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| High Cross at Clonmacnois |
“But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God”. (John 1:12)
John’s Gospel is divided up into four sections. The Passion account, which we have just heard, forms the middle of the fourth section, while the washing of the disciple’s feet forms the beginning of that same final section. This is the ultimate section of the gospel and it ends by telling the story of Jesus's being raised from the dead.
These two episodes, of the washing and the passion, are seminal to the life of faith. Combined with the account of Jesus’ resurrection, they form a neat trio, a three-point plan of evangelisation. They are a Holy Trio, not just of memories or history but, of real, live, there & then, here & now, Christian witness and action in the world.
So, we are on a sacred pilgrimage, with Sacred Scripture, Sacred Story; symbolic word and action that eventually point to a higher or deeper reality: the resurrection, and with it, new life!
But before we get there, we must remain here. We are at stage two in a three stage journey. There are five-point plans, five-year plans, strategies and innovations. But, this is one of the originals. This is the quintessential three point plan. The plan is intended to capture our imagination, our minds and hearts. We are to become living witnesses of the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus in the Church and in the world.
Would you wash your feet if you were about to go on a long, hard, walk? If you were a guitarist, you would never put moisturising cream on the tips of your fingers… What you want is hard skin, not soft skin that will feel the pain of the strings cutting into your flesh!
Jesus’ washing of the disciple’s feet is a preparation ritual. It was the first stage of a very particular journey. In a way, Jesus wants us to feel today the pain and suffering of the cross. That is why he washed our feet yesterday. In the washing away of our cynicism, and our worldliness, we are like the guitarist’s hands made soft. Jesus prepared us for this moment of the cross, even if we were not ready to receive it.
You see, Christianity is not a feel good religion. Rather, Christianity is a real religion, that is, it faces the reality of life square on. Our primary symbol, the one we use today, is the cross. We wear it in jewellery, we carry it on beads, we hang it in our Churches and even from the mirror in our cars. We fashion it out of wood, stone, reeds, palms, tin-foil.
Some years ago, while I was in ministry as a curate, a vice-principal of a school told me this story about her pupils. She wanted my help in trying to understand it. Two boys had died in a car crash on a Friday night. Both of them had been students in the school. The following Monday morning, the school brought in psychologists, counsellors and every other professional that is needed in such crisis moments. The school, although not a Catholic school, also had the local priest (my predecessor) as a part-time chaplain. Without any prompting, the students gathered in the library. They found tinfoil somewhere, and fashioned it into a cross. They laid it on the floor and placed nightlights around it. And they stayed there for a few hours. Mostly in silence. Sometimes sobbing. Holding each other. Grieving. Around the cross. A Cross moment.
We need our Cross moment too. We must bring our pain and our suffering, our personal crucifixions, to the Lord. And we should remain awhile. And, when the time is right, we move beyond this moment.
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