“Peter said to him, ‘You will never wash my feet.’”

We understand Peter, don’t we?  We get why he said this to Jesus.  In fact, if we were present that night long ago we might have said the same thing to Jesus.  After all, this was someone they admired.  This was someone they respected.  This was someone they had seen do miraculous things.  This was someone who spoke with authority and wisdom and insight and power.  Put simply, this was someone unlike anyone they had ever met --- someone who they believed was closer to God than anyone else they knew.

And he was going to do what?  Wash their feet?  In Peter’s mind that was not going to happen.  After all, washing someone’s feet was something “important” people just didn’t do.  And Jesus was obviously one of those.  And so, Peter felt it was his duty to be the one doing the washing --- not the other way around.  And in doing so, he would (in a certain sense) be doing something pleasing to God.

Most of us (maybe all of us) want to please God.  We wouldn’t be here if we didn’t believe that to a certain degree.  We want to do things for our God, do things that make our God “happy”, do things that show our God that we believe.  But why?  Why do we want to do these things?  Why is “pleasing God” at the top of our to-do list?

Maybe it’s because we fear him --- and are afraid that if we don’t do right by him, he will punish us by sending bad things our way.  Maybe it’s so that he “owes” us.  Isn’t that the way things work?  And so we want to please God so that he is “obligated” to do nice things for us, obligated to listen to and answer our prayers (in the way we see fit).  Or maybe it’s simply so that he will love us.  And so we do things in an attempt to “earn” his love (and at the same time escape his wrath).

And while we can understand the impulses behind each of those ways of thinking, not one of them truly reflects what we are called to believe in faith.  What we are actually asked to believe, actually asked to embrace --- what are to be our motives for what we do ---- come from a much different attitude, a much different understanding.

You see, the most faithful kind of life is a life in which our actions aren’t done in order to MAKE something happen.  Rather, our actions are the most faithful when they come about in RESPONSE to something.  And what is that something?  It is the deep realization and deep gratitude and deep love for a God who has . . . .

. . . . loved us first.

And that’s why this feet-washing story is so important --- because it shows that our loving God doesn’t ask us to do anything he is unwilling to do.  He acts first. 

And so, he forgives us time and time again --- and asks that we forgive those who have hurt us (and not just forgive the small stuff, but the really big stuff too).   And he pours countless blessings upon us --- and asks that we be generous with friend and stranger alike.  And he dries our tears and comforts us in times of sorrow and disappointment --- and asks that we be a shoulder for others to cry on.  He sees us as his children --- and asks that we see every person as our brother or sister.  And he loves us beyond measure --- and asks us to love in the same way, without ever considering what’s in it for us.  And he lays down his life for us.  And asks us to do the same.  Imagine that.

But he doesn’t ask any of us to do these things alone. No, God wants to be with us through it all --- strengthening us and guiding us and forgiving us and ultimately, transforming us.  And what happens before us on the Holy Altar is essential to all of that --- the source and summit of our lives as Catholics.  Every time we come forward to receive his Body and Blood it’s not to receive some sort of spiritual pat on the back, some sort of praise for a “job well done.” Rather, it’s to accept a challenge with grateful hearts --- profoundly grateful hearts --- hearts that are open to being the person God created us to be and died for us to be.

That means that our “Amen” is more than just a declaration that we believe in the Real Presence of Jesus in this Sacrament. 

It’s also a pledge to be open to the promise of this holy meal, to be open to the transforming love and power of God to become what (whom) we eat.  Think about that for a second.  Our God comes to us as real food so that we can become more like him --- more loving and compassionate and merciful and every other good thing.

And we make this pledge, make this commitment not so that God will love us or be pleased with us or bless us.  He’s already done all of those things (and continues to do them).  And we certainly don’t worship him so that he “owes” us.  That’s never possible.  We are called to do so for one reason --- because we know that God has loved us first --- completely and for all time.  And the only way to say “thank you” in a complete and sincere and truly faithful way is to pay that love forward into every corner of our world.

And this holy meal…the Eucharist, can (and will) help us do precisely that.

Today we celebrate the institution of the Eucharist and the Priesthood.  To commemorate those sacraments a new chalice will be presented and blessed this evening.  The chalice has images of the Holy Family on it, the Holy Name of Jesus, and a Latin inscription that means “This is the Chalice of My Blood.”