A Reflection for Monday of Holy Week
Find today’s readings here.
People find John’s Gospel to be difficult and theologically dense, but it tells a simple story. Jesus came from the Father and went back to the Father (Jn 16:28). Jesus is the only one who knows the Father’s mind completely, and he told us everything that the Father told him (Jn 1:18; 12:49). The Father has only one thing to say: “Love” (Jn 3:16; 13:34). Love is God’s only commandment. Love is God’s only dream for us. Love is God’s only self-description.
In spite of the lengthy sermons that Jesus gives throughout John’s Gospel, he only once teaches this love in words: “‘I give you a new commandment: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you also should love one another’” (Jn 13:34). His preference is to show love in deeds, especially when he gave himself up so that his disciples could go free, “So he again asked them, ‘Whom are you looking for?’ They said, ‘Jesus the Nazorean.’ Jesus answered, ‘I told you that I AM. So if you are looking for me, let these men go’” (Jn 18:7-8).
A profound and intimate illustration of this love in action occurs at the Last Supper, just before the arrest in Gethsemane. In the course of the meal, Jesus took a basin and towel and washed his disciples’ feet. Although this action had practical applications—it was a way to make guests feel welcome and to keep the house clean from the filth of the street—it also had a mystical meaning. In modeling such humble service, taught his disciples how to become friends of God. The washing of the feet made it clear to the disciples just how profound their own humility had to be if they were to carry out the mission he was leaving to them. Thus this was an initiation. “I no longer call you slaves, because a slave does not know what his master is doing. I have called you friends, because I have told you everything I have heard from my Father” (Jn 15:15). Disciples who lived in the same humble service would now know the Father as Jesus did.
Today’s Gospel passage reveals that Mary of Bethany was truly a friend of God. As she anointed Jesus’ feet and washed them with her hair, she performed an act of Christlike humility. Her deed occurs as Jesus prepares for his entrance to Jerusalem and only days before his own example to the disciples (Jn 12:1-8). In her action, we see the fruit of mature discipleship—her personal sacrifice of the perfume, her complete faith that Jesus had come from God and her act of humble and loving service. In all things, she shows that she has become a “friend,” and an embodiment of divine love. One cannot help but wonder if, days later, Jesus thought back to Mary’s service as he washed his disciples’ feet, hoping that they might someday live out the mature love that Mary of Bethany had revealed in her action.
In his dialogue with Judas (Jn 12:5-8), Jesus makes clear how disciples today can continue to live out his example and become his friends. When he tells Judas, “You will always have the poor with you,” he is referring to Dt 15:11: “The land will never lack for needy persons; that is why I command you: ‘Open your hand freely to your poor and to your needy kin in your land.’” Following Mary’s example requires us to anoint the feet of the poor, in all the ways that we are able. Living out God’s dream for us requires us to develop a humble heart and habits of service to those who cannot repay us. Then we too can become friends of God.
