Year B, Lectionary 39
As followers of Jesus we imitate his actions in order to align our hearts with God’s. In serving others, through washing their feet for example, we begin to empty ourselves as Jesus did. We can begin to see that love is possible when we put aside our pride and ego.
Hate feeling lost on Sundays at church? Searching for a better explanation of the Bible than what you hear from your pastor's sermon? Check out the following collection of audio, video, and text commentaries from various Christian experts for a better understanding of today's scripture that deal with: Accept • Adam • Approach • Commandment • Communion • Community • Conversion • Covenant • Death • Disciple • Division • Eden • Eucharist • Eucharistic • Feet Washing • Foot Washing • Gift • Grace • Humility • Inclusion • Journey • Joy • Kingdom • Lamb • Lead • Lent • Love • Memory • Mercy • Mission • Neighbor • Passover • Peter • Power • Presence • Priest • Resist • Sacrifice • Salvation • Serve • Sin • Slave • Symbol • Synod • Table • Teach • Thanksgiving • Unity • Water • Welcome •
“because wine was not as readily available in all places as it is to us nowadays, although the Eucharist would be celebrated with bread and wine, it was not the case that there was enough wine to communicate that or to give the chalice or the cup to everyone participating in it”
““love one another as I have loved you” is manifested in…the washing of feet. But the full revelation of this love is manifested in what Jesus is about to do. On the following day he will lay down his life for his friends.”
“I knew God loved me, all of me. And if God loves all of me God loves everyone.”
“Do you love the Lord, church? Where is that end? Pray that we never find it cuz God's love is infinite and ours should be too.”
“in reading the gospels I am intrigued by Jesus common practice of asking questions. I see each question as an invitation...to engage at a deeper level with Christ and our own inner being. An invitation for you and me to ponder our personal relationships with the divine and each other.”
“God is good in the good times and the bad times. In the happy times and the sad times. God is good in times of death and God is good in times of birth.”
“da Vinci gave us some great work but that picture of the Last Supper is that, it's a picture. You know, when you ask how many people were there that evening the right answer is 'we don't know.' So how many people will that table accommodate? As many as will say 'Amen' to the God who so loves us.”
“Have you ever had that experience, have you ever had to watch someone that you love do something so self-sacrificial for you that it hurt and you wanted to say no?”
“Can we choose to love to the utmost? To engage humbly with one person at a time, to offer refreshment and tenderness to the weary soul, to look with extraordinary love into the eyes of the person in front of us, and convey that they are of infinite value?”
“he fully was aware of what he was about. He got up and his purpose was to get down. His purpose was to get down, to kneel down and to serve.”
“No matter who we are, we are united in service with one another so that one day we shall be united with our God in the Kingdom of Heaven”
“what if he also points to this simple meal and in saying 'this is my body' he's saying 'I'm in this. I'm in these simple gestures of love. The most basic of all. I'm in this. I'm right here.'”
“Instead of worrying of self-preservation we can be worried about the salvation of all God’s children”
“Do we see as we look at our table not only who is there but who is not there? Who is not invited or who is invited but cannot gain access?”
“The new commandment of love is no longer a norm, a law. It is therefore not an obligation, rather, it is the response to the love that God has for us”
“we are continually invited to enter in the pilgrimage of discipleship with Jesus that is rooted in mercy and love”
“Holy Thursday places before us the challenges involved in following Jesus' model of service among the people of God”
“how can we contrive to make our lives a gift? How can we contrive to take not the highest place but the lowest place?”