscum (Peace be with you!)