This is the night when any sane person would be calling a lawyer, hatching an escape plan, confronting the friends who are about to betray him, sorting out how to evade the authorities who are coming for him. But this is not what happens this night.
This night, our Lord and Saviour takes a towel and a basin and does the servant's work of washing the feet.
And we are uncomfortable.
We are unclear what is happening here. We protest.
Because we have been too busy arguing amongst ourselves about who is the greatest. We have not understood the parables. The parables of good Samaritans and generous hosts. We have not understood the beatitudes about the poor and the meek.
And so, Jesus this night is arrested.
He is betrayed with a kiss and we flee into the night, uncertain and afraid, abandoning him at his hour of need. But one day, one day, we will understand this new commandment that we are to love one another as he has loved us. That there is no greater love than this: than to lay down one's life for one's friends.
And so, my friends, this night we take a towel and a basin, and we remember, and we commit ourselves to this new path, to this new commandment of love.
